Consider all of these deals: The spinout of Blackrock from Merrill Lynch; the purchase of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America; the sale of the Miami Marlins baseball team; the conversion of the Rockefeller Family Office into a Wealth Management firm; even the sale of SALT – The Mooch’s firm – so he was free to work in the White House.
How is it that one person been involved in so many transformative Wall Street deals?
That was only part of my discussion with Greg Fleming. He is founding CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management which manages about $43 billion in assets. Previously, Fleming was President of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and served as Chief Operating Officer of Merrill Lynch, where he ran Merrill’s Global Investment Banking business. Understanding how to be flexible, to create transactions where each party gets some of what they want has been the key to Fleming’s success.
We discuss how he put together a group headed by Yankee great Derek Jeter that successfully purchased The Marlins in 2017 despite some fierce competition. Jeter is operating as President and minority owner (along with other sports legends) and Fleming, who also owns a small percentage of the Marlins.
Fleming explains how the Rockefeller family office was converted into Rockefeller Capital management. He also discusses how the firm came to offer services that go far beyond asset management: They include Private Aviation, Health, Personal Security, Philanthropic and Global Rescue (!).
A list of his favorite books are here; A transcript of our conversation is available here.
You can stream and download our full conversation, including the podcast extras on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, Bloomberg, and Acast. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Catherine Keating, CEO of BNY Mellon Wealth Management. The group has $265 billion in assets, Previously, she was the Chief Executive Officer of Commonfund. Keating has been named to the “Most Powerful Women in Finance” list and one of the “Most Powerful Women in Banking” list by American Banker.
