• Goldman Sachs mentioned diversity just 3 times in this year's report.
• It said its "aspirational hiring goals" will expire this year without saying if it would set new goals.
• The firm's CEO, David Solomon, pointed to the political landscape under the Trump administration.

Goldman Sachs tamped down the diversity language in its annual report as DEI efforts come under fire from the Trump adminitration.

The bank also said "aspirational hiring goals" it set five years ago expire this year without saying whether it planned to set new goals.

Goldman's 2024 annual report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, referenced diversity relating to human capital just three times, versus 14 in the 2023 report and 16 times in the 2022 report. The Wall Street bank also eliminated a section of the report previously titled "Diversity and Inclusion," its hiring breakdown by race and gender and its diverse hiring goals by race and gender.

Earlier this year, Goldman dropped a policy requiring companies its advises on IPOs to have at least two women directors.

Goldman isn't alone. The $11 trillion asset manager BlackRock this week also cut mentions of its "three pillar DEI strategy" in its annual report, as well as a breakout of its employee demographics by race and gender. It also amended the metrics used to determine borrowing costs for a $4.4 billion credit facility which was previously tied to its efficacy in boosting internal DEI targets.

The changes come as President Trump cracks down on DEI. In January, he invoked directed the Department of Justice to investigate DEI policies, prohibiting private organizations from instituting such initiatives in employment practices related to federal contracts.

In a statement, Goldman CEO David Solomon cited changes to the law.

"We have made certain adjustments to reflect developments in the law in the US," he said. "Our people are a powerful example of that and that's why we will continue to focus on the importance of attracting and retaining diverse, exceptional talent."

Goldman said in the report that it still believes in a diverse workforce and would "continue to develop programs consistent with our fundamental commitment to inclusive merit-based promotion and compliance with the law."

The bank's 2023 report set goals to hire of 50% women analysts and associates, 11% Black professionals and 14% Hispanic/Latinx professionals in the Americas, and 9% Black professionals in the UK.

In 2023, it also broke down its workforce by race and gender, saying its analyst and associate hires included 49% women professionals, 9% Black professionals and 13% Hispanic/Latinx professionals in the Americas, and 15% Black professionals in the UK.

Also gone are mentions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs. In the 2023 report, Goldman said it would seek to double the number of campus hires in the US recruited from HBCUs in 2025 relative to 2020.What's more, a breakdown of the firm's aspirational goals for diverse hiring is also missing.

For Goldman, DEI has historically been framed as a business imperative. In its 2022 annual report, the firm stated that "diversity at all levels" was "essential to our sustainability" and cited efforts to increase representation among women and underrepresented groups. At the time, the firm touted stats, such as one where it said approximately 57% of Goldman's board was diverse by race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Even so, its track record on DEI has come under fire for other reasons. Last year, reporting from The Wall Street Journal found that numerous senior women at the bank felt it hadn't done enough to support their career prospects or advancement, and was still heavily male-dominated.

Reed Alexander is a reporter for Business Insider. He can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.

• Goldman is building a new campus in Dallas, its largest US office outside of New York City.
• It will include rooftop gardens, bike parking, childcare, and more.
• Two top executives walked BI through the amenities and design.

Goldman Sachs may be synonymous with Wall Street, but working there no longer requires you to be a stone's throw from downtown Manhattan.

The investment bank's largest US workforce outside of New York City is now in Dallas, Texas — and the firm has plans to continue to grow its presence in the southern city in the coming years. Indeed, it's spending some $500 million to build a new office campus near downtown Dallas that's expected to house as many as 5,000 employees, or more than 10% of its global workforce, when it opens in 2028.

That's up from the roughly 1,500 staffers who worked at the Dallas site at the conclusion of 2018, the year CEO David Solomon took over leadership of the bank.

What will the new office tower look like, and what might it be like to work there every day?

BI spoke to two Goldman executives overseeing the project, Ben Trinder and Aasem Khalil, about the design, the office perks, and what it will mean to Goldman staffers based in Dallas. They said the goal was to create a space that feels more like a campus than a commercial office tower, including rooftop gardens, a park, and paths for walking and biking.

The design vision

The three-acre site, located in the hip Victory Park neighborhood, will include an 800,000-square-foot office tower powered by electricity. The structure will include a north and south wing united by a central, connective segment. The north wing will rise 14 stories, the central 10 stories, and the south wing 8 stories.

The building will include bicycle parking, lockers, and changing facilities, allowing employees to cycle to work.

A central, landscaped walkway called Paseo will connect the building to the large nearby park. An oculus above the Paseo will give passersby a glimpse into some of the building's busy offices while allowing sunlight to filter through the building.

Parking will be stored underground to make the campus more walkable.

"We pushed all of our parking below ground so that our building had a relationship with the public realm that was respectful," said Trinder, a managing director and and global head of real estate development for corporate and workplace solutions at Goldman Sachs.

Rooftop gardens

Each section of the tower will feature rooftop gardens and terraces where employees can gather for a breath of fresh air or to enjoy the Dallas skyline. The gardens will also host events, meetings, and functions.

The landscape designer on the project, Michael VanValkenburg, is known for projects including Brooklyn Bridge Park and Maggie Daley Park. VanValkenburg will also be responsible for developing a 1.5-acre park adjacent to the Goldman campus. A passageway will run through the office, connecting it to the park.

"By elevating the centerpiece of the building, we've created this connection to the community, to the park," Trinder said. "We knew that the park was the heart of the development."

From wellness to dining

Amenities include fitness and wellness facilities, childcare services, and multiple dining options. Dining options will be spread throughout the building but the main food exchange will be located on the second floor. The building will also include a social lounge and coffee bars.

"The new campus was designed to support the health and wellness of Goldman Sachs' workforce," the company said in a 2023 press release announcing the site's groundbreaking.

