Supporting and Honoring our Veterans Around the Globe

The Veterans & Allies Network, or VET as we call it, includes over 600 employees who are engaged in a broad range of recruitment, mentorship and philanthropic initiatives aimed at supporting veterans and their families. For example, during the height of COVID-19, BlackRock provided a $100,000 donation to the United Service Organizations to further our support for active duty service members. 

Earlier this year, the VET Network also partnered with BlackRock’s Black Professionals & Allies Network as well as Citi to host a conversation on the topic of racial equity and leadership in the workplace with Lieutenant General (Retired) Vincent Stewart, an accomplished U.S. Marine Corps Officer. The event provided an opportunity for Lt. Gen. Stewart to share about his experience as a Black man in the military while opening up a broader dialogue among veterans in our firm and our industry on the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Another way the VET Network delivers on its mission to support activities and programs that assist and honor veterans and their families, is through the VestsForVets initiative which was founded in 2019. This effort encourages employees, and veteran supporters outside of the firm, to purchase vests to wear on November 11 which, in many countries across the globe, is known as Veterans Day, Armistice Day or Remembrance Day. These annual holidays aim to recognize and remember those who’ve served their country. 

We know that the transition from military to civilian life can be difficult for veterans and their families. Therefore, a portion of the proceeds raised through the VestsForVets initiative go towards American Corporate Partners (ACP), which provides mentorship and training to transitioning service members. Since VestsforVets began, BlackRock employees have raised and donated over $50,000 to ACP, in addition to the firm’s annual corporate financial sponsorship.

For Andrew, VestsForVets is an incredibly important initiative because American Corporate Partners was integral to his own transition out of the military and into the firm. Part of ACP’s support for veterans includes a mentorship program which introduces veterans to mentors and advisors in their desired field. 

While Andrew was going through this mentorship program himself in 2017, he connected with a senior leader at BlackRock who shared about her experiences at the firm. As is often the case at BlackRock, she was incredibly supportive of his career ambitions and ended up connecting Andrew with a portfolio manager on the team who, a few months later, invited him to interview for a summer internship which later lead to a full-time job offer. Andrew’s story is just one example of how BlackRock’s veteran recruiting initiatives have helped to transform the careers of people who have served their country.

But as we said before, the transition from military to civilian life isn’t always easy. Many veterans struggle with translating their military experience into a private-sector job. Another hurdle can be aligning one’s departure from the military with the start date for a job. This is something Jack understands firsthand. He initially declined BlackRock’s offer for an internship because the timing didn’t line up with when he was scheduled to leave the army. Fortunately, our team was able work with Jack to navigate the timing and ended up pushing back the start date for his position by a few months until his service in the army was complete. After eight years of leading military operations, Jack was able to successfully make the switch into the corporate sector, and we’re proud that he chose to join us. 

Jack’s story is a testament to the fact that we value diverse backgrounds and skillsets, even if this wasn’t perfectly evident to Jack himself at the start. “If I’m honest, when I met the team on day one, I didn’t really have a strong foundation in derivatives and I felt like I might have jumped in over my head, but what I did know well were operations, processes and people. It took me a while to build my knowledge of the financial concepts we work with but I was still able to add value to my team relatively quickly by helping them refocus their efforts and deprioritize activities that weren’t adding value,” Jack shared. 

Another area of professional life that many veterans struggle with is how to build a sense of community – a key aspect of military culture that many service members value – once they’re in the workplace. Jack added, “coming from the military, I was used to working as a close-knit team, so I approached my role at BlackRock in the same way and helped bring my team closer together.” This is another way that Jack was able to leverage his background and experience in the military to add value at BlackRock from day one. Beyond their day jobs, both Andrew and Jack have become active members of the Veterans & Allies Network since joining the firm which has helped them maintain that sense of comradery while expanding their networks across the company. 

At BlackRock, we take ownership of our work and are committed to helping our clients create sound financial futures for themselves and their families. We operate our business with purpose and encourage our colleagues to explore how they can use their own passions and strengths to help BlackRock achieve its ambitions of helping more and more people experience financial well-being. Military assignments are also quite “mission-oriented” in that personnel are expected to carry out their duties until the mission is achieved. This creates a culture that’s deeply rooted in honor and commitment – one that aligns well with our culture here at BlackRock. 

“I had worries before I joined that I might not have the same sense of purpose as I did in the military but the quality of the people I work with, the high-performance culture and our role as a fiduciary to our clients means there’s clear purpose to the work I do every day,” Jack explained. 

While Jack and Andrew’s journeys to BlackRock may have differed, their experiences are united by a clear recognition of the expertise that veterans can bring to our firm and to the fintech industry more broadly. Furthermore, they’ve both found that being a part of the VET Network has allowed them to give back to their fellow veterans and support the causes they’re passionate about.