- Business Insider spoke to four of Goldman Sachs’ newest partners about how it feels to have reached this career milestone, and how they learned the news from CEO David Solomon himself.
- Three partners from the firm’s TMT investment-banking group and one in alternative investments spelled out what it’s like to join this exclusive group, and the responsibilities it comes with.
- Partners at Goldman Sachs are among the firm’s most elite designations, representing just 1% of its global workforce of 40,000 employees.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Heather von Zuben went to bed in New York City on Wednesday night feeling anxious.
Indeed, on Thursday morning, she would potentially find out news that could change the course of her professional career: a spot in Goldman Sachs’ latest class of partners.
Her daughter even said a prayer that it would work out.
On Thursday morning, while awaiting the news, von Zuben headed into her office in Manhattan while, in San Francisco, colleagues Ryan Nolan and Jane Dunlevie were awaiting similar news.
For the trio — all top executives at Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street’s most prestigious firms — the news came via a phone call from David Solomon, Goldman’s CEO.
Von Zuben was in the middle of a Zoom conference with colleagues when her call came in. Dunlevie was tending to her 6-year-old and making breakfast when her phone rang. And Nolan had just finished giving his infant daughter her bottle when his call came in at 6:51 A.M.
The ensuing few moments, each executive said, raced by like a blur. Briefly and succinctly, Solomon shared a message with each one: Congratulations. You’ve just made partner.
They were a few of the 60 calls that Solomon and Goldman president and COO John Waldron split among themselves throughout the morning to break the news to the new inductees.
“I was ecstatic,” von Zuben told Business Insider about her reaction. “I tried to focus on my meeting as best I could” after that, she added, “but right after I got off, thankfully we were wrapping up pretty quickly.” Then, she started calling her mentors to tell them she’d made it.
Among the people who von Zuben — Goldman’s global head of client portfolio solutions in alternative investments since 2018 — broke the news to first was Eric Lane, the bank’s global co-head of the consumer and investment management division and someone whom she considers a mentor.
“Eric hired me into the firm 13 years ago,” von Zuben said, and “he’s supported me throughout my entire career.”
Making partner at Goldman is no small feat, especially because the total partnership is now fewer than 440 people as of this year, which is roughly 1% of Goldman’s 40,000-person strong worldwide workforce. This year’s class was the smallest since the firm went public in 1999, said a person familiar with the size and makeup of the group.
Since he took over from predecessor Lloyd Blankfein, Solomon has sought to tighten the partner pool and prioritize membership for front-office rainmakers over back-office personnel doing operational work, like HR.
But for those who clear the threshold, making partner comes with desirable perks, like a minimum base annual salary of $950,000 and access to a designated bonus pool.
Business Insider spoke to four of Goldman’s newest partners about how it feels to have reached this career milestone, and how they learned the news from Solomon himself.
‘Congratulations, welcome to the partnership’
When Nick Pomponi, a co-head of global software investment banking, received the call from Solomon on Thursday morning, he knew it was someone from inside Goldman Sachs based on how it was identified on his phone: No Caller ID.
“I was downstairs with my wife and kids and the phone rang,” he said, “so I quickly scooted upstairs and we had a quick chat.”
“He said, ‘Congratulations, welcome to the partnership,'” Pomponi recalled. “I think my wife was shooshing everybody, all my kids around the house.”
For Pomponi, who is based in New York City and has advised clients including Ultimate Software and IBM, making partnership is a recognition of the successes of Goldman’s technology, media, and telecommunications investment-banking group. Indeed, of the 19 investment bankers elevated to partner status, seven came out of the TMT group.
On Friday, DoorDash released its filing to go public with Goldman Sachs playing a leading role in advising on the IPO. Dating app Bumble is reportedly considering an IPO in 2021, and plans to have Goldman Sachs serve as a lead advisor, according to Bloomberg.
In September, Goldman was one of the lead advisors on the IPO of data-storage unicorn Snowflake, whose debut was the largest-ever software IPO. The bank earned $34 million in underwriting fees, Business Insider previously reported.
Nolan, another co-head of global software investment banking, agreed about the significance of the TMT promotions. “It is a testament to just how well the business and the team is doing,” he told Business Insider. “I think it demonstrates that not only is tech growing massively and media telecom, for that matter … but I think it also demonstrates that technology is permeating everything.”
‘Almost every female partner has already called me this morning’
All four executives described the feeling of making partner as an incomparable rush, and they underscored the responsibilities they feel to provide mentorship to younger employees or advance initiatives that the firm runs around diversity and inclusion.
For Goldman’s new female partners, that feeling is palpable. Twenty-seven percent of the bank’s 2020 partner class is comprised of women. With the new class, women now make up 18% of the partnership.
“I think almost every female partner has already called me this morning, and it’s a group that takes incredibly seriously the mentorship and support of women in the pipeline,” said Dunlevie, a global co-head of internet investment banking within the TMT group. “We’re hopeful and we know there’s work still to be done.”
Meanwhile, women have made strides across the finance industry this year, even though gender dynamics remain significantly skewed.
In 2020, Goldman Sachs elevated two top female executives — Stephanie Cohen, chief strategy officer, and Kim Posnett, a senior executive in the investment banking group — to co-head of the firm’s merged wealth management and consumer group and co-head of investment banking services, respectively.
Outside Goldman, Jane Fraser, the top executive in consumer banking at Citigroup, was announced to be taking over Citi as CEO in February 2021, making her the first woman to helm a major US bank.
But for von Zuben — who is a sponsor of the Launch with GS initiative, which supports the flow of capital to diverse entrepreneurs, and also a member of the MD advisory board for Goldman’s firm-wide Hispanic/Latinx network — being able to show her daughters, 8 and 11, that their mom has reached this zenith is a particular source of pride.
She recalled her 8-year-old daughter’s reaction by phone earlier that day, when she called her family to tell them the good news.
“My littlest daughter who was saying prayers for everything to go well today for me, which was very sweet, said, ‘Are you sure? Did it really happen, Mommy?'” she said.
As she ended a day at the office that she is unlikely to forget, she headed home to her daughters to celebrate that the answer was yes.
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