What the neighborhood has to offer

The new campus will be based in Dallas's trendy Victory Park neighborhood, named for a nearby park known for its festivals and outdoor markets. The hub is close to the American Airlines Center where the Dallas Mavericks play, as well as the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, the Dallas World Aquarium, a Ritz-Carlton hotel, the arts district, and plenty of popular restaurants.

Khalil — who also serves as the firm's global head of investment-banking services — described the location as representing "the heart of the city" because of its central location between Dallas' upscale uptown district and its vibrant business district located downtown.

Texas has attracted a string of large companies, from Tesla to Charles Schwab, in recent years due to its business-friendly environment, favorable tax policies, and the region's universities, which are prime for attracting new talent.

Goldman's Dallas expansion is also part of a multiyear cost-cutting plan introduced at the company's inaugural Investor Day in 2020. The bank said it would save money by shifting staffers from higher-cost centers like New York City and London, to more affordable cities like Dallas, Texas, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The bank's current leadership sees the Dallas team continuing to grow once the new office opens as a result.

"We build for expansion," Trinder said, "and this office is designed to accommodate future growth."

Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.

• Dallas is now home to Goldman Sachs' largest US workforce outside of New York City.
• 5 Goldman employees, from partner to analyst, share what living and working there is like.
• They said career opportunities in Dallas have grown as the hub takes on more front-office functions.

In 2017, Goldman Sachs' president and co-chief operating officer, David Solomon, had a big ask of one of his fellow bankers: Move to Goldman's outpost in Dallas, Texas. At the time, Dallas was home to roughly 900 Goldman employees, and the bank hadn't had a full-time partner stationed there since the 1990s.

The lifelong New Yorker tasked with building out the Dallas office, Aasem Khalil, didn't know what to expect. The experience, he said, has exceeded his expectations — both personally and professionally.

"If you think back to the mid-90s, to the mid-2010s in New York City, it had this incredible golden era," Khalil told Business Insider in a recent interview. "Dallas is in the very early innings of a similar run, with a financial-services renaissance, a cultural explosion, and continued population growth," he said, adding, "All of these things are really exciting."

When one thinks of Goldman Sachs, they tend to think of New York City — where Wall Street was born. Today, Dallas is Goldman's largest US office outside of New York City, home to 4,600 Goldman employees and growing.

Khalil, who was Goldman's global head of chemicals banking when he moved to Dallas, is now head of the Dallas office. He is helping to oversee the construction of a $500 million state-of-the-art office campus, which will house roughly 5,000 employees when it opens in 2028.

Goldman is not alone. A number of companies have either moved to or expanded their offices in the Lone Star State in recent years, attracted by the business-friendly environment, favorable tax policies, and a skilled workforce bolstered by the region's universities and burgeoning business scene. Elon Musk made headlines when he moved electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla to Austin from California in 2021, citing frustrations with the latter state's COVID-19 lockdown policies.

Dallas, meanwhile, has become a hub for financial firms like JPMorgan Chase, Charles Schwab, and Wells Fargo. According to the law firm Foley & Lardner, investment-banking and securities employment in Texas has surged by 27% since the coronavirus pandemic.

BI spoke to five Goldman Sachs employees in Dallas, including Khalil, to understand what it's like to work in the bank's fastest-growing US hub. They discussed the challenges of being away from headquarters, the social and professional culture, and what it means to build a career in finance outside of Wall Street.

More than a back-office hub

Prior to Khalil's arrival, Goldman's Dallas office, established in 1968, was largely focused on real estate and private wealth, as well as middle- and back-office support functions. In 2020, however, Goldman announced plans to slash more than $1 billion in costs, in part by shifting staffers from higher-cost centers like New York City and London to more affordable cities like Dallas, Texas, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

As a result, the Dallas office is now home to a much wider array of career opportunities, including investment banking, wealth management, asset management, real estate, and sales and trading, executives told BI. Some of the firm's top executives are also now based there, including Khalil, who is global head of investment-banking services in addition to leading the Dallas office, and Rob Kaplan, who rejoined Goldman last year as vice chairman of the bank and a member of its management committee following a stint as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

"One of the things about the Dallas presence is we are well represented across every division of the firm," Kaplan told BI, adding: "You'll see us grow across divisions."

The company declined to provide a breakdown by division, but a review of the bank's careers portal showed more than 250 open posts in Dallas as of late February. Positions ranged from a Java full-stack developer to associates focused on direct lending. Sixty-four job listings were in the AWM group, versus 36 in global banking and markets, and 31 in the next biggest group, the risk division.

The office's junior bankers get deal experience just like they would in New York, Khalil said. The Dallas-based investment-banking team advised Celanese, a global chemicals company, on its $1.15 billion acquisition of Exxon Mobil's business Santoprene in late 2021, and Tyler Technologies, a software firm, in its all-cash, $2.3 billion purchase of NIC, a government solutions and payments company, the same year.

Dallas' young bankers also get pulled into the deals being handled by other teams, Khalil said.

"We get a lot of calls asking for our junior resources to help execute M&A transactions for clients that are in and around the southwest," Khalil said, adding: "It happens all the time where other regions call us and say, 'Hey, can we borrow so-and-so? Or can we have so-and-so work on this?'"

Where opportunity meets connectivity

Despite efforts to make Dallas a microcosm of 200 West Street, where Goldman is headquartered, employees said the southern hub feels more intimate as a result of its smaller size.

"Forty-five hundred people doesn't sound small and cozy, but the truth is you can get to know everyone here, you can get your arms around the place, and we have a lot of mentors and coaches," said Kaplan, the vice chairman. "I spend a lot of my time mentoring and coaching young people early in their career in the Dallas office and across the firm."

Longtime Dallas resident Oksana Beard — a managing director in asset and wealth management and the firm's global head of debt capital markets for real estate and Goldman Sachs Asset Management — likes to help new arrivals get settled in the city.

"When people come, the feedback that I hear quite a bit is that they are overwhelmed by that southern hospitality and open-door culture that we tend to have," she said. The challenges tend to arise along personal lines as they adjust to their new home, she added. "It's just on a personal level of, which community do you want to plug into the most as far as where you're going to buy your house or kids' schooling and things like that," Beard explained.

