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 Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Trump’s 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 isn’t 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, it’s still early on in Trump 2.0.And although Goldmanites haven’t 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, previo...