BlackRock has kicked off 2026 with a series of promotions, following the appointment of Paul Battams as global head of equity trading.
Reporting to Dan Veiner, head of markets within BlackRock Global Markets and Index Investing, Battams replaces Brent Hicks. Hicks had held the position since 2012.
Battams has been head of international equity trading at BlackRock since 2024, before which he led EMEA equity trading. Before joining BlackRock in 2009, he was an equity trader at Barclays Global Investors.
Elsewhere at the firm, Jonathan Morel and Jennie White have been promoted to managing directors in London.
Morel has more than 15 years of industry experience, almost a decade of which has been spent at BlackRock. He is head of euro liability-driven investment portfolio management within the fixed income business.
White began her career in 2014 as a syndicate manager at BNP Paribas, before joining BlackRock in 2020. She has been head of EMEA debt capital markets since 2023.
Mike DiSpirito has been promoted to director of equity and derivatives trading, also in London. He has been vice president of the business since 2019, and has 15 years of industry experience.
