The chairman and CEO of the investment banking giant will hand the reins of power to David M. Solomon, the current president and COO.
Lloyd Blankfein, chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs
Lloyd C. Blankfein will be stepping down from his dual role as chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Group after a 12-year reign at the top during which he guided the firm through the Great Recession and many controversies.
The changing of the guard at Goldman Sachs was not met with surprise as there have been prior media reports that Blankfein would be retiring and that David M. Solomon, the firm’s current president and chief operating officer (COO), would succeed him in both roles.
Blankfein will relinquish his CEO post on Sept. 30, 2018 and will retire from the firm and as chairman by the end of this year, officials say. “Mr. Blankfein will accept the title of senior chairman after his retirement,” officials add.
As expected, the board of directors picked Solomon to be the next CEO and chairman. He has been president and co-COO since 2016, and before that he served as global co-head of the investment banking division, starting in 2006. Solomon will join the board of directors on Oct. 1, 2018. Blankfein helped recruit Solomon from Bear, Stearns in 1999.
Blankfein made the official announcement of his departure at the quarterly meeting of the managing directors of Goldman Sachs. “Over the last 19 years, David has shown he plays the long game. He’s patient, deliberate, disciplined,” Blankfein said about Solomon.
Solomon is a member of the Goldman Sachs management committee and chair of the firmwide client and business standards committee and firmwide reputational risk committee, officials say. He is also co-chair of the firmwide enterprise risk committee. In addition, he served as co-head of the investment banking division from July 2006 to December 2016, and before that post, he was the global head of the financing group, which encompasses capital markets and derivative products for the firm’s corporate clients, officials say. Solomon joined Goldman Sachs as a partner in 1999.
“My job is to extend and maintain [the firm’s] precious legacy,” Solomon said at the recent MD meeting.
David Solomon, president & COO, Goldman Sachs
During his remarks before the MDs, Blankfein, who is 63, said that this was a good time to move on and that he could not leave when the firm was experiencing challenges. But he added that it’s difficult to leave when things are going well. “When the times are better, believe me, you don’t want to leave. It’s exciting and you’re pumped up … It’s very hard to get out.”
Blankfein, who has served as chairman and CEO since 2006, has spent 36 years at Goldman Sachs. His career at Goldman Sachs includes serving as:
- Chairman from June 2006 to December 2018;
- CEO from June 2006 to September 2018;
- President and COO from January 2004 to June 2006;
- Vice chairman with management responsibility for fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) and equities divisions from April 2002 to January 2004;
- Co-head of FICC from 1997 to April 2002;
- And head and/or co-head of the currency and commodities division from 1994 to 1997
A video of Blankfein’s remarks can be found here.
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