Blackrock Managing Director Found an Out Exec Role Model Early in His Career

Alan Mason

Managing Director, Blackrock

Alan Mason took a wending route to become an executive at one of the world’s largest financial services firms, in charge of an asset portfolio of $2.5 trillion. After growing up in a small town in the South, he enjoyed a career as a concert oboist and spent time as an ethnomusicologist. His nontraditional background served him well while working at Barclays Global Investors during its 2009 acquisition by Blackrock. It helped him successfully meld the two business cultures through the innovative use of employee resource groups focused on creating a more inclusive culture.

Background: Mason was previously a professional in the classical music industry. He co-founded BlackRock’s LGBTQ OUT Network and serves as the organization’s executive sponsor. Mason is also a supporter of nonprofits advocating LGBTQ+ rights, including Out & Equal and the Human Rights Campaign.

Education: B.A., Baylor University; M.A. University of Louisville; M.A. UC Berkeley

Age: 57

What led you to help start the LGBTQ OUT Network employee resources group at your company?

It was the question of whether we have the right role models for new employees. We wanted to make sure that there was a place where people felt like they could bring up issues that they wanted to achieve or barriers that they wanted to cross. Financial services is not the most inclusive industry. We knew that if we really pulled together the right team and focused on the right issues that we could help not just move BlackRock along but set the pace for hopefully getting more progress in asset management.

What have been the major landmarks of the ERG’s progress along the way?

One of the milestones was the effect that the network had in bringing people together outside of their day jobs to form trust and collaboration around questions like the advancement of women and LGBT equality. I knew that we had really made progress at our New York office – which was the home office of BlackRock – when I saw pictures of partners on their desks. We’re really making great progress with the expansion of the network to Asia. Another milestone was about three years ago where we realized that the group, at least in the U.S., was becoming too male-dominated. We intentionally invited people like Kate Kendell (of the National Center for Lesbian Rights) to come and speak to draw in women who would be interested in being part of the network. Now we have both women and men and trans people leading the group. So we’re we’re really leading across the spectrum of LGBTQ+.

How have you seen the financial services industry change over your career on these issues?

I’ve been here 27 years and when I started in asset management I didn’t feel comfortable being out at work. No one was being really hostile but there were no role models, there were no senior people who were out LGBTQ people. About four years into my career, a CEO appointed an out gay man as a managing director and that was a real moment for me. When that appointment happened I felt like I could really be myself at work and there was no turning back. The nice thing for me is that because that happened early in my career I really was able to be out as I moved through a progression of jobs and up the ladder.

What was your own journey toward coming out?

I grew up in the South. My dad was a Baptist minister. I left the South for university and then I went to Senegal, West Africa, for two years. I came out after I returned to the U.S. at age 25. I grew up in a part of the South that was not very diverse, that had a really strong focus on Protestant Christianity and through personal experience I saw the world differently. I learned about the world and I decided to really claim my identity as a gay man. 

What do you view as the importance of allies in this larger push for equality?

Allies are essential to all social movements. We talk about LGBTQ+ people coming out, and of course we have to do that. But our allies have to come out as our supporters, our friends and family and co-workers have to come out as our supporters. I would go a step further. I would say as a leader of an LGBTQ+ network, if I really believe in inclusion, then I have to be an ally of something beyond my own identity. I should also be very involved in the women’s network. I should be also involved in the black professionals network. In some cases it means more for me to cross those boundaries and to signal that we’re all in this together.

What role can business play in the larger effort for social equality?

Corporations like BlackRock can make a huge difference in social situations. Probably my proudest moment at BlackRock was the moment at which BlackRock signed onto the amicus brief to the repeal of DOMA. It was firms like BlackRock lending their name publicly at that moment that helped tip the scales in favor of the Supreme Court decision.