Goldman Sachs is promoting Luke Sarsfield to head its $1.7 trillion asset management business jointly as part of a series of changes at the top.
According to people aware of the matter, as per Bloomberg News, CEO David Solomon is set to reveal changes in the company. This move is one of the biggest shakeups in its asset management unit since it merged its investment arm with merchant banking in 2020.
Sarsfield, 49, is promoted to jointly head the firm’s key unit with Julian Salisbury and end the anomaly at the top.
Salisbury, a British accountant turned investor, was in sole charge of the business for a significant part of 2021. This was abnormal for Goldman Sachs, with two executives running the money-making operations. Other changes include appointing new leaders for its public investing group and alternative investment business and creating key sales roles.
Last year Goldman Sachs posted around $15 billion revenue after having restructured its business operations in 2020, combining the merchant banking division and Investment banking division. After the previous Co-head departed in March last year, the position alongside Salisbury remained vacant.
The asset management unit is critical for Goldman Sachs as it generated more revenue and profitability than the group’s Investment Banking unit in 2021.
Luke Sarsfield had spent about 20 years in the group, playing dealmaker in various leadership roles before he was asked to head sales for the asset management group in 2019. His key responsibility was developing a relationship with retail and institutional clients.
Ashish Shah will head Goldman Sachs’s public investing arm. The business includes the bank’s mutual fund, which enables its clients to invest in the stock market and fixed income instruments. Shah joined Goldman Sachs in 2018 from AllianceBernstein Holding LP. His role is highly prominent at the firm’s top, considering he was a recent entry from a competitor.
Goldman plans to hand over the alternative business reins to Greg Olafson and Mike Koester. The duo will lead the unit considered mini Blackstone Inc. inside Goldman and the critical focus area for CEO Solomon. The firm wants to raise more external capital and reduce its investment from its Balance sheet reserve.
Goldman’s flexibility and willingness to invest from its balance sheet became the source of significant profits in the boom years but has been viewed skeptically by shareholders who prefer less volatile businesses and give consistent recurring revenue.
The new management changes include
- Heather Miner and Chris Kojima lead the newly formed Sales unit in the asset management division. They will cater to sovereign wealth funds and individual investors. Miner, who was previously in the operations department, will now be in charge of a revenue-generating role that positions her for more prominence in the firm.
- Katie Koch will head the quaint-focused group and replace Armen Avanessians, which has the firm after being one of the longest-serving partners at Goldman Sachs.
- Craig Russel, who was handling the crucial role in sales, is now being moved to the Vice-Chair position.
The promotion of Sarsfield will ensure that CEO Solomon has at least one executive from the investment banking unit, a division he used to head, in a leadership position in Goldman’s four business lines.
