Lloyd C. Blankfein

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Lloyd Blankfein is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs & Co., a dual role he held from June 2006 to October 2018. He retired from Goldman Sachs in September of 2018. 
He was promoted to the top post after a two-year stint as Goldman's president and chief operating officer, succeeding Hank Paulson. He had been co-head of Goldman's Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) division from its inception in 1997 until 2003, when he became its head, and also served as vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from 2002 to 2004. 
In 2005, Blankfein was inducted into the Futures Industry Association's Futures Hall of Fame, which was established in 2005 to commemorate outstanding contributions to the global futures and options community. 
As CEO of Goldman, he steered the firm through the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in 2008.
On Jan. 13, 2010, Blankfein testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, when he was questioned about allegations that Goldman Sachs had sold a large amount of securities based on subprime mortgages while simultaneously taking positions against those securities. Blankfein admitted the behavior was "improper" but said the trading was part of Goldman's work as a market maker and that it was done to manage the firm's risk profile. He also gave testimony to the Senate on Apr. 27, 2010 regarding some of the causes and consequences of the financial crisis. The testimony came shortly after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Goldman Sachs with civil fraud.
He agreed in March of 2011 to testify at the high-profile criminal insider trading trial of Raj Rajaratnam.
In July of 2015, it was reported that Blankfein had a net worth of about $1.1 billion.
== Background ==
Blankfein rose from the ranks of the commodity futures business to the top of one of the largest investment banks in the world. Prior to his long career in the commodity arena, he worked as a corporate tax lawyer for the law firm Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine. Blankfein then joined J. Aron’s currency and commodities division as a gold bar and coin salesman in 1982 shortly before the company was acquired by Goldman Sachs. 
Over the succeeding years he rose steadily, first in the firm’s commodities division, then as head of the firm’s trading activities. He was named partner in 1988, head of the J. Aron currency and commodities division in 1994, and co-head of the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Division upon its formation in 1997. He was named a member of the firm’s management committee in 1999, vice chairman in 2002, president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs in January of 2004. Blankfein was co-head of fixed-income trading when Goldman Sachs had its IPO, an event that created enormous wealth for executives. When on May 31, 2006, Goldman Chairman and CEO Hank Paulson was nominated as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Blankfein was announced as his replacement. 
As Goldman's CEO, Blankfein received about $68 million in 2007 in what was a record for a Wall Street CEO. It was largely in restricted stock. In 2008, Blankfein and other top Goldman executives announced they would take no bonus for that year.
 
According to the Wall Street Journal, his very first job was selling peanuts and popcorn at Yankee Stadium.
== Education ==
*BA, Harvard University (1975)
*Law School: JD, Harvard Law School (1978)
== Affiliations ==
Blankfein has served on the board of Catalyst, a research and advisory organization that works with businesses and the professions to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work. He also has served as a member of the Harvard University Committee on University Resources, the advisory board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, the governing board of the Indian School of Business, an overseer of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, a trustee of the New York Historical Society, the board of directors for Partnership for New York City, and a trustee of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization that seeks to alleviate poverty in New York.
== References ==
Category:Futures Hall of Fame Members
Category:Goldman Sachs Executives
Category:MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Category:CEOs