Susan Wagner Net Worth

Susan Wagner has an estimated net worth of $560 million, according to Forbes America's Richest Self-Made Women 2025, Susan Wagner profile (figures as of Forbes America's Richest Self-Made Women 2025). That is up from $280 million in 2019.

Susan Wagner is a finance executive best known as a cofounder of BlackRock. She started the firm in 1988 with Larry Fink and others when she was 26. At BlackRock, she served as chief operating officer and vice chairman. Before that, she worked at Lehman Brothers as a vice president in the mortgage finance group. Her career became closely tied to the rise of BlackRock from a new firm into a giant in asset management.

Much of Wagner’s wealth comes from BlackRock, the company she helped build and still serves as a director. A major turning point came in 2009, when she oversaw BlackRock’s merger with Barclays Global Investors. That deal made BlackRock the world’s largest asset manager. She retired in 2012, but stayed on the board. She also became a director at Apple in 2014 and later served on the boards of Color Health and Samsara.

How Susan Wagner built her wealth

Wagner made her money in asset management. Her main business story is BlackRock, which she helped launch in 1988 after working at Lehman Brothers. Inside the company, she held senior jobs as chief operating officer and vice chairman. She also oversaw mergers and acquisitions, which helped BlackRock grow. That mix of founding ownership, executive leadership, and dealmaking is the core of how she built her fortune over time.

Her biggest career move tied to BlackRock’s scale came in 2009. Wagner oversaw the merger with Barclays Global Investors, a deal that turned BlackRock into the world’s largest asset manager. Before retiring in 2012, she also helped expand the firm into Asia, the Middle East and Brazil. After retirement, she remained on BlackRock’s board and added other board roles, including Apple in 2014, along with Color Health and Samsara.

Forbes net worth snapshot

Forbes has tracked Wagner among America’s Richest Self-Made Women for years. Its estimate was $280 million in 2019, then climbed to $480 million in 2021. In 2022, Forbes estimated her fortune at $365 million, showing that these figures can move over time. Even with those changes, the main source of her wealth stayed the same: her long connection to BlackRock and the broader asset management business.

The latest published Forbes estimate is $560 million in 2025. That figure follows her long career at BlackRock and her continued role as a director after retiring from day-to-day work in 2012. Forbes also classifies Wagner as self-made. Her career path supports that label: she worked in mortgage finance at Lehman Brothers, helped launch BlackRock in 1988, and remained closely tied to the company she helped build.