Kaplan, meanwhile, has taken to hosting receptions at his Dallas home roughly once a month for employees ranging from analysts to vice presidents and managing directors. "We'll get a hundred people, as much as I can fit, into my apartment," he said.

Living in Dallas

Goldman's website paints Dallas as the perfect combination of laidback and urban living. A guide to the city displayed on the website until recently said it's home to the largest arts district in the country, over 160 miles of urban hiking and biking trails, and four major league sports teams.

Another perk of life in Dallas is the low cost of living. According to the Economic Research Institute, New York is 150% more expensive than Dallas, and a person making $30,000 per year in Dallas would need to make about $75,000 to preserve an identical living standard in the borough of Manhattan.

For Maggie Kravchuk, an analyst in the asset-and-wealth-management group, the ability to work from Dallas was a key selling point when she joined the bank full time in 2022. Kravchuk attended the nearby Baylor University so had already built a life there.

"I went to college in Texas and was able to build connections here throughout my time at undergrad," Kravchuk said. "It was amazing to be able to pursue the career in finance that I wanted without having to leave a place that had become home for me and where a lot of my friends were."

Despite having friends in the area, Kravchuk said she has also cultivated close bonds with members of her analyst class. Recently, a group of them traveled to Florida to run a half marathon.

"There's a group of us who love running," she said. "We train for a few races every year."

The highlights of the Dallas office

Perks of Goldman's Dallas office include a suite at the American Airlines Center where the Dallas Mavericks NBA team and the Dallas Stars NHL team play, employees said. Sometimes, Goldman's Dallas staffers are invited to take in a game from the suite, which is primarily used to entertain clients.

Employees get free access to the Nasher Sculpture Center, a gallery featuring more than 300 pieces of modern and contemporary work by noted artists like Picasso, Matisse, and Rodin.

Paige Richey, chief of staff for the Dallas office, said that working in Dallas has afforded her and her three kids a quality of life they might not have elsewhere.

"I tell them all the time how fortunate we are to be able to pop into the city, go to the museum, hit the Dallas Mavericks game," she said. "This feels a little bit New Yorker-ish that my girls right now — their favorite thing to do is to get onto their rollerblades and meet their friends and they go to Starbucks. So that feels a little bit like an urban lifestyle."

Goldman has a 5-day in-office policy across its offices, including the Dallas site. Still, Richey said her life there affords her the flexibility to have a career and raise her kids, thanks to supportive bosses and a short commute.

"I never thought that I'd be able to be at Goldman as a working mom with three kids and have a career that I feel is on the up, and feel like I am getting to raise our daughters and not having somebody else do that for me."

Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.

• Welcome to the 6th edition of "The Rainmakers," representing the top 20 investment bankers of 2024.
• These 20 bankers completed some of the year's biggest deals, based on data assembled by MergerLinks.
• This year's list marks the first time a woman, Anu Aiyengar of JPMorgan, took the top spot.

If you were to describe dealmaking in 2024, you might say it's the year Wall Street got its swagger back.

US companies announced over $1.43 trillion in deals last year, the highest amount since 2021, when a dealmaking frenzy resulted in a record $2.51 trillion in US M&A activity, according to deals tracker LSEG. The uptick — combined with signs of economic growth and a more relaxed approach to regulations under the Trump administration — has led some industry leaders to suggest that the M&A freeze that started in 2022 might finally be coming to an end.

"There's a lot of pent-up energy in capital markets, particularly around the financial-sponsor community, and that will be unleashed," David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, said at a financial-industry conference in February. "I am very confident we will get back to 10-year averages" in historical dealmaking contexts, said, adding: "This year could be one of those times."

Bankers have good reason to be hopeful: There were 96 megadeals, or deals over $5 billion, announced globally last year — the most since 2021, according to LSEG. Such deals are the lifeblood of the biggest investment banks as they can generate hundreds of billions in fees for firms. Last year's M&A activity generated advisory fees of about $33.4 billion, a 7% increase from roughly $31.3 billion the year before, LSEG said.

Some of the multibillion-dollar tie-ups facilitated by the battle-hardened M&A bankers on this year's list included the nearly $36 billion sale of food manufacturer Kellanova to the snack brand Mars and the $26 billion takeover of Endeavor Energy Resources by rival Diamondback Energy.

To find out which bankers helped their firms benefit from last year's boom, Business Insider partnered with MergerLinks, a UK-based data provider that reviews M&A performance, to present the sixth annual edition of "The Rainmakers," a list of the top-20 investment bankers ranked by overall transaction volume, in the US.

This is the first year a woman — Anu Aiyengar of JPMorgan — has snagged the No. 1 spot. It's also the first time more than one woman has made the ranking, which is based on volumes of deals announced in the US.

Aiyengar, JPMorgan's global head of mergers and acquisitions, was joined by Lily Mahdavi, who was recently promoted to cohead of M&A in the Americas at Morgan Stanley.

It's Aiyengar's fourth appearance. Other repeat names include Suhail Sikhtian, who leads Goldman's natural-resources practice; Blair Effron, a co-founder of the elite-boutique investment bank Centerview; and Stephan Feldgoise, Goldman Sachs' head of M&A.

More notable, perhaps, are the unusually high number of new faces — including Mahdavi and her fellow Morgan Stanley dealmaker, Steve Munger. Also new to the list are Centerview's Todd Davison, Jefferies' Conrad Gibbins, and Xavier Loriferne of JPMorgan Chase. In total, nearly 50% of the members on this year's list — nine names — are making their inaugural debut, MergerLinks said.

The 2024 list also marks the first time a Jefferies banker has made the top 20.

MergerLinks tracks publicly announced deals and calculates deal values on a net basis, including both equity and debt components. To make the individual league table, a banker must have been the lead advisor on either side of a transaction.

