Michael Gates, CFA, Managing Director, leads the Model Portfolio Solutions team in the Americas and is the lead portfolio manager for the Target Allocation Funds. He and his team also manage a series of outcome-oriented and total return asset allocation strategies for retail advisors and managed account investors. Mr. Gates' service with BlackRock dates back to 2009, where he served as part of the Multi-Asset Strategies group, as well as BlackRock's Global Trading group. Prior to 2009, Mr. Gates worked for Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009, in a variety of research roles, focused on fixed income and alternative investment strategies. Previously Mr. Gates worked as an analyst responsible for equity risk models at Barra. Mr. Gates earned his MS in Economics from the University of California, Davis, and a BS, with honors, from the University of California, Davis.

Lisa O'Connor is the Global Head of Investments for the LifePath and Model Portfolio Solutions team within the Multi-Asset Strategies group. The team is responsible for the development and management of strategic and tactical asset allocation models. Prior to joining BlackRock in April 2017 - Ms. O'Connor served as the Head of Global Portfolio Management for SSGA's Global Macro fund. The fund utilized both proprietary quantitative and fundamental strategies for alpha generation. Ms. O'Connor was named one of the 50 leading women in hedge funds by the Hedge Fund Journal in 2015. Lisa Mears O’Connor,Managing Director of BlackRock since 2017, Investment Head for the Model Portfolio Solutions group. Previously, Ms. O'Connor was a Managing Director and Head of Global Portfolio Management of State Street Global Advisors from 2013 to 2017 and a Managing Director of Mellon Capital Management from 2001 to 2013.She received her M.B.A from the University of California at Berkeley in 2002. Ms. Mears O’Connor has attained the Chartered Financial Analyst (“CFA”) designation in 1998. Ms. Mears O’Connor has over 17 years of investment experience.

Suzanne Ly, CFA, FRM, is a Managing Director in the Multi-Asset Portfolio Management team and is responsible for Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions mandates. The Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions (MASS) team is the investment group at the heart of BlackRock’s portfolio construction, asset allocation, and active management ecosystem. Prior to joining BlackRock in 2019, Suzanne was a Director at Mellon Capital Management a systematic asset manager in the Multi-Asset Group. She was responsible for the production and implementation of the quantitative models. In addition, she was the lead Portfolio Manager on Mellon’s active commodity strategy. Suzanne went through the Grande Ecole system in France and earned a graduate degree in Business Management from ESSEC Business School.