Our partners are here to help refine your investing knowledge with new perspectives and clear explanations.
Select to read speaker biography
Brad Zucker, CFA
Director, iShares Product Consulting, BlackRock
SPEAKER BIO
Brad Zucker, CFA, CAIA, Director, is a Product Consultant for BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory (USWA) ETF & Index Investments business. He is responsible for researching, analyzing and evaluating a broad range of investment solutions for partners and intermediary clients. Mr. Zucker provides subject matter expertise on the full range of iShares ETFs.
Mr. Zucker joined BlackRock in 2016. Previously, he was a Senior Product Manager at FTSE Russell, where he led Smart Beta thought leadership and product strategy.
Mr. Zucker earned his MBA from Columbia Business School, where he graduated with Dean's honors, and is currently enrolled in Columbia University's MS in Applied Analytics program. He has guest lectured at Columbia University on topics ranging from Asset Management to Statistics. Mr. Zucker is a CFA Charterholder and a CAIA Charterholder.
Select to read speaker biography
Daniel Prince, CFA
Director, Head of iShares Product Consulting, BlackRock
SPEAKER BIO
Daniel Prince, CFA, Director, is Head of iShares Product Consulting for BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory iShares business. In this role, he delivers research, insights and ETF analyses to investors. Mr. Prince's service with the firm dates back to 2007, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. At BGI, Mr. Prince was a Senior Strategist for the US iShares Sales Strategy team. Prior to joining BGI, Mr. Prince was a Senior Analyst at Wilshire Associates.
Mr. Prince holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a member of the CFA Society of San Francisco. He earned a BS degree in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
Select to read speaker biography
Jeff Spiegel
US Head of iShares Megatrend and International ETFs, BlackRock
SPEAKER BIO
Jeff Spiegel, Director, is US Head of iShares Megatrend and International ETFs. In this role, he manages product, sales and marketing for the Megatrend and International franchises.
Previously, Mr. Spiegel led retail distribution strategy in BlackRock's US and Canada Defined Contribution group, managing strategic relationships, custom product builds as well as advisor-sold and platform sales strategy.
Mr. Spiegel's service with the firm dates back to 2013. Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr. Spiegel was a Vice President with family office TLM Realty in New York City and before that worked in mortgage trading and structuring at JP Morgan and Bear Stearns in London. Mr. Spiegel earned a BA degree in philosophy and history from Brown University.
Select to read speaker biography
Kristy Akullian
Director, iShares Investment Strategy
SPEAKER BIO
Kristy Akullian, CFA, Director, is a senior member of the iShares Investment Strategy team. By meshing market signals with ETF solutions, the team seeks to deliver actionable insights on macro trends, investor positioning, and efficient execution. In this capacity she heads up institutional content and co-chairs the iShares Institutional Content Governance Board, creating and advising on content around novel ETF use cases and general education. Kristy is based in San Francisco and works with both institutional and USWA sales to deliver iShares content directly to clients.
Previously, Kristy was a member of the iShares Markets Coverage (formerly Capital Markets) team offering institutional clients insights into ETF structure, liquidity and trading strategies. There she led client engagement of ETF comparisons to other delta-1 instruments, and produced delta-1 focused research and market commentary.
Prior to joining iShares, Kristy worked in the BlackRock Valuations Team researching hard to price securities and defending fair value decisions to the BlackRock Pricing Committee, as well as auditors and regulatory authorities. Kristy's service with the firm dates back to 2010, before which she worked in trading operations at Fisher Investments.
Kristy earned BA degrees in Economics and English from the University of Southern California. She is also a CFA Charterholder.
Select to read speaker biography
Sarah Kjellberg
iShares Sustainable Product Strategy
SPEAKER BIO
Sarah Lee Kjellberg is the Head of U.S. iShares Sustainable and leads the overall U.S. Wealth Advisory strategy and the Home Office/Models pillar. Sarah works with our partners to expand product approvals and model placements, as well as unlock new opportunities with the RIA and Direct channels. She also leads our content, data and analytics strategy.
In her prior experience at Blackrock, Sarah served as an Investment Management Consultant, working with CIOs, Portfolio Managers and Financial Advisors within the Bank Wealth Management and Wirehouse channels.
Prior to joining Blackrock in 2007, she worked for Credit Suisse as an Assistant Vice President in Institutional Equity Sales where she helped market investment research and capital market products. She began her career at Credit Suisse, providing sales and trading support within the Institutional Fixed Income Sales group.
