Goldman Sachs's incoming CEO David Solomon is considering changing up the bank's most powerful committee - here's who he's considering adding
- Goldman Sach's incoming CEO David Solomon is considering naming more women to the firm's management committee, its most powerful governing group, insiders say.
- Alison Mass, Sheila Patel and Stephanie Cohen are among the executives being considered.
- Solomon is already starting to make his mark in elevating women to top positions at the bank. In June, he appointed eight women to the partnership committee, a panel that helps vet the firm's future leaders.
More changes are afoot as Goldman Sachs readies for a leadership handoff.
The firm's current president and incoming CEO, David Solomon, is considering adding more women to the firm's management committee, its most powerful group, according to people familiar with his thinking. As Solomon thinks about the future strategy of Goldman, he's focused on gaining an array of perspectives at the top of the bank, the people said.
Executives that he's considering include: Alison Mass, global head of the financial and strategic investors group within investment banking; Sheila Patel, head of the asset management arm's international business; and Stephanie Cohen, the chief strategy officer who recently launched a $500 million investment fund for women owned or controlled businesses. Mass is a favorite to join the committee, one of the people said.
The people cautioned that no decisions have been made and the incoming CEO could still change his mind or elevate other executives.
Currently, the management committee is comprised of 29 executives, of which only 4 are women, or 14%
Adding more women to the group is just one of many management or strategy changes Solomon is considering as he prepares to take over from Lloyd Blankfein in October. The bank said earlier this week that Blankfein would hand over the CEO's duties in the fall and then step down as chairman at the end of the year.
The announcement now frees Solomon to be more public about making changes. In May, securities division co-heads and Blankfein loyalists Pablo Salame and Isabelle Ealet announced their exits from the firm in what was largely seen by insiders as a sign that Solomon was asserting his voice in big decisions. He didn't explicitly push them out, people have said.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Solomon is considering shrinking the size of the management committee. Solomon, the report said, feels that it's become too big and too unwieldy, and overly populated with people who don't have a direct hand in generating revenue. It's not clear how Solomon's desire to have more women on the committee would work with his reported plans to consider shrinking it.
Two of the three women listed above are also in revenue-producing roles, with the exception of Cohen, and Solomon played an instrumental role in moving her out of the M&A banking group and into the executive office. The latest addition to the management committee, Dina Powell, is an investment banker charged with improving the firm's relationship with sovereign wealth funds, particularly those in the Middle East.
Solomon has already made his mark on what it arguably the firm's second or third most powerful body, the partnership committee.
Every two years, Goldman selects partners, a throwback to its founding as a private partnership. The selections are closely followed both inside and outside the firm for signs of who is the next generation of leaders. The committee provides one of the final sign-offs on the selection of each biannual class. It also spearheads initiatives at other times intended to preserve and foster the firm's partnership culture.
In June, Solomon pushed to add eight women to the partnership committee, bringing the total number to 12, or about 40%, according to two people with knowledge of the appointments. Patel; Liz Martin, global head of electronic trading; Amanda Hindlian, COO for the investment research department; and Christina Minnis, global head of acquisition finance, were among the additions. Cohen was already on it.
Both the management committee considerations and the partnership actions show Solomon delivering on what has been a years-long focus on improving diversity within the firm's most senior ranks. The company has committed to having a 2021 analyst class evenly split between men and women.
It's also a recognition of what works: Solomon's diversity push impressed the board and is said to be one of several reasons why they chose him over Harvey Schwartz.