These paintings aren’t for everyone, but I love their expressive nature. It takes a lot of focus, patience. It's the small moves that make the big picture.
I'm Michael Gates, Head of Model Portfolio Solutions in the Americas at BlackRock.
I was mainly interested in chemistry and biology in college, which is where I learned to approach things with scientific rigor. When I got my master's in economics and joined BlackRock 23 years ago, I knew I'd found my dream job taking a scientific approach directly to the markets.
My team creates and maintains Target Allocation Model Portfolios that we design to be tractable. We use the Aladdin platform to look through to the underlying holdings of our investments and examine the underlying economic and financial factors that link them.
It’s kind of like painting. The outcome of the work is something that appears simple to anyone observing it, but that simplicity masks the complexity within.
BlackRock’s model portfolio solutions make a big positive difference in people’s lives. I think that is rewarding.
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