Franklin Templeton taps former BlackRock executive Daniel Gamba in leadership shakeup

Franklin Templeton has named Daniel Gamba, a longtime BlackRock executive and most recently president of Northern Trust Asset Management, as its new chief commercial officer and co-president, effective October 15.

In a statement Monday morning, the firm, which currently oversees $1.6 trillion in assets, said Gamba will take charge of global sales, marketing, and product strategy, reporting directly to CEO Jenny Johnson and joining the company’s executive committee. He will be based in New York.

Alongside Gamba’s appointment, Franklin Templeton announced that Terrence Murphy, head of public market investments, and Matthew Nicholls, chief financial and operating officer, will also become co-presidents. The trio will work with Johnson and the board to advance the firm’s long-term strategic plans.

Johnson said in the announcement that Gamba is “a widely respected industry leader and brings extensive experience, which includes work across various geographies and asset classes, including public and private markets.” She added that his expertise “aligns perfectly with our mission, culture and future ahead.”

Democratization with due diligence

Speaking to the Financial Times, Johnson expressed her support for giving regular investors access to alternative investments – the firm is among several asset managers partnering with Empower to put private investments into 401(k)s – she said their illiquidity will require an additional degree of due diligence.

"We need to ensure that everybody has fair access to those markets, but they also need to understand the risks," Johnson told the Times.

Gamba’s move to Franklin Templeton comes at a time when the firm is intensifying its focus on private markets, alternative investments, and digital assets. Over the past year, Franklin Templeton has expanded its offerings in private equity secondaries, private credit, and real estate debt, aiming to provide clients with broader access to alternative asset classes.

According to a recent global survey by Franklin Templeton, investment professionals are increasingly optimistic about alternative investments in 2025, with particular attention to private credit, real estate, and secondaries.

The survey notes that strategies such as secondaries and direct lending are gaining traction, while real estate valuations are becoming more attractive for institutional investors. 

"Given the amount of capital that has been raised in the private markets, and the changing regimes," the firm said, pointing to the transition from easy money to higher interest rates and sticky inflation as a crucible that would separate winners from losers in the coming decade. "With that said, we believe that managers putting capital to work today can take advantage of more attractive valuations and being a 'term-maker' versus 'term-taker.' " 

'Very exciting progress'

In joining Franklin Templeton, Gamba succeeds Adam Spector, who has become CEO of Fiduciary Trust International.

Reflecting on his new role, Gamba said it is “the right time for me to join Franklin Templeton and support its journey in becoming the world’s leading asset manager to help clients navigate current and future investment needs.”

He added that the firm “has built one of the most diverse and innovative offerings in the industry and is making very exciting progress around the world, including recent developments in key segments in both public and private markets, and digital assets.”

Before joining Northern Trust in 2023, Gamba spent more than two decades at BlackRock, where he held a variety of senior leadership roles. His tenure included serving as co-head of fundamental equities, global head of active equity product strategy, and CEO for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Earlier in his career, Gamba was a director of global strategy at BlackRock, helping to shape the firm’s expansion into new markets.