In 2016, BlackRock, the nation’s largest public assets management firm, established the BlackRock Hallac Scholarship program at Georgia Tech in memory of Charles “Charlie” Hallac, BlackRock’s former chief operating officer and co-president.
Now approaching its 10-year anniversary, the BlackRock Hallac Scholarship program is a highly successful need-based scholarship and internship program. It offers bright, innovative, entrepreneurial-minded Tech students, from economically disadvantaged circumstances, financial assistance and BlackRock internships.
Born in Israel and raised in the Philippines, Hallac graduated with a degree in economics and computer science from Brandeis University before joining BlackRock as its first employee in 1988. In addition to serving as BlackRock’s chief operating officer and co-president, Hallac was chief architect of BlackRock’s comprehensive investment and trading platform, Aladdin. When he died of cancer in 2015, as a way of honoring his memory and legacy as an inspiring leader and mentor, BlackRock established the BlackRock Hallac Scholarship program at Georgia Tech — choosing to partner with Tech because of its solid tech reputation.
Through this program, BlackRock provides two full scholarships from the fall semester of the student’s second year through graduation. For BlackRock Scholars who take advantage of the internship offering, they begin their internships in their second year — a year earlier than many other college internships — making the internship portion the most beneficial part of the program because of the opportunity for early-stage real-world job experience.
A significant number of finalists and scholarship recipients have become full-time BlackRock employees following successful summer internships.
Brooke White, CS 2019, came to Tech from Kennesaw, Georgia. A member of the first BlackRock Hallac Scholars cohort, White said the program was transformative for her. Grateful for the financial support provided, White added, “I was actually able to afford things like getting my wisdom teeth out.” Beyond the financial support, the program broadened her perspective. “It helped open my eyes to other places I could apply my computer science education beyond a tech company,” she said. Currently, White serves as a vice president senior engineer at BlackRock.
Hailing from Savannah, Georgia, James Hazzard, ME 2020, has a similar success story. Given his engineering background, Hazzard was initially unsure where he would fit into a financial investment firm. Interning as a BlackRock Scholar, however, taught him that “it all comes down to problem-solving,” something his mechanical engineering education prepared him for. “The medium may be different,” Hazzard said, “but the overall task of solving the problem is the same.” Hazzard now works for BlackRock as an associate software engineer on the portfolio management engineering team, helping develop software used by the company’s portfolio managers.
Venezuelan-born Armando Marimon, IE 2020, applied the lessons he learned in industrial engineering to his experience as a BlackRock Hallac Scholar. “One of the beauties of the BlackRock Hallac Scholarship is that applicants are not applying to be admitted to specific teams within the company,” he said. “The program helps place individuals on the team they think would be the best fit.” Marimon was placed in BlackRock’s Transformation Office, a project management and internal consulting team where he works at the intersection of technology and business. The fit “worked out perfectly for me,” he said. Marimon now serves as vice president of that same team.
Reflecting on the quality of the students in the scholarship program named for her late husband, Sarah Hallac, senior advisor at BlackRock, said, “The students are remarkable, and bringing them into the BlackRock family has been incredibly gratifying.”
To learn more about how your corporation might support students or engage with Georgia Tech, contact Caroline Wood, executive director of Corporate Engagement, at caroline@corporate.gatech.edu.