For BlackRock, continuous innovation is key. BlackRock’s Aladdin® business—which provides an investment management platform for institutional investors and wealth managers—is at the heart of the company’s tech innovation.
Aladdin provides a unified investment management platform that gives clients a full view of their portfolio, across public and private markets—and enables scale, provides insights, and supports true business transformation.
In an era of emerging tech, with new capabilities coming to fruition and client expectations shifting, Aladdin’s business is shaped around the mindset of “stable foundation, open innovation, built for the pace of change.”
The company’s Innovation Hub in Atlanta embodies that approach.
“We’re a microcosm of the firm,” said Brett Witt, a Tech Fellow and head of Aladdin Engineering, Atlanta. “We have all the major areas of BlackRock. A lot of our new offerings are being created right here. Building it, supporting it, and teaching clients how to use it.”
Co-locating technologists together has helped foster a culture that embraces experimentation, said Terry Francis, a director who leads the hub’s User Experience Engineering team. “We can glean off each other and ultimately create something that may not get the same focus in another office.”
With every new idea, there’s one common thread: the team strives to create more value and a better experience for Aladdin’s clients. Through the platform’s range of solutions, the company is embracing new tech forces to better serve the Aladdin community. In December, for example,
Aladdin announced eFront Copilot, a generative AI-powered tool for its private markets platform, which transforms prompts into data visualizations and actionable investment intelligence.
Similarly, the company is leveraging cloud computing to enhance its offerings and elevate the client journey.
To that end, the Atlanta iHub provides strategic connectivity to many financial services clients based in the region. The company may have a large global footprint, but local clients value the in-person meetings and community events.
“Living here for more than 20 years, I have very close ties to the community and the city,” said Jing Chen, a director who leads Aladdin Product Service Engineering. “And being part of a global company like BlackRock, we aim to bring the best of both worlds: the Southern hospitality and the global perspective to drive impact for our clients.” Another key aspect of the Innovation Hub is tapping into the local pool of top talent. James Hazzard, an associate in the Aladdin Engineering team, graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering. He is also part of the BlackRock
Hallac Scholarship program, which sponsors socioeconomically disadvantaged students pursuing STEM degrees. Through the rotational analyst program, Hazzard is able to gain varied experience across Aladdin Engineering.
“It’s a great program for those who, for example, know they want to pursue computer science but aren’t sure which specific areas they like,” he said. “Right now, I’m doing front-end development, but my next rotation could be cloud-based software engineering. It’s good exposure and a way to figure out what I like and also what I don’t like.”
Majority of the employees hired in the Innovation Hub were already based in Atlanta, which is a testament to the caliber of technology-focused talent in the community, Francis said.
“That means we think differently,” he said. “Because we have so many diverse people with different mindsets, different experiences. You certainly want that and need that for an innovation hub.”
The ethos of continuous evolution, culture of collaboration, and connectivity to a dynamic local community in Atlanta have shaped how Aladdin approaches innovation. “At BlackRock and in Aladdin we know what got us here will not get us to the next level,” said Marc Balizer, a managing director who leads the Aladdin business in the Innovation
Hub. “Since 2019 BlackRock has been in Atlanta. This is our home, and the amazing people are part of the solution that will get BlackRock and Aladdin to the next level.”
