REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION
September 9, 2024
Michelle Black
Solutions Portfolio Manager, Principal Investment Officer of the American Funds Target Date Retirement Series,
Capital Group
Looking at an old family photo reminded Michelle Black of when she first became interested in finance.
Her father, an engineer, is sitting in an easy chair reading The Wall Street Journal with a very young Michelle looking on.
“The best way to learn is by reading,” Black recalled her father saying, including prospectuses. Black paid careful attention to finance as an undergraduate business major at the University of Southern California.
At first, she thought about a career in marketing or financial public relations but shifted her focus, becoming an investment-planning analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. before starting a 21-year career at Capital Group, which had more than $2.7 trillion in assets under management as of June 30.
She started in wealth management, and she is currently principal investment officer of Capital Group’s American Funds Target Date Retirement Series and chair of Capital Group’s target-date solutions committee.
Black said she has benefited from an assortment of mentors whose advice went well beyond the mechanics of finance. When she started at Capital Group, one person reminded her “we are running a marathon — not a sprint.”
Another counseled her to “always have a plan,” adding that “how you get there is just as important as what you get.”
Black said her themes for mentoring include how to work with others, how to communicate and the importance of knowing one’s audience. She puts theory into practice as a member of the Capital Solutions Group/Capital Strategy Research/DEI committee.
Her father’s advice about reading paid off outside of work, too.
A few years ago, Black was reading about dinosaurs to her twin boys, a favorite topic of theirs. She accompanied them on a visit to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, home of the LaBrea Tar Pits.
She was recommended to join the museum’s board of trustees, where she is a member of the investment committee, which manages the endowment and retirement plan. “It was a natural place to gravitate,” she said.
— ROBERT STEYER
Sue Walton
Senior Retirement Strategist,
Senior Vice President, Capital Group
To achieve an important goal, Sue Walton became a magician, enrolling in a 12-week training course to practice and understand the fine art of sleight of hand.
The training wasn’t linked to her job as a senior retirement strategist at The Capital Group Cos. nor was it to make extra money on the side.
Her training enabled her to become a volunteer for Open Heart Magic, an organization whose volunteers travel to children’s hospitals to teach young patients magic tricks, providing fun and entertainment and using magic as therapy. “Hi. I’m Sue. Would you like to do some magic tricks with me?” is the volunteer’s opening line.
Open Heart Magic was founded in 2003 by Sue’s husband, Mike Walton, whom she met in the Peace Corps. Although her Capital Group travel schedule has thwarted her volunteering, she remains a board member and fundraiser.
For her career, “I was indoctrinated at an early age” about investing by her father who invested for her college fund and who counseled her to study economics.
Serving in the Peace Corps in Estonia between 1994 and 1996, she worked in economic enterprise development.
Walton joined Capital Group in 2015 having been, among other jobs, a defined contribution plan consultant for what is now Willis Towers Watson. Capital Group had $2.53 trillion in assets under management at the end of 2023.
Walton said she has benefited from female mentors at almost every job she has held, including some early advice by one who counseled her: “If you have a specialty, hone that craft and be an expert. Being an expert provides a natural seat at the table.”
That’s what led Walton to the defined contribution arena, which, at the time, was a lot smaller than it is now.
Walton has become a mentor, promoting and participating in Candid Capital, a forum for employees to discuss work issues with other workers and leaders. “We want to make sure individual voices are being heard,” she said. “We want to create a community of support.”
— ROBERT STEYER
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