She graduated Cum Laude in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco. She holds the Series 7 and 63 licenses, CIMA designation from the Investments & Wealth Institute and the Wharton School of Business and is a Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Credential holder from SASB.
Select to read speaker biography
Anna Verhaegen
iShares Megatrend and International Product Strategy
SPEAKER BIO
Anna Verhaegen is an iShares Product Strategist covering the Megatrend and International ETF product suites. Previously, she was an Investment Management Associate in the US Wealth Advisory Wirehouse Channel - responsible for driving sales and client service for mutual funds, ETFs, and separately managed accounts with retail clients in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. She joined BlackRock through the 2017 Analyst Program, where she supported iShares Leaders in the Independent, Wirehouse & RIA channels.
In 2021, Anna was accepted into the Keystone program. The Keystone program is comprised of a select group of high-potential sales professionals who are preparing for senior client-facing positions. Additionally, in 2020, Anna was awarded the Wirehouse Northeast Internal of the Year award.
Anna previously interned at Powerlinx Inc., a B2B matching platform in New York, NY. She also worked as an intern at Finance Innovation in Paris, France. Anna graduated with a Bachelor of the Arts in Economics from New York University in May 2017.
Investing involves risk. There is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities.
Options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors. Certain requirements must be met to trade options. Before engaging in the purchase or sale of options, investors should understand the nature of and extent of their rights and obligations and be aware of the risks involved in investing with options. Please read the options disclosure document titled "Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options (PDF)" before considering any option transaction. You may also call the Investment Center at 877.653.4732 for a copy. A separate client agreement is needed. Multi-leg option orders are charged one base commission per order, plus a per-contract charge.
The maximum loss, gain and breakeven of any options strategy only remains as defined so long as the strategy contains all original positions. Trading, rolling, assignment, or exercise of any portion of the strategy will result in a new maximum loss, gain and breakeven calculation, which will be materially different from the calculation when the strategy remains intact with all of the contemplated legs or positions. This is applicable to all options strategies inclusive of long options, short options and spreads. To learn more about Merrill's uncovered option handling practices, view
Naked Option Stress Analysis (NOSA) (PDF).
Early assignment risk is always present for option writers (specific to American-style options only). Early assignment risk maybe amplified in the event a call writer is short an option during the period the underlying security has an ex-dividend date. This is referred to as dividend risk.
Long options are exercised and short options are assigned. Note that American-style options can be assigned/exercised at any time through the day of expiration without prior notice. Options can be assigned/exercised after market close on expiration day. View specific
Merrill Option Exercise & Assignment Practices (PDF).
Supporting documentation for any claims, comparison, recommendations, statistics, or other technical data, will be supplied upon request.
Before investing consider carefully the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of the fund, including management fees, other expenses and special risks. This and other information may be found in each fund's prospectus or summary prospectus, if available. Always read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before you invest or send money. Prospectuses can be obtained by contacting us.
Brad Zucker, Daniel Prince, Jeff Spiegel, Kristy Akullian, Sarah Kjellberg, and Anna Verhaegen are employed by BlackRock. BlackRock and Merrill are not legally affiliated and are independent entities.
Certain information ©2023 BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Some of the material is provided by a third party that is not affiliated with Merrill or any of its affiliates and is for information and educational purposes only. The opinions and views expressed are those of the speaker, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of Merrill or any of its affiliates. The third parties involved are not employed by Merrill but receive compensation from Merrill for their services. All opinions are subject to change due to market conditions and fluctuations.
This material does not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situations or needs and is not intended as a recommendation, offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security, financial instrument, or strategy. Before acting on any recommendation in this material, you should consider whether it is in your best interest based on your particular circumstances and, if necessary, seek professional advice. Since economic and market conditions change frequently, there can be no assurance that the trends described here will continue or that the forecasts will come to pass. The information presented on this webcast is for discussion purposes only and is not intended to serve as a recommendation or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any type of security. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Merrill, its affiliates, and financial advisors do not provide legal, tax, or accounting advice. You should consult your legal and/or tax advisors before making any financial decisions.
Supporting documentation for any claims, comparisons, recommendations, statistics or other technical data will be furnished on request.
The logos listed are trademarks of their respective owners and are used for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as an endorsement by, sponsorship by, or affiliation with Merrill.
MAP5517327-04172024