Larry Fink - profile

Larry Fink is one of the most powerful men in the American economy.

He runs the world's largest asset management company and straddles the gap between Wall Street and the US government in Washington.

Face to face, he gives his full attention to the conversation at hand as he unleashes his passion for the ideas he wants to talk about.

Whether that might be the state of US-China relations, or the uncertainty affecting global financial regulation, or even the necessity for everyone to plan for living till they are 90 years old, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock is very clear on his ideas.

He has led the firm through its entire two-decade history, keeping innovation at the forefront of his leadership. He was named ‘CEO of the Decade' by Financial News last year and has been named one of the ‘World's Best CEO's' by Barron's each year since 2005.

Before founding BlackRock in 1988, Fink was a member of the management committee and a managing director of The First Boston Corporation, which he had joined in 1976.

He was one of the first mortgage-backed securities traders on Wall Street.