Lynn Baranski joined the Wake Forest community in 1984 when she arrived on campus as a first year student. In classrooms with professors like David Smiley, who brought lectures to life with his joyful storytelling, she went on to pursue a bachelor of arts in history. After graduating, the deeply relational nature of Wake Forest extended beyond the confines of campus for Lynn, and she found support within the University’s alumni network as she took her next career steps into private equity.
Today, Lynn is the managing director, global co-head and chief investment officer of Private Equity Partners (PEP) within BlackRock’s Private Financing Solutions (PFS) group. Lynn’s service with the firm dates back to 1997, including her years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM), which merged with BlackRock in 2006. In her leadership role, Lynn chairs PEP’s Internal Investment Committee and Exit committee and is a member of PEP’s Executive Investment Committee.
Additionally, Lynn currently serves on the advisory boards of certain funds managed by Certares LLC, Black Diamond, Tailwind Capital Partners, 1315 Capital and Z Capital Partners. She is also currently on the board of Internova Group and Guardian Alarm. Lynn joined the Wake Forest Board of Trustees in 2023.