Goldman Unveils Larger Class of Managing Directors -- Update

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. named 509 managing directors on Wednesday, the last steppingstone to a spot in its elite partnership.

It is a bigger class than the 425 promoted two years ago, according to an announcement by the firm. Women make up 24%, about even with the 2015 class, as Goldman works on evening out a gender imbalance within the firm's upper ranks. Only about 15% of Goldman's roughly 450 partners are women.

The rank of managing director is highly coveted at Goldman. Newly minted MDs gain access to leadership training and Goldman investment funds that have been huge money-makers for the firm and its top employees. They also can take advantage of Goldman's private-wealth advisory network.

Still, they ascend at a time of tumult for the trading powerhouse, which is treading into unfamiliar terrain in search of new and more-stable revenues.

This year's crop of MDs includes citizens of nearly 50 countries. One in five started as a Goldman summer intern, and they have spent on average 10 years at the firm. Forty-four percent are millennials. The group includes the head of Goldman's Saudi operations, a young Washington lobbyist, the Swedish co-founder of a trading-technology startup Goldman acquired, and a credit-card fraud specialist who recently joined the firm from Capital One Financial Corp.

The largest chunk, 130, are in Goldman's trading arm, where revenue has fallen and some senior departures have stoked concerns of a hollowing-out of the senior ranks. Fifty-two work in technology as coders and engineers. Eight come from the firm's nascent consumer and commercial banking operations, which is expected to power much of Goldman's growth over the next few years.

Goldman names managing directors and partners in alternate years. In 2016, it promoted 86 partners, a smaller class that included higher numbers of women as well as support and control functions like legal and technology.

Write to Liz Hoffman at liz.hoffman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 08, 2017 18:36 ET (23:36 GMT)