Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff, Managing Director, is Global CIO of Solutions & CO-CIO within BlackRock’s Multi-Asset Strategies & Solutions (MASS) group. In this capacity, Simona is responsible for the investment outcome and oversight of MASS’s solutions mandates. She also sits on the firm’s Operating Committee and Investment Academy Steering Committee and is a founding member of BlackRock’s Financial Inclusion Team network.

Simona’s service to the firm dates back to 2015. She previously spent ten years at HSBC where she held a number of senior positions in Hong Kong, London and New York including Global Investment Strategist and CIO in the asset management division.

Simona’s interests include data and artificial intelligence and financial inclusion. In 2022, Simona was awarded the prestigious title of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for her commitment to promoting inclusion and social mobility through education and financial literacy and she was named both’ Investment Woman’ and ‘Role Model of ‘Investment Woman’ and ‘Role Model of the Year’ in 2022 by Investment Week’s Women in Investing Awards. In 2023, her contributions to the industry were recognized through receiving the ‘Italian Excellence Abroad’ award from the Italian Parliament and in November 2024, Simona was awarded the ‘Women’s Excellence Award’ for Business & Management by the FT and il Sole 24 Ore. She is also an award-winning children’s literature author and an Distinguished Affiliate Professor at Cambridge University where she teaches a master level course in AI applied to Finance. Simona represents the firm at various external forums including on the IC of the UK Investment Association.