Lloyd Blankfein

From Grokipedia

Lloyd Craig Blankfein (born September 20, 1954) is an American investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs from 2006 to 2018. Born in the Bronx and raised in public housing in East New York, Brooklyn, by a postal clerk father and seamstress mother, Blankfein attended Harvard College, graduating in 1975, and earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1978. After brief practice as a corporate tax lawyer, he joined Goldman Sachs in 1981 in its commodities division in London, later transferring to New York where he rose to partner in 1991, co-head of fixed income in 1997, and president and chief operating officer in 2004.

Blankfein succeeded Henry Paulson as CEO in 2006 following Paulson's nomination as U.S. Treasury Secretary, leading the firm during the 2008 financial crisis by converting Goldman Sachs into a bank holding company to access Federal Reserve liquidity and receiving $10 billion in TARP funds, which the firm repaid in full with a $1.4 billion profit to the U.S. government in 2010. Under his tenure, Goldman Sachs returned to profitability faster than peers, posting record revenues in subsequent years while shifting toward client-focused services amid post-crisis regulations like the Volcker Rule, though the firm faced persistent criticism for its trading activities and risk management.

Blankfein's leadership drew controversies, including SEC charges in 2010 over the Abacus synthetic CDO, settled for $550 million without admission of wrongdoing, and congressional testimony where he defended Goldman's market-making role as essential despite public distrust amplified by media narratives often overlooking the firm's net short positions on subprime mortgages. His remark characterizing the firm's work as "doing God's work" in a 2009 interview fueled perceptions of Wall Street arrogance, though Blankfein later clarified it referred to the societal benefits of efficient capital allocation. After stepping down as CEO in 2018, succeeded by David Solomon, Blankfein remained senior chairman until 2019 and has since commented on economic policy through media and advisory engagements.

In brief

Lloyd Blankfein grew up in New York City, went to Harvard College and Harvard Law, and nearly stayed a lawyer. J. Aron, a metals shop Goldman had bought, was the accidental door into a career.

He ran currencies, then the firm, through a decade when the word bank itself was on trial. Senior chairman was the afterword: a Brooklyn kid who had become the face of a partnership.