Deal sizes are sourced from MergerLinks and public press releases and include the target company's net debt. The transaction values are converted from British pounds to US dollars at the average 2024 exchange rate. As a result, some deal prices announced in dollars throughout the year may not match up.

Anu Aiyengar, JPMorgan Chase

Title: Global head of M&A

Number of deals: 14

Value of deals: $83.2 billion

Aiyengar became JPMorgan's solo head of mergers and acquisitions in 2023, but has been with the bank since 2002. She is routinely cited as one of the financial-services industry's most powerful and influential female leaders. She has appeared on the list three times in the past.

Her 2024 deals included:

• Advised Intel in its $11 billion joint venture with Apollo Global Management tied to semiconductor development.
• Advised the private-equity firm Bain Capital in its $4.5 billion acquisition of Envestnet, a tech company focused on wealth management.

• Advised Rio Tinto, a global mining organization, its $6.7 billion acquisition of the chemicals firm Arcadium Lithium.

  ---

  Stephan Feldgoise, Goldman Sachs

  

  Title: Global head of M&A

  Number of deals: 7

  Value of deals: $78.2 billion

  Feldgoise was named Goldman's global head of mergers and acquisitions following a management reshuffle of its investment-banking division in January. Feldgoise was previously cohead of M&A and has also led the investment bank's consumer and retail coverage group. He joined the firm in 1997 and became a partner in 2008.This is his second time on the list, with his first appearance being two years ago.

  His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Pactiv Evergreen, a food industry manufacturer, in its all-cash sale for $6.7 billion to the packaging firm Novolex.
• Advised Ito Kogyo in its $47 billion acquisition of Seven & I Holdings, a retail firm that operates convenience stores in Japan.

• Advised the data center firm AirTrunk in its roughly $15 billion sale to the private-equity firm Blackstone.

  ---

George Boutros, Qatalyst Partners

Title: CEO

Number of deals: 7

Value of deals: $76.2 billion

Boutros is the CEO of the tech-focused investment bank Qatalyst. Previously, he was a senior banker at Credit Suisse, where he served as chairman of both the global technology and healthcare groups. Qatalyst says he has completed more than 700 transactions of various types over the years. This is his fourth year in a row on the Rainmakers list.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised R1 RCM, which provides billing and financial tech to healthcare providers, on its nearly $9 billion sale to investment firms TowerBrook and CD&R.
• Advised Ansys, a design and engineering software company, on its $35 billion sale to Synopsys.
• Advised Hewlett Packard Enterprise on its all-cash acquisition of IT networking provider Juniper Networks for $14 billion.

Steve Munger, Morgan Stanley

Title: Chairman of global M&A

Number of deals: 5

Value of deals: $74.2 billion

Munger has been a Morgan Stanley banker for nearly 40 years and chairman of its M&A group for two decades. This is Munger's first time on the Rainmakers list.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Discover on its $35.3 billion all-stock sale to rival credit card giant Capital One.
• Advised Truist Financial on the sale of 80% of its insurance subsidiary to an investor consortium for $12.4 billion.
• Advised Marathon Oil on its $22.5 billion sale to ConocoPhillips.

Xavier Loriferne, JPMorgan Chase

Title: Managing director, head of FIG M&A, co-head of media & communications M&A

Number of deals: 10

Value of deals: $70.9 billion

Loriferne joined JPMorgan in 2006. This marks Loriferne's first time on the Rainmakers list.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised on the $12 billion sale of HPS Investment Partners to the asset manager BlackRock.
• Advised on the $13.4 billion merger of the real-estate investment trust Uniti with telecommunications and broadband firm Windstream.
• Advised Nippon Life in its $10.6 billion acquisition of the life-insurance firm Resolution Life.

Todd Davison, Centerview

Title: Partner

Number of deals: 4

Value of deals: $63.2 billion

Davison is a partner at Centerview and has been an investment banker for more than 25 years. This is his first time appearing on the list. He joined Centerview in 2013 to cohead its media practice and was previously cohead of North American media coverage at Morgan Stanley. Centerview says he's been involved in more than $300 billion worth of transactions throughout his career.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Verizon on the $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications, a rival provider of TV, internet, and phone services.
• Advised Charter Communications on its $17.9 billion acquisition of Liberty Broadband, a data and wireless provider.
• Advised the independent directors of Endeavor, the talent agency and entertainment company, on a take-private sale to Silver Lake, which valued Endeavor at $13 billion.
• Advised entertainment giant Paramount on its $8.4 billion deal to buy production company Skydance Media.

Lily Mahdavi, Morgan Stanley

Title: Cohead of M&A, Americas

Number of deals: 9

Value of deals: $59.6 billion

Mahdavi, who has spent the entirety of her career focused on mergers and acquisitions, joined Morgan Stanley in 2012; she was previously at Deutsche Bank and Citi. She was promoted to co-lead the M&A business in the Americas in early 2025. This is Mahdavi's first time on the Rainmakers list.

Her 2024 deals included:

• Advised Marathon Oil on its $22.5 billion sale to ConocoPhillips.
• Advised insurance brokerage AssuredPartners on its $13.5 billion sale to Arthur J. Gallagher.
• Advised Nippon Paint on its $4.4 billion acquisition of AOC, a chemicals supplier.

Timothy Ingrassia, Goldman Sachs

Title: Co-chairman of global mergers and acquisitions

Number of deals: 8

Value of deals: $59.2 billion

Ingrassia was previously head of Americas M&A at Goldman, a role he held since 2004. Previously, he ran the consumer retail group. He has appeared multiple times on the Rainmakers list, including last year and the year prior.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Kellanova, a snack food manufacturer, in its $35.9 billion sale to the snack producer Mars.
• Advised Oneok, an energy company, in its $2.6 billion acquisition of Medallion Midstream.
• Advised Oneok in its $4.3 billion acquisition of a majority stake in EnLink Midstream, an energy firm.

