BlackRock’s Levy-Odom to lead stewardship in Americas

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By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Ross Kerber

BOSTON (Reuters) -BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, recently promoted a senior member of its stewardship team to lead the company’s interactions with thousands of corporations in the Americas as part of a broader series of management changes.

Tanya Levy-Odom, a managing director, now leads BlackRock Investment Stewardship Americas from New York, BlackRock confirmed on Friday. She replaced John Roe, who held the role since late 2021 and was promoted in July to Co-Head BlackRock Investment Stewardship.

Levy-Odom oversees a team that engages with thousands of companies and votes on hot-button topics including who sits on boards and issues ranging from lobbying disclosures to a corporation’s stance on climate change at companies across North America, Central America and South America. She joined BlackRock to work on the stewardship team in 2019.

In July BlackRock said in an internal memo, seen by Reuters, that Roe and Amra Balic will jointly oversee the company’s global stewardship team. They will report to Joud Abdel Majeid, who had previously held that role, and was named co-head of BlackRock’s Global Partners Office alongside Charles Hatami, to deliver capital and strategic advice to BlackRock’s biggest global clients.

Roe joined BlackRock in 2021 from public relations firm Joele Frank.

Balic, who has been with BlackRock for more than a dozen years, previously oversaw the international stewardship team. 

She will continue to work from London while Roe remains based in New York. 

BlackRock oversees $12.5 trillion in assets and has one of the most powerful voices in the governance world, as it is a large owner in many companies.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Ross Kerber; Editing by Daniel Wallis)