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The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Investment banking and financial servicesFounded 1869
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Company data updated: October 2026

Leadership History

Goldman Sachs: CEO History

5 leaders · 1994 to present

Who is the CEO of Goldman Sachs?

David Solomon is the CEO of Goldman Sachs, in the role since 2018. The first chief executive was Jon Corzine, from 1994.

Current CEO
David Solomon (since 2018)
First CEO
Jon Corzine (1994)
Leaders documented
6
Founded
1869
NameRoleFromToYears in role
David SolomonChairman and Chief Executive Officer2018Present8
John WaldronPresident and Chief Operating Officer2018Present8
Lloyd BlankfeinFormer Chairman and CEO2006201812
Henry PaulsonFormer Chairman and CEO199920067
Jon CorzineFormer Chairman and CEO199419995
Who was CEO of Goldman Sachs before David Solomon?
Lloyd Blankfein was CEO of Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2018, before David Solomon took over in 2018.

Company Overview

Goldman Sachs is a global investment banking, securities, and asset management firm headquartered at 200 West Street in New York. It advises corporations and governments on mergers and capital raising, makes markets in stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities, and manages money for institutions and wealthy individuals. It had about 47,400 employees at the end of 2025, trades on the NYSE as GS, and was valued at roughly $275-310 billion in September 2026. The company is headquartered in New York City, New York.

David Solomon

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

2018 – Present

8 years (current)

Key Decisions & Impact

Taking over as CEO in late 2018, David Solomon initiated a sweeping strategic review of the firm's operations. His most consequential decision was to pivot Goldman Sachs away from its traditional reliance on volatile trading revenues and toward more stable, recurring fee-based businesses like wealth management and consumer banking (via Marcus by Goldman Sachs). However, after facing severe operational losses and internal pushback regarding the consumer banking initiative, he pragmatically executed a strategic retreat in 2023, dismantling the consumer division to refocus on the firm's core strengths in asset management, global markets, and top investment banking.

Legacy

Solomon's tenure has been characterized by his efforts to modernize Goldman Sachs's notoriously intense corporate culture and diversify its revenue streams. While his foray into consumer banking ultimately proved unsuccessful, his decisive action to restructure the firm into three core divisions - Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions - stabilized the bank's earnings and improved its price-to-book valuation. He remains a polarizing but effective figure, handling the firm through the complex macroeconomic challenges of the post-pandemic era.

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John Waldron

President and Chief Operating Officer

2018 – Present

8 years (current)

Key Decisions & Impact

Oversees the firm's operating businesses, with deep roots in investment banking client coverage.

Legacy

Widely viewed as Solomon's second-in-command and a central figure in Goldman's advisory and banking franchise.

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Lloyd Blankfein

Former Chairman and CEO

2006 – 2018

12 years

Key Decisions & Impact

Assuming the CEO role just before the global financial system began to fracture, Lloyd Blankfein's defining decision was his aggressive, early mandate to hedge the firm's exposure to the subprime mortgage market. While this controversial strategy protected Goldman Sachs from the catastrophic losses suffered by rivals like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, it also subjected the firm to intense public and congressional scrutiny. Furthermore, he navigated the firm's emergency conversion into a traditional bank holding company in 2008 to secure critical liquidity from the Federal Reserve.

Legacy

Blankfein is widely recognized as one of the most capable, effective financial executives of his generation. He steered Goldman Sachs through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, ensuring the firm's survival while many of its historic competitors collapsed or were forcibly acquired. Despite enduring intense public vilification regarding the firm's role in the crisis, he ultimately restored Goldman's reputation and profitability, leaving the firm in a strong financial position upon his retirement.

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Henry Paulson

Former Chairman and CEO

1999 – 2006

7 years

Key Decisions & Impact

Following the ouster of his co-CEO Jon Corzine, Henry Paulson assumed sole control of Goldman Sachs and guided the firm through its historic, anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 1999. This structural change altered the firm's culture, transitioning it from a secretive private partnership into a publicly traded global corporation. Under his leadership, the firm heavily prioritized the expansion of its very profitable proprietary trading desks, taking on significantly more balance sheet risk to drive outsized returns.

Legacy

Paulson modernized Goldman Sachs, providing the permanent capital base required to compete globally against universal banks like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. His aggressive expansion of the trading division generated profits during the early 2000s, solidifying the firm's reputation as the leader of Wall Street. He left the firm at the height of its power in 2006 to become the United States Secretary of the Treasury.