Chris Gallea, Goldman Sachs

Title: Vice chairman of investment banking

Number of deals: 7

Value of deals: $51.3 billion

This is Gallea's third time on the list. Gallea joined Goldman Sachs from JPMorgan in 2018 after spending nearly two decades there. He has distinguished himself as a leading banker in the industrials sector.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Carrier, a climate and energy solutions company, in the $3 billion of its commercial and residential fire business to the private-equity firm Lone Star.
• Advised Emerson, a technology and software firm, in its $3.5 billion sale of a joint venture, Copeland, to the private-equity firm Blackstone.
• Advised Emerson Electric company, a software and engineering tech firm, in its $7.2 billion purchase of a large minority stake of software company Aspen Technology.

Gary Posternack, Barclays

Title: Chairman of global M&A

Number of deals: 6

Value of deals: $49.8 billion

The long-time global M&A leader moved into a new role as chairman last year so he could spend more time advising Barclays' top clients. Posternack joined the firm in 2008 after it bought Lehman Brothers, his previous firm. He led its natural-resources practice and its M&A takeover defense business. He became head of M&A worldwide in 2014.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised R1 RCM, which provides billing and financial tech to healthcare providers, on its nearly $9 billion sale to investment firms TowerBrook and CD&R.
• Advised Frontier Communications, a provider of TV, internet, and phone services, on its $20 billion sale to Verizon.
• Advised fuel pipeline and storage operator NuStar Energy on its $7.3 billion sale to gas station chain Sunoco.

Suhail Sikhtian, Goldman Sachs

Title: Global head of natural resources investment banking

Number of deals: 3

Value of deals: $45.9 billion

Sikhtian became Goldman's sole head of natural-resources investment banking in 2020. He's been with the firm since 1998, when he started in the energy and power group. He has also worked with European energy companies from London. He made his first appearance on the list last year.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Southwestern Energy on its $11.4 billion acquisition of Chesapeake Energy, the Oklahoma City-based natural gas producer.
• Advised the energy company Endeavor in its $26 billion sale to Diamondback Energy.
• Advised Schlumberger, an energy tech firm, in its $8 billion acquisition of ChampionX, a maker of pumping equipment.

Chris Ventresca, JPMorgan Chase

Title: Global chairman of investment banking and mergers and acquisitions

Number of deals: 14

Value of deals: $45.1 billion

Ventresca, a three-decade veteran of JPMorgan, has advised on mandates spanning industrials, telecoms, consumer retail, and more. He appeared on the Rainmakers list for the first time last year.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised IBM in its $6.4 billion acquisition of software firm HashiCorp.
• Advised energy firm ALLETE in its $6.2 billion sale to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners.
• Advised Vizio, a consumer electronics firm, in its $2.3 billion sale to Walmart, the US retailer.

Conrad Gibbins, Jefferies Financial Group

Title: Managing director

Number of deals: 10

Value of deals: $44.5 billion

This year marks Gibbins' first appearance on the list. The banker, who's based in Texas and concentrates on the energy sector, joined Jefferies as an analyst nearly 15 years ago. Since late 2022, he's served as Jefferies' co-head of Upstream in the Americas, and a managing director.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Diamondback Energy, an oil and gas company based in Texas, in its $26 billion acquisition of Endeavor, an energy firm.
• Advised Grayson Mill Energy, a Texas-based energy production firm, in its $5 billion sale to Devon Energy Corporation.
• Advised Franklin Mountain Energy, a Colorado-based oil and gas firm, in its $3.95 billion sale to Coterra Energy.

Drago Rajkovic, JPMorgan Chase

Title: Global chairman, mergers and acquisitions

Number of deals: 5

Value of deals: $43.6 billion

Rajkovic joined JPMorgan from Barclays in 2011 as head of technology mergers and acquisitions and has since risen to serve as a global chairman of M&A at the firm, led by CEO Jamie Dimon (shown above). At Barclays, he led tech M&A as well. It's his first time on the list.

His 2024 deals included:

• Juniper Networks/Hewlett Packard Enterprises
• Advised Squarespace, a custom website-development platform for businesses and entrepreneurs, in its $7.2 billion sale to the private-equity firm Permira.
• Intel Apollo Joint Venture/Intel Corporation

Naveen Nataraj, Evercore

Title: Senior managing director and cohead of US investment banking

Number of deals: 5

Value of deals: $40.8 billion

Nataraj, who has been at Evercore since 2002, is a member of the firm's management committee and a top banker in its technology, media, and telecommunications business. He has advised on more than $600 billion worth of transactions, the company says. His first appearance on the list was in 2022.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Synopsys on its $35 billion acquisition of Ansys, a design and engineering software company.
• Advised private-equity firm Veritas Capital on its acquisition of NCR Voyix's digital banking business for $2.6 billion.
• Advised Gen Digital, a security software company, on its $1 billion acquisition of MoneyLion, a digital banking fintech company.

Dan Ward, Evercore

Title: Senior managing director

Number of deals: 4

Value of deals: $40.1 billion

Ward has advised on more than $450 billion worth of M&A transactions, Evercore says, and is one of the industry's top energy bankers — this is his second year in a row on the Rainmakers list. Before joining Evercore, Ward led the global natural resources investment-banking business at Deutsche Bank.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Chesapeake Energy, the Oklahoma City-based natural gas producer, on its sale to Southwestern Energy for $11.4 billion.
• Advised Enerplus, an oil and gas producer, on its roughly $4 billion merger with Chord Energy.
• Advised ConocoPhillips on its $22.5 billion acquisition of Marathon Oil.

Riccardo Benedetti, Perella Weinberg Partners

Title: Partner

Number of deals: 2

Value of deals: $38.2 billion

Benedetti has been a senior banker with PWP since 2009, joining from Morgan Stanley, where he started his career in 1991. It's his first time on the list.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Holcim, a Swiss building materials manufacturer, on the $30 billion spinoff of its North American operations.
• Advised German conglomerate Bosch on its $8.1 billion acquisition of the HVAC business unit owned by Johnson Controls and Hitachi.

