In the investment world, few if any products have experienced as much growth as the exchange traded fund. And within the ETF business, no firm is as large and as important as BlackRock. In this context, it was great to welcome Samara Cohen, Managing Director and Co-Head of EII Markets and Investments at BlackRock to the Alpha Exchange. Through our discussion, we learn of Samara’s start in the industry as employee 134 at BlackRock before attending business school and then spending 16 years in fixed income at Goldman Sachs. Here she developed a keen understanding of bond market plumbing and the implications of post GFC regulatory reforms for the design of future products.

This focus on bond market structure strategy paved the way for her return to BlackRock in 2015. Samara shares with us some of the key milestones in the ETF business, including the electronification of bond market trading that came from the first fixed income ETF in 2002. Important as well for the ETF industry  has been episodes of significant volatility during which investor demand for liquid and transparent macro assets surged. Our conversation next considers the business coordination required among Samara’s team members to support the roughly 800 ETFs offered by BlackRock. Central to running a business at such scale has been substantial investment in technology and automation and these proved especially critical during the market crisis of 2020. It was during this incredible surge in volatility – both in the stock market and bond market – that investors utilized ETFs for price discovery and risk transfer in tremendous size.

Lastly, we spend time on the people aspect of the business, a topic on which Samara is particularly passionate. She is proud that her team of investment managers within the engine is mostly women and plays an active role in the discussion among leadership around BlackRock’s commitment to a broadening the racial and ethnic make-up of the firm. In addition to being strongly motivated by efforts to increase inclusion, Samara looks forward and is genuinely excited about the prospect of bringing hundreds of millions more people into the markets and investing.  I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my discussion with Samara Cohen.