BlackRock’s Lance Braunstein, head of Aladdin engineering, is leaving the $11.48 trillion money manager early next year.
Aladdin is a technology platform used by money managers, insurers and other financial firms for portfolio management, fundraising and reporting purposes. It houses investment management, trading and risk analytics tools in the one platform.
The engineering team brings together product, platform and financial engineering to develop the platform’s technology.
Braunstein, who is also on BlackRock’s global executive committee according to his bio on the website, will not be replaced, a spokesman confirmed. The team will continue to be a combination of product and platform engineering teams, a memo signed by Rob Goldstein, chief operating officer, and Sudhir Nair, global head of Aladdin, said. Sunil Dalal and Nish Ajitsaria, co-heads of Aladdin product engineering, and Afwa Kandawire, head of Aladdin platform engineering, will report to Nair.
“Lance Braunstein has decided the time is right to shift his focus and to contemplate other career opportunities,” the memo said. His departure comes as “Aladdin is on pace for a record year.”
Aladdin is “core to our ability to build better portfolios and deliver solutions for clients. Aladdin has always been the foundation of how we operate as BlackRock and continues to be a differentiating enabler of our strategy.” Aladdin has more than 130,000 users according to BlackRock's 2023 annual report.
The memo also noted Braunstein’s impact on the firm, including formal talent acquisition and development programs, to encouraging an expansion of capabilities.
“Let’s take this moment to acknowledge Lance and recognize the opportunities ahead for Aladdin. We have the technology, talent and orientation to drive growth, innovation and new possibilities for financial technology. We’re excited about what that will allow us to accomplish next year and beyond,” the memo added.
Braunstein joined BlackRock in 2019 from E*TRADE, where he was responsible for the electronic trading platform’s technology strategy. He has also held roles at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
BlackRock’s Aladdin platform moved into the spotlight earlier this year with the manager’s deal to acquire U.K. private markets data provider Preqin.
The $3.2 billion cash deal, which is the subject of an inquiry by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority to see whether it “may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services,” will expand BlackRock’s Aladdin technology and data platform capabilities. It will deliver integrated investments, technology and data for the whole private markets portfolio, but clients will still be able to choose Aladdin, eFront — the firm’s private markets solution — or Preqin as standalone or combined offerings.
Also, on Dec. 10, pre-trade and post-trade fintech firm Saphyre said it had launched a partnership its onboarding and data management solutions will be integrated with the Aladdin platform.
