Goldman to promote highest number of executives to managing director since 2021

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By Saeed Azhar and Anirban Sen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Wall Street lender Goldman Sachs will promote 638 executives to managing director next year, the highest number since 2021, a company memo said, as the bank benefits from a pickup in investment banking across the industry.

Goldman Sachs has been leading Wall Street’s rankings for mergers and acquisitions as its fee volumes surged close to levels seen in 2021. 

The Wall Street firm announces managing director promotions every two years, and the number of bankers being promoted this time around exceeds the 608 senior bankers it promoted two years ago. Of those promoted, 27% were women, which is lower than 31% in 2023.

“It’s been really great in my seat in terms of the work that we do looking after the positioning performance and also the investment postures for our hedge fund clients based on our data,” Vincent Lin, co-head of prime insights and analytics at Goldman, told Reuters. Lin was among the executives elevated to managing director in the latest round of promotions. 

 “It’s been great to use this opportunity, and the work that we do to connect with clients to guide them through turbulent times and also through calmer times,” said Lin, adding that Goldman would look to expand its prime insights team globally across regions like Asia and Europe in the near term. 

More than 70% of the latest promotions come from revenue-generating businesses, but unlike previous years, Goldman did not break down how many came from global banking and markets or global asset and wealth units.

Goldman’s managing director level is the last stop before executives are promoted to the bank’s partnership. The latest round of promotions come as Wall Street bonuses are expected to rise for a second straight year for traders and investment bankers on surging deal volume and market volatility. 

MAIN DIVISIONS HEADED BY MEN

Goldman Sachs’ main divisions have been headed by men since 2024, when Stephanie Cohen, then global head of platform solutions division, left the firm.

Among the latest promotions, 31% are Asian, 3% Black and 4% Hispanic or Latino, the memo from CEO David Solomon and President John Waldron said.

The bank beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit, as its investment bankers earned higher advisory fees and rallying markets boosted revenue from managing client assets.

Goldman has, however, lost more than a dozen senior investment bankers this year, a higher number than normal, after internal shake-ups and a sluggish start to 2025 drove them to seek new opportunities, Reuters reported earlier, citing sources familiar with the situation.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Anirban Sen in New York; Additional reporting by Nupur Anand; Editing by Nia Williams, Rod Nickel and Leslie Adler)