With Cantor and Morgan Stanley alumni leading the way for Trump, is the era of 'government Sachs' over?
The revolving door between Goldman Sachs and the US government may be slowing after decades of executives jumping between the bank and the federal government, sources told NYNext.
We are no longer ‘government Sachs,’ one Goldman insider told NYNext.
As a handful of Wall Street titans are up for notable jobs in the Trump administration like Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, nominated for Commerce Secretary, or new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who started his career at Soros Fund Management Goldman alumni have remained noticeably absent.
That’s a big change from the past.
Treasury secretaries Steve Mnuchin, Hank Paulson and Rob Rubin were all Goldman alumni, as were Obamas chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Trumps first-term National Economic Council chair Gary Cohn and security advisor Dina Powell. While Biden’s SEC Chair Gary Gensler was a former Goldman partner, sources note the pipeline began to slow during Biden’s administration.
It’s not that the Trump administration is anti-Goldman, sources say, but rather there just isnt as much talent to take as in previous years.
They blame the erosion of the talent pool on bright young stars exiting the company because older employees are staying on longer leaving limited advancement opportunities.
The culture used to be, do your job and work your ass off and the minute there was someone as good as you but younger, you got out of the way, a source explained. People had a finite period in leadership government was a great off-ramp.
Of course, its still early on in Trump 2.0. And although Goldmanites havent gotten any of the top jobs in the White House, there are plenty of other positions left. In particular, jobs focused on banking regulation like those in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation may be filled with staffers from Goldman. Another source notes that John Rogers, who serves on Goldman’s board, previously advised First Lady Melania Trump on staffing after the election.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley has emerged as a top advisor to key administration figures, like Elon Musk, and sent important names to DC.
Last week, star banker Michael Grimes who worked with Elon Musk on the Twitter deal left Morgan Stanley for a high level job in the Commerce Department. He joins former co-worker Anthony Armstrong, who took a high-level role at the Office of Personnel Management.
Morgan Stanley will now get any deal that are vaguely government related now I bet Grimes funnels everything there, another Goldman source added. The source joked the companys new nickname could be Mor-gov Stanley.”
Still, the amount of business for all banks is expected to surge thanks to an uptick in dealmaking across the board amid deregulation. Goldman declined to comment.
This story is part of NYNext, an indispensable insider insight into the innovations, moonshots and political chess moves that matter most to NYCs power players (and those who aspire to be).
