Yahoo Finance Goldman Sachs reshuffles top management, elevates insiders as CEO Solomon retrenches
Goldman Sachs (GS) is handing new responsibilities to some longtime insiders as the Wall Street giant navigates a series of challenges.
One member of the firm’s top management committee, Ericka Leslie, will step down as the firm's chief administrative officer to become chief operating officer of Goldman’s global banking and markets division. That division is the largest at Goldman, housing investment banking as well as trading operations.
The executive who previously held that role, Will Bousquette, will become chief operating officer of the bank’s asset and wealth management division. Bousquette is succeeding 27-year Goldman veteran Laurence Stein, who will retire at the end of the year.
Goldman is turning to two veteran company figures for these new roles following a series of high-profile executive departures this year, including Julian Salisbury, who was chief investment officer of asset and wealth management, and Dina Powell McCormick, who was head of the bank's sovereign business.
McCormick left to join BDT & MSD Partners, which is run by co-CEO Gregg Lemkau, yet another ex-Goldman exec. Lemkau previously was in charge of investment banking for Goldman.
Bousquette, the new COO of asset and wealth management, joined Goldman in 1998. Leslie, the new COO of global banking and marrkets, joined the firm in 1996.
Leslie will now report to the firm’s three co-heads of global banking and markets, Ashok Varadhan, Dan Dees, and Jim Esposito.
It's possible that the chief administrative officer role she held will reemerge in the future, but the bank has no plans to fill it in the short term, according to a person familiar with the arrangement.
The reorganization comes amid scrutiny of CEO David Solomon, who is under pressure to improve Goldman's results after reporting the firm's lowest quarterly profits in three years.
He is wrestling with everything from job cuts and a two-year-long investment banking slump to reports of partner unrest and questions about his leadership style.
Goldman has already announced at least 3,200 layoffs this year and plans to cut expenses, including compensation, by $1 billion over the next two years.
Goldman's stock rose slightly Monday morning. It's down 5% since the beginning of January.
Under Solomon, the bank is attempting a tricky retreat from a costly push into consumer lending while it waits out a tepid period of dealmaking in investment banking.
It does, however, stand to benefit from a new string of initial public offerings starting this week. It is acting as one of the lead bankers for IPOs from chipmaker ARM and grocery e-commerce company Instacart.
Solomon said in a Friday interview with Yahoo Finance that if the IPOs go well, it could create a "virtuous cycle" that attracts other companies still waiting on the sidelines.
"Obviously an environment with more capital markets activity is a good environment for Goldman Sachs," he said.
Solomon said the firm is now emphasizing its principal businesses of investment banking, markets, and wealth management.
"That's where the lion's share of the firm's focus is at this point in time,” he said Friday.
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