MiB: Samara Cohen, CIO, Blackrock ETF & Index Investments

This week, we speak with Samara Cohen, senior managing director at BlackRock, and chief investment officer of the firm’s ETF & Index Investments, running about $6.6 trillion in client assets. She is also a member of BlackRock’s Global Executive Committee and its investment and talent subcommittees.

Cohen is also the Global Executive Committee’s sponsor for BlackRock’s Women’s Initiative & Allies Network and a member of the Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee. She was previously a managing director in the securities division of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., where she built and led the global market transition team following the 2008 global financial crisis.

We discuss how her undergraduate theater experience has helped her in finance. “90% of directing is casting.” She notes in a leadership role, her job is to help her people do their best work.

A list of her favorite books is here; A transcript of our conversation is available here Tuesday.

You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Ashish Shah, Co-Head and CIO of Public Investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management: He joined GS as a partner in 2018, and previously served as global co-head and CIO of Fixed Income + Liquidity Solutions . His group manages 2.3 trillion in client assets.