Mark McKenna was named managing director and global head of event-driven equity strategies at BlackRock's alternative investments group, according to an internal memo BlackRock provided Pensions & Investments.
The position is new. Mr. McKenna will lead a new event-driven team that uses corporate takeovers and other company specific or market events to generate investment returns. In addition, he will manage an event-driven hedge fund that BlackRock expects to launch later this year.
He will be based in New York and report to Carl Eifler, managing director and head of BlackRock's direct hedge fund group.
Mr. McKenna was a managing director at Harvard Management Co., where he ran an event-driven strategy. Kevin Galvin, a spokesman for HMC, did not know at press time if he was replaced.