Adam Taetle, Lazard

Title: Managing director and global head of consumer, retail, and leisure

Number of deals: 2

Value of deals: $37 billion

Taetle is a first-timer on the Rainmakers list, but he's a veteran dealmaker with consumer and retail firms like Campbell's and Keurig Dr Pepper. He started his career with Goldman Sachs in the 1990s and has since held senior leadership roles at Barclays and Evercore, which he joined in 2018 to co-lead its consumer retail group. He left Evercore earlier this year, taking a top role with Lazard in June.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Kellanova, the Pringles and Pop-Tarts snack company formerly known as Kellogg's, on its $35.9 billion sale to Mars
• Advised Siete Foods, which makes tortillas, chips, and salsas, on its $1.2 billion sale to PepsiCo.

Michael J. Freudenstein, PJT Partners

Title: Partner

Number of deals: 2

Value of deals: $35.8 billion

This year marks Freudenstein's first time on the list. He joined PJT in 2017, having previously worked at JPMorgan in various roles. Those positions ranged from deputy head of Americas equity research to JPMorgan's head of market structure and asset management, and an investment banker focused on deals in the financial-services sector, before he left for PJT. The firm was founded by former top Morgan Stanley executive Paul Taubman, shown above.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised Discover, the financial-services firm, in its $35 billion sale to Capital One.
• Advised Victory Capital, an investment manager, in its acquisition of Amundi, a firm offering a variety of financial-services products. Terms were undisclosed.

Blair Effron, Centerview Partners

Title: Co-founder and partner

Number of deals: 5

Value of deals: $34.6 billion

Effron cofounded Centerview in 2006 and built it into an influential name in investment banking, with more than 350 employees in the US and UK. Previously he was a top investment banker at UBS and has advised companies across healthcare, media, consumer and retail, and more. He also appeared on the Rainmakers list in 2019 and 2024.

His 2024 deals included:

• Advised the independent directors of Endeavor, the talent agency and entertainment company, on a take-private sale to Silver Lake, which valued Endeavor at $13 billion.
• Advised production company Skydance Media on its $8.4 billion sale to entertainment giant Paramount.

• Advised Emerson, a technology and engineering conglomerate, on a $7.2 billion deal to acquire the remainder of Aspen Technology, a provider of software for manufacturers that Emerson bought a majority stake of in 2022.

  To see more dealmaker rankings, visit the MergerLinks website. For more on its methodology and criteria, click here.

Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider and can be reached at [email protected]. Alex Morrell is a senior correspondent and can be reached at [email protected].

• The biggest hedge funds are battling it out to attract and retain top talent and outperform peers.
• Business Insider has talked to elite hedge funds to get a peek into their recruiting processes.
• From internships to high-paying tech jobs, here's what we know about their hiring practices.

The war for hedge fund talent cuts across all levels and positions, with firms like Citadel, Point72, and Millennium constantly competing to gain an edge in a cutthroat industry.

These behemoth funds are now putting serious time and resources into recruiting for internship and training programs to create a steady employee pipeline. Steve Cohen's Point72 and Ken Griffin's Citadel recently opened applications for their 2026 summer internships to undergrad students.

Eye-popping pay, challenging work environments, and the promise of working with some of the best investors in the industry can make them an attractive employment option.

Internships at quant fund D.E. Shaw, for example, can pay up to $22,000. Salaries for entry-level analysts and software engineers are often in the six-figure range. Portfolio managers with winning strategies can take home millions.

Business Insider has talked to some of the biggest hedge-fund managers about how they attract talent, as well as their advice to prospective hires.

Here's everything we know about getting a job at a large hedge fund.

Internships

Years ago, the opaque and secretive world of hedge funds might not have been an obvious career choice for most college graduates. However, these investing behemoths are now investing in getting young, diverse wunderkinder, especially mathletes, familiar with their brands as soon as high school.

Internships are another talent pipeline for some of the biggest multi-strategy hedge funds, which employ armies of traders and engineers. Programs can be uber-competitive and harder to get into than many top Ivy League schools.

Citadel's summer internship program, for example, has become increasingly competitive. Last year, the hedge fund accepted around 300 interns to spend 11 weeks at Griffin's hedge fund or his market maker, working with stock-pickers, quants, engineers, and more. The firm told BI that there were more than 85,000 applicants for the programs, with an acceptance rate of roughly 0.5%.

• Here's how to land a spot at Citadel's summer internship
• Citadel's associate program is a separate internship that puts rising college seniors on track to land a full-time investing role at the $66 billion fund.
• Ken Griffin's advice to interns: Hustle during your 20s and be aggressive when asking for a promotion

We also spoke to Point72 and D.E. Shaw about what they looked for in interns and how to stand out for a potential job offer down the line.

• Here's what it takes to stand out as an intern at Steve Cohen's Point72 and land a job offer
• A D.E. Shaw internship could land a dream gig at the secretive hedge fund. Here's what it takes.

Analyst and investment training programs

In the past, hedge funds acquired investment talent from investment banks. Increasingly, however, the industry's top players are recruiting college students through intensive training programs that can lead to jobs straight out of college.

Creating a pipeline of portfolio managers has been an increasingly popular strategy for hedge funds locked in an increasingly expensive battle for top talent.

• How to get accepted into Point72's ultra-elite analyst training program, whose acceptance rate is less than 1%
• Inside Point72's PM incubator LaunchPoint, where Steve Cohen is known to grill up-and-comers who think they're ready for the big time
• Inside Balyasny's Anthem training program, where aspiring portfolio managers are handed hundreds of millions of dollars to prove they can cut it
• Behind the training programs at Balyasny, which is looking to get ahead in the war for investment talent

Tech jobs and training programs

Hedge funds have long been competing with the finance industry and top tech companies for top technologists. Engineers and algorithm developers are key to helping researchers, data scientists, and traders develop cutting-edge investment strategies and platforms. Quant shop D.E. Shaw also has a unique approach to finding talent.

