Two top PMs, a strategist and a founding partner are leaving BlackRock [profile], and Aaron Pressman and Jessica Toonkel of Reuters wonder if there's a connection and if more top exits are coming.

"The personnel changes people are seeing are neither related nor a trend," BlackRock spokewsoman Bobbie Collins told the Reuters reporters.

The recent or impending departures include: Larry Fink's senior client strategist, Robert Capaldi, who left on June 1; founding partner and vice chairman Susan Wagner, who will retire at the end of the month; chief equity strategist Bob Doll, who will also retire at the end of the month; and energy sector fund PM Daniel Rice, who will stay on through December in the wake of a possible conflict of interest scandal.

The Reuters reporters content that Wagner's exit in particular "further signals the end of growth through large acquisitions for BlackRock," citing two unnamed sources. One source passed on speculation that Wagner's leaving "because Larry [Fink] is going to make a move for government,' as he's one of the rumored candidates to replace Tim Geithner as U.S. President Barack Obama's U.S. Treasury Secretary.

Morningstar fund research director Russ Kinnel and Gabelli & Co analyst Macrae Sykes both weighed in for Reuters' story. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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