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Jon Corzine

Former Chairman and CEO

1994 – 1999

5 years

Key Decisions & Impact

As CEO during the late 1990s, Jon Corzine was the primary internal advocate for taking the historic private partnership public. He recognized that the firm urgently needed permanent equity capital to survive in a rapidly consolidating global banking industry. However, his aggressive push for an IPO, combined with significant trading losses related to the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) in 1998, alienated the firm's conservative partnership committee.

Legacy

Corzine's tenure was controversial and ultimately ended in his forced removal by his co-CEO, Henry Paulson, and the broader partnership committee. However, his fundamental strategic vision - that Goldman Sachs could not survive long-term as a private partnership without access to the public equity markets - was ultimately proven correct and executed by his successors shortly after his departure.

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Other senior executives

These officers report to the chief executive and are not part of the CEO timeline above.

  • Denis Coleman, Chief Financial Officer (2022 – present)Leads finance, capital planning, and investor communication, including the reduction of historical principal investments.Source →

Challenges & Strategic Context

Goldman's earnings swing with deal volumes and trading activity, so a market freeze can quickly cut revenue, as 2022-2023 showed when net revenues fell from $59.3 billion to $46.3 billion. Bank capital rules, including any final Basel III endgame changes and the stress capital buffer, set how much balance sheet it can deploy. It competes with universal banks such as JPMorgan Chase that can bundle lending, payments, and advice, and with private-credit firms for asset-management dollars. Reputational events such as 1MDB remain a live risk for a franchise that sells trust.

Goldman Sachs CEO and Leadership FAQ

Who have been the primary Chief Executive Officers of Goldman Sachs in modern history?

Key modern leaders of Goldman Sachs include Sidney Weinberg (well-known leader from 1930 to 1969), Gus Levy, John Whitehead and John Weinberg (co-senior partners), Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman, Jon Corzine (led 1999 IPO), Henry Paulson (1999-2006), Lloyd Blankfein (2006-2018), and David Solomon (2018-present).

What major transformations occurred during Lloyd Blankfein's 12-year tenure as CEO?

Lloyd Blankfein navigated Goldman Sachs through the 2008 global financial crisis, converted the firm from an investment bank into a Federal Reserve-regulated bank holding company, secured a key $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, and restored record firmwide profitability.

What strategic changes has David Solomon spearheaded as CEO since 2018?

David Solomon simplified the firm's organizational structure into two primary divisions, grew assets under supervision past $3.0 trillion, scaled private credit and alternative assets, refocused away from consumer retail banking, and championed diversity and corporate transparency.

How did Sidney Weinberg establish Goldman Sachs' modern corporate advisory leadership?

Known as 'Mr. Wall Street', Sidney Weinberg led Goldman Sachs for nearly four decades (1930-1969), rescuing the firm from the 1929 stock market crash, pioneering modern investment banking C-suite advisory, and serving as a key industrial advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II.

What role did Henry Paulson play as CEO before becoming US Treasury Secretary?

Hank Paulson led Goldman Sachs through its successful 1999 IPO, oversaw rapid international expansion in China and Europe, and generated record investment banking earnings before being appointed by President George W. Bush as US Treasury Secretary in 2006.

How does Goldman Sachs' executive partnership culture influence leadership governance?

Goldman Sachs preserves its historic partnership heritage through the prestigious 'Partner Managing Director' (PMD) designation, selecting a small, top cohort of top performers every two years to participate in shared firmwide ownership, leadership, and long-term equity incentives.

What executive compensation philosophy guides Goldman Sachs' leadership?

Goldman Sachs aligns executive pay with long-term shareholder returns through performance-based restricted stock units tied to Return on Tangible Common Equity (ROTE) and Book Value Per Share growth, incorporating strict multi-year clawback provisions.

What is David Solomon's long-term roadmap for Goldman Sachs' institutional excellence?

David Solomon's roadmap focuses on deepening client relationships across Global Banking & Markets, scaling third-party alternative asset management fees, expanding private wealth management in Europe and Asia, and modernizing digital institutional infrastructure.

Who is the CEO of Goldman Sachs?

David Solomon serves as CEO. A former massive investment banker (and part-time electronic music DJ), he took over from Lloyd Blankfein. Solomon aggressively tried to pivot Goldman into Main Street consumer banking (Marcus, Apple Card), but the project lost massive billions and was ruthlessly shut down.

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Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.