BlackRock Names New Vice Chairman, CFO

[IMGCAP(1)]NEW YORK CITY-BlackRock Inc. has named Paul Audet vice chairman, with responsibility for overseeing the company’s global real estate and cash management businesses. In addition, the firm named Ann Marie Petach CFO and a member of the company’s executive committee.

Audet served as acting CFO since March 2007 and head of the company’s global cash management business since 2005. From 1998 to 2005, he served as BlackRock’s CFO. A BlackRock source explains to GlobeSt.com that from 2005 to 2007, Audet was head of cash management. “In 2007, he was asked to take over as acting CFO when the CFO at that time stepped down for personal health reasons for some family members. So Audet stepped in as acting CFO during the transition of the merger between Blackrock and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers,” the source explains.

Audet will continue to serve as a senior advisor on corporate matters and will remain a member of BlackRock’s Executive Committee. “His [Audet's] extensive experience has been invaluable as we navigated the BlackRock/Merrill Lynch Investment Managers integration and enhanced our financial operations and processes,” says Laurence Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, in a prepared statement.