BlackRock has appointed Rachel Lord as head of its ETF arm, iShares, for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
She replaces Joe Linhares, who, after three years leading the business in Europe, will return to the US to take up a new role as global head of BlackRock's Platinum Client programme which coordinates all the firm's activities with its largest retail distribution partners globally. He will be based in New York and report to Rob Fairbairn, head of BlackRock's Global Retail and iShares businesses.
Ms Lord joins the firm from Citigroup, where she was global head of corporate equity derivatives. The company says that she brings with her more than 20 years of in-depth experience in a broad range of sell-side roles and deep experience managing teams in the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia. Prior to joining Citi in 2009, she spent 13 years at Morgan Stanley in a variety of senior roles, most recently as head of corporate equity derivatives, EMEA and APAC. Based in London, she will report to Mark Wiedman, global head of iShares and will join iShares' global and EMEA executive committees, as well as BlackRock's global operating committee.
Mark Wiedman, global head of iShares, said: "We are excited to welcome Rachel at iShares. Our primary challenge in Europe is growing the pie – expanding the ways clients use ETFs. Rachel brings together a number of capabilities we believe are essential for this next era of iShares in EMEA. Rachel has a deep understanding of capital markets, has built her whole career around problem-solving to meet clients' investment needs, has a strong ability to grow people and teams, and knows how to deliver the best of a global organisation to clients. Rachel will build on the excellent work that Joe and the iShares team has done in the region over the past years."
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Rob Fairbairn, head of BlackRock's global retail and iShares businesses, added: "Joe has made an enormous contribution to the iShares business we have today. During his time leading the business, iShares EMEA has achieved many milestones – including the acquisition of Credit Suisse's ETF business, successfully navigating the changing regulatory landscape in 2011 and 2012, and building our industry-leading reputation for providing quality, choice and innovation in ETFs. I am pleased to have Joe returning to the US to spearhead our global efforts to deliver the entire BlackRock platform in a coordinated way to our largest distribution partners globally."
Ms Lord said: "I am thrilled to join iShares at a time when there's such great opportunity to unlock new potential in ETP usage in Europe. I look forward to working closely with the team to capitalise on these new opportunities and to deliver the best of iShares to our clients."
Rachel started her career in 1987 as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen and holds a BA (Hons) in International History & Politics from the University of Leeds.
iShares is a corporate member of the IFP.