Goldman picks leaders to run Wall Street engines in revamp

Michael M. Santiago/Photographer: Michael M. Santiag

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is promoting a slate of star executives to run its biggest Wall Street business lines, spotlighting the firm's next generation of leadership.

The bank, which just reported a surge in profit, is tapping new global leaders for its equities, fixed-income and banking units, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named discussing personnel decisions. It is also naming new co-heads of the international unit and dramatically expanding the management committee.

Erdit Hoxha, Cyril Goddeeris and Dmitri Potishko will oversee equities; Kunal Shah, Anshul Sehgal and Jason Brauth are set to run fixed income; and Kim Posnett, Matt McClure and Anthony Gutman will lead banking.

Shah and Gutman are becoming co-chief executive officers of Goldman Sachs International in addition to their new roles. Richard Gnodde, 64, will step down from running the international business, and is becoming vice chairman of Goldman Sachs.

The male-heavy promotions cap more than a year of deliberation inside Goldman over how to designate the firm's next generation of leaders, giving the roster more influence in shaping the development of operations. The division-head roles being filled are not part of the bank's current structure, with managers reporting to executives who oversee the broader banking and markets segment.

Altogether, the changes amount to the most significant elevation of Goldman's future leadership outside of Chief Executive Officer David Solomon's core team in recent years.

A spokesperson for the New York-based firm declined to comment.

In addition to the new equities, fixed income and banking heads, Sam Morgan and Kevin Kelly will run client coverage for the firm's trading business.

Francois-Xavier de Mallmann, chairman of investment banking, will become chairman of Goldman Sachs EMEA. He will join the management committee along with the new division heads, in addition to Will Bousquette, chief operating officer of the asset and wealth business, Kathleen Connolly, the bank's global director of internal audit, and Marie Louise Kirk, chief administrative officer for Asia-Pacific.

The changes add 15 people to Goldman's management committee, bringing the total to 39.

The promotions also spotlight a lack of gender representation in the senior rungs at one of Wall Street's most prestigious firms. Three of the new management committee members are women, lifting their number on the male-dominated committee to nine, but reducing the total proportion of women to 23% from 25%.

Solomon, Waldron

The slew of promotions reflect a broader attempt at the bank to hold on to talent as Chief Executive Officer David Solomon retains his grip on the top job. On Friday, the bank handed both Solomon and John Waldron, the president and chief operating officer, an $80 million retention bonus to keep them until at least 2030.

That has positioned Waldron as the likely next CEO, but also raised further concerns over paths forward for talented executives at the bank, who, like Waldron, are increasingly facing temptations to join high-paying firms across Wall Street, particularly alternative asset managers.

The bank's One Goldman Sachs initiative, which aims to smooth collaboration, is also getting new leadership as Morgan takes on his client coverage role. John Storey and Tony Pasquariello are becoming co-heads, alongside existing co-head Meena Flynn.

In a smaller re-organization earlier this month, the bank shuffled managers and combined units to form a capital solutions group, a nod to the growing importance of private markets.