Financial History Issue 128 (Winter 2019) | Page 14
THE TICKER MUSEUM NEWS
Words of Wisdom
Excerpts from the Remarks
Delivered at the 2019 Museum Gala
At the 2019 Museum of American Finance Gala on February 5, the Museum honored
Laurence Fink with the Charles Schwab Financial Innovation Award and Dr. Janet Yellen
with the Whitehead Award for Distinguished Public Service and Financial Leadership. Excerpts from
the remarks delivered that evening are published below in the order in which they were presented.
THOMAS E. DONILON
Former US National Security Advisor,
Chariman of BlackRock Investment Institute
I’m delighted to be here tonight and to
have the privilege of introducing the hon-
oree and my friend, Larry Fink. I also
want to say what a privilege it is to be here
this evening with Dr. Janet Yellen, and
to celebrate her service in so many roles
to our nation. I’m going to start in an
unusual place with this introduction. I’m
going to start with the Super Bowl. Now
you might say, “What’s the connection
between Larry Fink and the Super Bowl?”
Well, a long time ago, Larry helped start
and finance a record company, and the
first act they signed was a band called
Maroon 5. So, although we’re here to
celebrate Larry this evening, we are also
here to lay full responsibility on him for
Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show. So,
thanks for that, Larry.
Tonight, Larry will be honored with
the Charles Schwab Award for Financial
Innovation. It’s hard to think of a leader
today in financial services who is more
deserving of this recognition. Larry, as
we all know, has over the past 30 years
built one of the world’s great financial
institutions. Throughout this time, he’s
remained relentlessly focused on helping
people secure better financial futures. He’s
conducted himself with the highest integ-
rity and, in doing so, has earned the trust
of individuals and institutions all around
the world.
Larry has also distinguished himself by
his insistence and deep belief that success-
ful companies need to be driven by clear
and positive purpose—that companies
have responsibilities to their sharehold-
ers, yes, but also more broadly to their
employees and their communities.
Larry’s success and impact didn’t hap-
pen by accident or overnight. The prin-
ciples that have driven Larry were evident
from the moment he founded BlackRock,
along with seven others, including Bar-
bara Novick, who’s here tonight, who is
our vice chairman. They founded Black-
Rock in 1988. Put simply, Larry believed
that financial services could do better. He
had a determination to put clients’ interest
first and to build a firm passionate about
managing risk. This fiduciary culture pres-
ent at the creation of BlackRock remains
pervasive at the company today.
12 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Winter 2019 | www.MoAF.org
Larry works every day to ensure that
this culture is maintained, even as the
company has become a global institu-
tion. I’ve been privileged to be with Larry
around the world meeting with hundreds
of clients, and you can’t help but see and
sense the real personal responsibility he
feels for the futures of the millions of indi-
viduals and families who have entrusted
him and the firm he built with their finan-
cial security.
Trust is a big theme in Larry’s story.
At the peak of the financial crisis, Larry
became a trusted advisor to the US gov-
ernment, and to governments around the
world. He was seen as an honest broker,
a source of reliable and objective advice
for leaders facing great uncertainty in an
environment of real fear. Today, as Larry
has pointed out, people are increasingly
looking to companies to address a range
of social and economic issues. Larry has
once again stepped up and come for-
ward, calling for businesses to respond.
He is pressing for long-term approaches
to corporate governance, bringing a loom-
ing retirement crisis to the forefront and
pressing the case for companies to sustain
and enhance the communities in which
they are privileged to operate.
Larry shares his views each year with
hundreds of CEOs. Not everybody agrees,
but whether they agree or not, nobody
can deny that Larry has launched a critical
discussion about our world’s most press-
ing needs. Most importantly, Larry brings
the same persistence and passion to his