Salim Ramji

Salim Ramji is the chief executive officer and a director of Vanguard, succeeding the retiring Tim Buckley on July 8, 2024. He previously spent about ten years at BlackRock BlackRockBlackRock is a publicly traded investment management company headquartered in New York, founded in 1988 by Larry Fink and seven others and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker BLK); its businesses include the iShares family of exchange-traded funds and the Aladdin investment and risk management platform. As of June 30, 2026, its assets under management totaled $15.3 trillion.Open the full entry, most recently as global head of iShares iSharesiShares is the exchange-traded fund (ETF) brand of the asset manager BlackRock. It grew out of the WEBS country index funds, which began operating in 1996, was run under the iShares name by Barclays Global Investors from 2000, and passed to BlackRock in 2009 when BlackRock acquired Barclays Global Investors. As of September 30, 2026, BlackRock’s ETF assets under management were about $6.36 trillion, with products spanning equities, bonds, commodities and digital assets.Open the full entry and Index Investing; earlier he was a senior partner at McKinsey & Company McKinsey & CompanyMcKinsey & Company is a management consulting firm headquartered in New York, United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey and, after Marvin Bower established its “professional service” principles, grew into one of the largest pure consulting firms in the world; as of October 2026 it has more than 100 offices in over 50 countries and about 40,000 employees. It has also repeatedly faced regulatory investigations and public criticism over episodes such as its work with Enron, a former leader’s insider trading case, and its consulting for opioid manufacturers.Open the full entry, and he began his career as a lawyer at Clifford Chance.

Contents6 sections

Key facts

Early Career: Law and Consulting

Ramji holds a BA in economics and political science from the University of Toronto and an MA in law from the University of Cambridge University of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a university in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. It gives 1209 as its founding date, is made up of Schools, Faculties, Departments and autonomous Colleges, and is a member of the Russell Group.Open the full entry, and is a CFA charterholder; he has served on the University of Toronto’s international leadership council.⁠[1]

He began his career as a lawyer at Clifford Chance in London and Hong Kong, and later joined McKinsey & Company, where he became a senior partner and led its asset and wealth management practice.⁠[2]

2014–2024BlackRock

Ramji spent ten years at BlackRock, leaving in January 2024. He started as global head of corporate strategy, later led the U.S.United StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry wealth advisory business and finally served as global head of iShares and Index Investing, the business that manages the majority of BlackRock’s client assets.⁠[2]

Vanguard VanguardVanguard (The Vanguard Group) is an asset management company headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, founded by John C. Bogle in 1974. It operates under a structure in which the company is owned by its funds, which are in turn owned by their investors; known for low-cost index funds, it launched the first index mutual fund for individual investors in 1976 and pushed the fund industry to lower its fees.Open the full entry’s appointment announcement states that at BlackRock he helped bring exchange-traded funds into retirement and wealth portfolios, used ETFs to make bond markets more efficient, and launched the voting choice platform, which gives investors a say in proxy voting.⁠[2]

2024Becoming CEO of Vanguard

On May 14, 2024, Vanguard’s board announced the appointment of Ramji as chief executive officer and a director, succeeding the retiring Tim Buckley, effective July 8. The announcement credited him with more than 25 years of experience in investing, capital markets and wealth management. Ramji said in the announcement that it was an honor to join Vanguard.⁠[2]

On July 8, 2024, Ramji formally took office as chief executive and joined the board; the same day Greg Davis joined the board and Mark Loughridge became non-executive chairman.⁠[3]

Vanguard’s management team page states that he leads about 20,000 crew members; Vanguard was founded in 1975 and serves more than 50 million individual investors.⁠[1]

April 2026On Individual Investors and Prediction Markets

In April 2026 Ramji was interviewed by Morningstar’s Christine Benz at the Economic Club of New York. He called individual investors a “great stabilizing force” in markets and said about 90% of Vanguard clients stayed the course during recent volatility; the average 401(k) contribution rate among Vanguard clients had risen to 12%. He added that Vanguard was exploring how to add private markets to a guaranteed-income product developed with TIAA.⁠[4]

On prediction markets, Ramji said about a third of Gen Z had either invested in prediction markets or were considering it. He said using them as entertainment money was one thing, but that many young people saw them as a shortcut to financial security; he described platforms that focus on engagement rather than outcomes and use gamified design as “financial exploitation.”⁠[4]

Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts

Vanguard: Ramji has been CEO since July 2024. Official website: https://investor.vanguard.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

BlackRock: Ramji worked there for ten years, last as global head of iShares and Index Investing. Official website: https://www.blackrock.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[6]

McKinsey & Company: Ramji was a senior partner there. Official website: https://www.mckinsey.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

Clifford Chance: Where Ramji began his career. Official website: https://www.cliffordchance.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

LinkedIn LinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salim-ramji/ (opens in a new window).⁠[9]