• Inside Citadel's exclusive engineering program that's helped the hedge fund snap up talent from Google and Goldman Sachs
• Here's how to get a tech job at Millennium, from the programming language to know to the interview questions to prep for
• Millennium is on the hunt for engineers in Miami. A top tech exec for the $58 billion hedge fund details the firm's new training program.
• Inside Man Group's popular training program for non-tech employees that teaches them skills to automate tasks and reduce errors in their work

Other resources and advice

Here's a look at how some firms find and vet new employees, what skills and qualities they're looking for …

• Why quant giant D.E. Shaw seeks out academics, doctors, and veterans to work at the hedge fund
• Citadel portfolio manager explains how he rose in the ranks of the hedge fund and what he looks for in a new hire
• Inside the 5-hour psychological interview that can make or break your career at Citadel, Blackstone, and other finance titans

• Inside the spycraft hedge funds use to vet multimillion-dollar traders, which is edging into murky legal territory

  ... and a rundown of some of the gatekeepers to know:

• The rise of the hedge-fund talent whisperers
• The talent brokers of quant trading: The headhunters at the forefront of Wall Street's systematic-trading and data-science hiring frenzy
• Try our searchable database of more than 350 Wall Street headhunters to find your dream job in private equity, investment banking, or hedge funds

• A 28-year-old tech banker for Jefferies died this week. The cause of death is unknown, police said.
• His body was found Monday at a residential address, according to the Dallas County Medical Examiner.
• Dallas police are investigating it as an "unexplained death," a spokesperson told BI.

Carter McIntosh, an investment banker at Jefferies Financial Group's Dallas office, was discovered dead on Monday, prompting a police investigation, Business Insider has learned.

The body of the 28-year-old banker, who was assigned to the firm's team covering technology, media, and telecommunications companies, was found at a residential apartment building called Bell Knox District, according to records from the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office.

Medical records viewed by BI on Tuesday said McIntosh's body was discovered on Monday at about 11 a.m. The records did not list a cause of death, and a spokesperson for Dallas' police department said it's still unknown.

"Based on the date, approximate time, and location, this incident is being investigated as an unexplained death," Michael Dennis, a public-information officer for the Dallas police, told BI via email on Tuesday.

Jefferies CEO Richard Handler and the firm's president, Brian Friedman, addressed the death in an internal memo to staff on Tuesday.

"It is with tremendous sadness that we report we learned yesterday that Carter McIntosh, one of our talented associates in Dallas, has passed away," a copy of the memo obtained by BI said. "Our most sincere condolences go out to his family, friends, and colleagues. We are in touch with Carter's family, who know we stand ready to support them in any way we can."

Before joining Jefferies, where he worked as an investment-banking associate, McIntosh worked at other financial-services firms, his LinkedIn page says. He was in the industry's most junior rank, analyst, at the firm Moelis & Co. until June 2023, the profile says. Before that, it says he was an equity-research analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York until spring 2021.

He joined Jefferies in September 2023, the page says.

McIntosh attended Seton Hall University in New Jersey, his LinkedIn account also says, where he graduated in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in finance.

Here's the memo Handler and Friedman sent about McIntosh's death:

Subject: With Deep Sadness

It is with tremendous sadness that we report we learned yesterday that Carter McIntosh, one of our talented associates in Dallas, has passed away. Our most sincere condolences go out to his family, friends, and colleagues.

We are in touch with Carter's family, who know we stand ready to support them in any way we can. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and we hope that Carter's memory is a blessing to them during this very sad time.

And for all of you who knew Carter or who are impacted by his untimely passing, please remember that we have resources available to support you in your time of need. We know from experience that these resources both provide solace and help you process the natural grief we all feel. To receive access to one-on-one confidential support with a mental health counselor, please reach out to our wellness partners.

Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider who can be reached via email at [email protected] or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at 561-247-5758. Emmalyse Brownstein is a reporter who can be reached via email at [email protected] or SMS/Signal at 305-857-5516.

• JPMorgan Chase on Thursday said it raised CEO Jamie Dimon's pay for 2024.
• Dimon earned $39 million following a year of record profitability, compared to $36 million in 2023.
• The disclosure comes as the CEO navigates questions around how long he'll remain at the helm.

JPMorgan Chase on Thursday said it raised CEO Jamie Dimon's 2024 compensation following a record year of profitability.

In a regulatory filing, America's biggest bank by assets said it paid its longstanding CEO $39 million for 2024, up 8.3% versus last year. Dimon earned $36 million in 2023 and $34.5 million in 2022.

The bank awarded him a base salary of $1.5 million plus $37.5 million in "performance-based variable income." Of that much greater share of the total, $5 million will be awarded in cash, with the rest — $32.5 million — in a form of equity known as performance share units, or "PSUs."

"PSUs tie 100% of Mr. Dimon's annual equity-based compensation to ongoing performance metrics, representing 87% of his total variable incentive compensation," the company said in the filing.

Earlier this month, the bank reported record financial results for 2024, with net income rising to $59 billion, an increase of 18% from the almost $50 billion it generated the year prior. Over the past 12 months since late January 2024, the company's stock price has climbed around 57% to about $265 per share.

Last week, Goldman Sachs said it awarded its CEO, David Solomon, $39 million for 2024. Separately, the bank gave Solomon and his deputy, Goldman President and COO John Waldron, $80 million in stock that will vest over five years.

Dimon's pay disclosure comes amid questions about his tenure. He is the longest-serving CEO of a major bank, having taken the top role in 2006, but made headlines last year when he said his time as JPMorgan's CEO was waning.

"The timetable is not five years anymore," he told investors and analysts, referring to a running joke about how often he's said five years when asked how long he might remain at the helm.

In 2021, the bank's board of directors offered Dimon a more than $50 million retention bonus to remain in the CEO role through at least 2026. On the firm's January earnings call, Dimon suggested he has another four to five years as CEO. He has also left open the door to staying on as executive chairman.

