BlackRock Executive Rick Rieder Emerges as Leading Contender to Succeed Jerome Powell as Fed Chair
Trump has said he will name a nominee “in the not-too-distant future,” as prediction-market odds and public shortlists shift around Rieder and other candidates.
Rick Rieder, a senior BlackRock executive who serves as the firm’s Chief Investment Officer for Global Fixed Income, has moved into the center of public speculation over who President Donald Trump may nominate to lead the Federal Reserve when Jerome Powell’s term as chair ends in May 2026.
In recent days, Rieder’s standing has risen sharply on the prediction market Polymarket, where his implied probability of being selected has been shown at materially different levels depending on the snapshot in time.
At one point, Polymarket displayed Rieder at about 30%, placing him behind former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh at about 45%; another snapshot showed Rieder closer to 47%.
Trump has publicly addressed the timing of his decision, saying he will name his nominee to chair the Federal Reserve “in the not-too-distant future.” In the same period, multiple names have continued to circulate publicly as potential nominees alongside Rieder, including Kevin Warsh and Kevin Hassett, with sitting Fed governor Christopher Waller also appearing on widely discussed shortlists.
Confirmed vs unclear: Confirmed details include Rick Rieder’s role as BlackRock’s Chief Investment Officer for Global Fixed Income; Jerome Powell’s chair term ending in May 2026; Trump’s statement that he will name a nominee “in the not-too-distant future”; and the existence of conflicting Polymarket snapshots showing Rieder around 30% in one instance and around 47% in another, with one snapshot listing Kevin Warsh around 45%.
What remains unclear is the precise timing of Trump’s nomination announcement and which specific Polymarket snapshot best reflects the market’s standing at any given moment, since the displayed probabilities can change quickly.