Goldman Sachs lost a cluster of female managing directors, probably not because of gender
At least three female managing directors have left Goldman Sachs' asset backed securitization team, but the exits are probably not due to gender.
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Asset Backed Alert reported last week that three female managing directors who were structuring or selling asset backed bonds at Goldman have quit in recent months.
The exits reportedly began with Madelaine O'Connell, Goldman's former head of private placements on the New York asset backed securities syndicate desk, who left after 11 years in July. O'Connell is now at HPS Investment Partners, a US-based investment firm with over $110bn of assets under management.
O'Connell's exit was followed by that Katrina Niehaus, head of Goldman's esoteric asset backed bond group, who'd been with the firm for nearly two decades. Kelly Mellecker, Niehaus' second in command, who was promoted to MD only last year, also left several weeks previously. Mellecker is reportedly joining law firm Kirkland Ellis as an equity partner.
Goldman didn't comment on the exits. Eyebrows have been raised at the departure of senior women, but speaking off the record, one source says the exits were probably not gender related. "A lot of it has to do with being significantly under-compensated the last two years," he claims.
Asset Backed Alert (ABA) suggested that the exits may also be down to the closure of Marcus, Goldman's retail banking business, and the sale of consumer lending business Greensky, both of which deprived the team of a stream of assets to securitize. Goldman denied this and told ABA that its collateralized lending book business is up 30% this year.
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