Susan L. Wagner

Susan Lynne Wagner (born 1961) is an American financial executive. Wagner is one of the co-founders, former Vice Chairman, and Chief Operating Officer of, an American  corporation. BlackRock is the largest asset management firm in the world with $5.98 trillion in as of December 2018. Wagner is the architect and one of the key strategists behind BlackRock that helped propel it to become the largest asset manager in the world. She has been named to several lists of the most powerful women in the world, including those compiled by ',, the ', and .

Early life and education
Wagner grew up in the, graduated in 1982 with honors from with a B.A. in English and Economics, and earned an M.B.A. in Finance from the  in 1984.

Career
After earning her M.B.A., Wagner joined ' investment banking unit in New York City. During her years at Lehman she worked on mergers and acquisitions, fixed income products, and developed her expertise in strategic acquisitions. In 1988 Wagner and her friend Ralph Schlosstein left Lehman to join Blackstone Financial Group. Later, Blackstone Financial Group changed their name to.

As one of the founders of BlackRock, Wagner served as Vice Chairman, Chief Operating Officer and orchestrated BlackRock's mergers and acquisitions, which included Quellos,, and Barclays Global Investors. Prior to retiring from BlackRock in 2012, Wagner expanded the company into Asia, the Middle East and Brazil. Since retiring from BlackRock, she serves on the BlackRock Board of Directors as well as serving as an officer and member of the board of trustees of the. In May 2014 Wagner was asked by Wellesley's Class of 2014 to deliver the commencement address.

In July 2014, Wagner was named to the board of Apple Inc., replacing long-time board member Bill Campbell. Wagner is just the second woman on the Apple eight-member board and the only director with a strong financial background. In 2014, she also was elected to the Board of Directors of.

Personal life
Wagner is married, a mother of three school-aged children, and lives in the suburbs of New York. She describes herself as a "down to earth New York commuter."