David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
David Solomon has faced a lot of heat in his role as leader Goldman Sachs this year. But an interaction with college students as part of his second chairman role is now attracting further scrutiny.
A group of seniors preparing to graduate from his alma mater, upstate New York’s Hamilton College, wrote a letter accusing the Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO of “blatant ignorance and disrespect” when they spoke to him about the school’s fossil fuel investments at a trustee networking event.
The students said Solomon, 61, claimed he did more in a week to help climate change than they ever would, pointing to his capital accumulation and position of power. He also surmised that the group — all non-male and mostly people of color — all benefited from financial aid, and therefore should feel guilty about the talent they questioned, according to the letter.
The letter, written jointly by three members of the class of 2023 and published on the school newspaper’s website in May, was reported on Friday past New York Magazine as part of a story of unrest within Goldman Sachs over Solomon’s leadership style. Solomon serves as chairman of the board of trustees for Hamilton, a liberal arts college with approximately 2,000 students.
Frustrations within Goldman have become increasingly public. They escalated through the pandemic even as the company posted record profits and intensified in recent months amid a slowdown in core business. Adding fuel to the fire, the bonus pool shrank last year in part due to losses from the now-abandoned consumer banking venture.
A representative for Hamilton College declined to comment. Goldman spokesman Tony Fratto said Solomon has tremendous respect for the students and “he did not say and did not want to say things to offend them. We strongly dispute the allegations that he made.” Fratto did not elaborate on which claims he disputed.
“At one point he laughed and told us he’d be dead in thirty years, so climate change would be our problem anyway,” the students wrote. They said Solomon indicated that fossil fuel divestment was a foolish move and that if students traveled to countries like China, India and Cambodia, they could see how the world “really worked” before deciding if they wanted to live that way. Shortly thereafter, in June, Solomon convened a Goldman Sachs board meeting in India.
Solomon oversaw record results for Goldman Sachs in 2021, and the stock has risen more than 50% since he took over nearly five years ago. But he has faced elements of revolt from the firm’s powerful cadre of partners over issues related to the business, such as the costly consumer banking flop, and some specific to Solomon himself — complaining about his brusque management style and his use of the corporate jet for leisure.
A growing list of senior departures has also been noticed, with some managers resign soon after taking new posts, and some top women left amid criticism about the company’s culture. The lineup includes executives Solomon has elevated, such as Julian Salisbury, who left last month for Sixth Street Partners.
In recent weeks, the company has hired veterans from the company to return in key roles. Tom Montag, who spent more than two decades at Goldman and helped run the trading business when Solomon ran investment banking, was named to the board last month. Russell Horwitz, a confidant of former CEO Lloyd Blankfein, is stepping back as chief of staff, a role that has been used to build consensus among senior executives.
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