Apollo taps BlackRock veterans in key wealth and insurance units

Apollo Global Management hired BlackRock veterans in wealth and insurance as the alternative asset manager expands its team in key growth areas.

Kate Swimley was hired this month to cover the ultra-wealthy for Apollo’s family office business after almost a decade at BlackRock. Andrew Stack, former head of BlackRock’s life and annuity practice in its financial institutions group, joined Apollo in September as a managing director focused on investments for insurance companies.

Apollo and BlackRock representatives declined to comment.

Wealth management and insurance are key growth areas for Apollo as it seeks to amass $1 trillion of assets under management by 2026. The firm, like other alternative asset managers, is looking beyond its traditional base of institutional investors such as endowments amid an industrywide fundraising rut.

As they look to tap individual wealth, Apollo and others are vying for executives with connections to the world’s biggest fortunes. Alternative asset managers are also bolstering ties to insurers to access steady sources of capital.

Meanwhile, traditional asset managers such as BlackRock are expanding their alternatives offerings to compete with Apollo and its peers, which have seen massive growth in recent years as private markets remain hot. BlackRock aims to double its private markets revenue over the next five years to about $2 billion from $1 billion last year.

Apollo began building its family office team after hiring Brian Feurtado last year from BlackRock to lead the team. The firm had assembled a roughly 10-person unit by the middle of this year with plans to expand. Rick Moreno, another BlackRock alumnus, joined in August to lead Apollo’s West Coast family office coverage. 

The firm has also shifted existing employees into the family office team. Longtime partner Tom Norton was tapped to head Apollo’s family office division for Europe, while Chris Jahrmarkt is helping with relationship-management efforts after previously covering direct lending.