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List of Goldman Sachs partners that exited in 2019 – Business Insider

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List of Goldman Sachs partners that exited in 2019 – Business Insider

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Goldman Sachs said goodbye to dozens of partners last year when they either left the firm, renounced their membership in one of Wall Street’s most desirable clubs, or made it clear they’d leave by the end of January, and the exits hit hardest in the firm’s securities division.Roughly half of those counted by Business Insider – 18 out of 36 – departed the firm’s troubled securities division.Business Insider searched through articles, both its own and those of other news organizations, talked to current and former employees, and sounded out recruiters to aggregate the departed partners. Click here for more BI Prime stories.Goldman Sachs said goodbye to dozens of partners last year when they either left the firm or renounced their membership in one of Wall Street’s most desirable clubs, and the exits hit hardest in the firm’s securities division.More than half of those counted by Business Insider – 18 out of 36 – departed the firm’s securities division, renounced their partner status or said they will leave soon. The count doesn’t include a quintet of senior partners from the securities division who left in 2018: Pablo Salame, Isabelle Ealet, Paul Russo, John Willian and Stacy Bash-Polley. Business Insider searched through articles, both its own and those of other news organizations, talked to current and former employees, and sounded out recruiters to aggregate the partners who left. Since becoming CEO in October 2018, David Solomon has turned a sharp eye to Goldman’s trading division, where former CEO Lloyd Blankfein made his career and where many of his top lieutenants kept their desks. The securities division has struggled with a move toward electronic trading and calm financial markets that have kept many clients on the sidelines, and yet many of the exits were well-known names on Wall Street. Salame, David Casner, and Justin Gmelich, to name just three, quickly found jobs elsewhere. Salame, once head of the division, joined Ken Griffin’s hedge fund, Citadel, as head of credit, while Casner, a senior exec in equity derivatives, joined Citadel last year as well. Gmelich, one of two leaders of Goldman’s fixed-income franchise, joined hedge fund King Street Capital as global head of markets and also joined MarketAxess’ board. Some partners didn’t leave the firm, but gave up their standing as partners. John Madsen, the former chief technology officer, chose to “retire from the partnership,” according to a September memo that hewed closely to a phrase that’s been used in other cases as well. Dean Backer, head of Goldman’s prime brokerage unit, also retired from the partnership, but stayed on as chairman of the business. Others are still at the firm, but have made it known that they intend to leave. Josh Struzziery, for example, will leave by the end of this month, according to a person with knowledge of his exit. One current partner, research chief Steve Strongin, is widely thought to be giving up his management post and partnership status this year to focus on writing and research, though he remains a partner today, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Each individual decision was likely a mixture of realizing that there was no place for them in Solomon’s Goldman Sachs and finding exciting opportunities elsewhere. When people leave, there’s a number of ways to go. While many like to stay private, others host cocktail hours or private dinners with close colleagues, and sometimes, clients. Marty Chavez, for example, is hosting a retirement dinner on Wednesday night at the Izakaya-style Japanese restaurant Zuma. Colleagues arranged marching bands to fete Justin Gmelich and Brian Levine when they left, and Levine gave a short speech over the trading floor’s loudspeaker known as the hoot, according to a person who witnessed it. Others are clapped off the floor. And still others star in movies: Paul Russo was the subject of a short video featuring old photos that aired in the auditorium. In all, roughly 50 partners have already left since the last partner class was announced in November 2018, or said they will leave shortly, according to a person who has seen the numbers. Executives expect another 30 or so to leave between now and when the new partner class is announced later this year, the person said.Executives close to Solomon think the exits are tracking past cycles. By other counts, the firmwide departures have been greater than in years past. The Wall Street Journal reported in September, without saying where it got the information, that as much as 15% of the firm’s roughly 500 partners would leave. The newspaper said at the time that as many as 12 partners were negotiating their exit before the end of the year.Goldman’s partnership stood at roughly 500 in late 2018 when a new class of 69 partners – the smallest in Goldman’s two decades as a public company – received the promotion.The CEO is looking to shrink the partnership and make it more exclusive, and he’s made it clear internally that he wants to give more of the prestigious titles to revenue producers than those who work in human resources, finance, or operations. He’s also said that some of the exits have come as a byproduct of choosing other executives for more senior roles. Jeff Nedelman, for example, is widely thought to have left after Solomon named Marc Nachmann as co-head of the securities division.”As a management team, John, Stephen and I are very focused on creating opportunities for the next generation of leaders at Goldman Sachs,” Solomon said in October on the firm’s earnings call. “As we set forth an ambitious long-term strategic plan for the firm, it is a natural point in time for this transition to occur.”The CEO has encouraged some of the exits by offering some partners generous payouts, people with knowledge of the discussions said in September. In some cases, that might look like a prorated bonus adjusted for their performance, while in others, it may be a larger sum, one of the people said. The preponderance of exits from the securities division has led some to call it a purge, or a sign that Solomon is focused on thinning out enemies or Blankfein lieutenants. It’s also true that the division is undergoing large scale changes the likes of which aren’t being seen in most of Goldman’s other units. Solomon has named investment bankers to securities division roles: Two out of three of the securities division co-heads, Jim Esposito and Marc Nachmann, spent the majority of their careers in the division Solomon ran before getting promoted. Vivek Bantwal, last seen running the firm’s credit and structured finance businesses, has been named as chief operating officer of the securities division. Bantwal worked for Nachmann in the investment bank, according to a person with knowledge of their careers. On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs said it would report financial results across four new segments, another part of Solomon’s plan to reposition Goldman for the future and help elevate the firm’s stock price.Here’s the list of those partners who left, or renounced their membership.Have we forgotten someone? Please reach out to the reporter at dcampbell@businessinsider.com, or through text or encrypted messaging app Signal at 917-673-9252. SecuritiesMarty ChavezBrian LevineJeff NedelmanJustin GmelichDan OnegliaAndrew RennieArun DharJeff VerschleiserJosh StruzzieryDavid CasnerEiji UedaGavin Leo-RynieKonstantin ShakhnovichDean Backer (retired from the partnership)Scott RofeySara DevereuxJack McCabeGerard Beatty (retired from the partnership)Investment BankingJoe ToddSteven BargHansong ZhuRob SweeneyDan SwiftFederationDane HolmesRobin VinceGreg PalmBruce LarsonKen HitchenerRobert BerryTechnologyElisha WieselJeff WeckerJohn Madsen (retired from the partnership)Merchant bankingBeth CoganOliver ThymResearchRichard ManleyConsumer and Investment ManagementKane Brenan

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