Anne Ackerley was named head of BlackRock’s U.S. and Canada defined contribution business, replacing Chip Castille who has been appointed to the new position of chief retirement strategist, said Jessica Greaney, a BlackRock spokeswoman.
Ms. Ackerely, who has been with BlackRock for nearly 15 years, takes over management of the U.S. and Canada DC businesses, which have $572 billion in assets under management. She is a managing director and has been chief marketing officer in charge of BlackRock’s institutional, defined contribution and retail businesses, Ms. Greaney wrote in an e-mail.
In his new role, Mr. Castille, also a managing director, “will be responsible for driving the ongoing evolution of BlackRock’s retirement product platform globally,” Ms. Greaney wrote.
That platform includes the LifePath target-date fund series and the CoRI Retirement Indexes, a group of age-based indexes designed for people nearing retirement to help measure how much annual retirement income can be generated by current savings, Ms. Greaney added. “In addition, he will be dedicated to establishing a global thought leadership platform to reinforce BlackRock’s position as a leading provider in the retirement market.”
Mr. Castille and Ms. Ackerley will report to Robert Fairbairn, senior managing director and global head of BlackRock’s iShares and retail businesses.
“Jim Badenhausen, managing director, will be interim chief marketing officer, in addition to his ongoing role as global head of corporate communications,” Ms. Greaney wrote.
Neither Ms. Ackerely nor Mr. Castille could be reached for comment.