"Now you're talking potentially four, five years or more. I'll be 69 in March. I think it's the rational thing to do," he said.

Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.

• Goldman Sachs announced three new heads of investment banking this week.
• Kim Posnett, Matt McClure, and Anthony Gutman were named co-heads of investment banking, a new role.
• Meet the future leaders of Goldman's marquee business unit.

Goldman Sachs announced a leadership reshuffle this week that created a new layer of management for its all-important investment bank.

As part of the reshuffle, Goldman tapped three of its most senior dealmakers — who have personally handled transactions for the likes of Twitter, Uber, and United Airlines — to jointly oversee its investment banking unit: Kim Posnett, who has run tech banking; Matt McClure, who's led industrials coverage; and Anthony Gutman, who has been running investment banking in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. They will sit under the heads of Goldman's global banking and markets unit, Dan Dees and Ashok Varadhan, and will oversee the firm's IB work across a range of products from M&A to financing for corporate clients.

It's a big role and signals a new generation of leaders atop Goldman's marquee business. Goldman has been No. 1 in M&A advice for most of the last 20 years, including in 2024 when it nabbed 30% of the more than $3 trillion in M&A volume around the world, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group.

The reshuffle comes as Wall Street generally braces for a thawing in mergers and public issuances as a new presidential administration gets underway. Last week, Goldman reported a more than 100% increase in profits amid an upswing in dealmaking activity.

It also comes as the bank prepares for at least another five years of leadership under CEO David Solomon and John Waldron, Goldman Sachs' president and COO. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Goldman's top officials, including Solomon, had been seeking ways to "signal to a younger generation of partners they are still climbing the ranks."

"This group of leaders represents the very best of our culture of excellence, client service and teamwork," Solomon said in announcing the news. "They have made outstanding contributions throughout their careers to our client franchise, operations and market-leading positions across our business."

Here's a look at the three new co-heads of investment banking — their careers, their accomplishments, and some of the clients they've advised.

Kim Posnett

Posnett has emerged as one of Goldman's brightest stars. Most recently, she served as global head of technology, media, and telecommunications banking, essentially running a unit responsible for advising some of the nation's top tech companies, including Amazon, Uber, Etsy, and eBay.

She was previously head of the firm's crucial One Goldman Sachs initiative. She also ran the IB services unit — an internal sales force for the investment bank aimed at boosting business opportunities and developing custom banking solutions for clients. She joined Goldman in 2005 and was named a partner in 2016.

In 2024, Posnett told BI that she doesn't buy into the concept of a star banker who wins all the business and dominates face-time with clients.

"For the firm to win, it's mission-critical that clients are comfortable with not just any one person but the entire coverage team," she said, adding that the bank will send as many as 10 bankers to meet with a prospective client. "Because if they're just comfortable with one individual, that's not really scalable, and that creates risk across generations."

Selected transactions:

• Advised Twitter, now known as X, in its $44 billion sale to Tesla founder Elon Musk
• Advised eBay in the $4 billion sale of StubHub to Viagogo
• Advised Silverlake in its $13 billion announced take-private of Endeavor
• Reddit IPO

Matt McClure

McClure has made his name as a banker to Goldman's industrial sector clients. During the pandemic years, for example, he crafted a variety of innovative structures to secure funds for companies that needed extra capital to get through a tough period in the travel industry.

As BI reported in 2020, McClure helped Goldman underwrite $120 billion across 85 debt financings for clients in the struggling transportation sector, including Delta, United Airlines, and Norwegian Cruise Line.

McClure helped United deploy what he characterized at the time as a "first-of-its-kind" transaction to raise nearly $7 billion in debt by leveraging the airline's frequent flyer program. Traveler rewards programs were previously an untapped source of liquidity, McClure told BI at the time.

"The way I would think about it is that you're extracting value from that asset class that perhaps wasn't being fully appreciated by the market," he said.

McClure joined Goldman Sachs in 1999 and was named a partner in 2010. Business Insider included McClure on a list of top investment bankers for 2019 based on total merger volume. McClure ranked fourth, having completed more than $101 billion worth of M&A transactions that year, according to data from MergerLinks.

Selected transactions:

• Represented Amcor in its reported $8.4 billion announced acquisition of Berry Global
• Helped facilitate Boeing's $24 billion capital raise
• $3.9 billion announced sale of Masonite to Owens Corning
• Canadian Pacific's $31 billion stock-and-cash acquisition of Kansas City Southern

Anthony Gutman

Gutman has headed up the Europe, Middle East, and Africa investment-banking divisions at Goldman and previously ran investment banking and IB services for Goldman in the United Kingdom.

He joined the firm in 2007 as a managing director and was elevated to the partnership in 2012. Before that, he worked at Citigroup. He was named co-head of UK investment banking alongside another senior partner, Mark Sorrell, in 2011, according to the publication Financial News. Previously at Goldman, he had served as co-COO of UK investment banking alongside Sorrell, and they were both promoted at the same time.

At Citi, Gutman was a managing director and head of hotels and leisure M&A, per FN.

Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.

• Goldman Sachs on Tuesday announced a series of leadership changes at the top of the bank.
• The bank expanded the ranks of its management committee, among other changes.
• It appointed three global coheads of investment banking ahead of an expected pickup in dealmaking.

Goldman Sachs on Tuesday announced a series of leadership appointments, expanding the size of its management committee and elevating several executives to its top ranks.

The management committee, established in 1965, is responsible for helping steer the firm's strategy, policy, and other management matters. It tends to consist of the firm's next generation of leaders.

The shake-up comes as the bank prepares for at least another five years of leadership under CEO David Solomon and his right-hand man, John Waldron, Goldman Sachs' president and COO. Solomon has been transforming the bank since he took over in 2018, including efforts to increase collaboration across divisions and boost the asset- and wealth-management division.

Last week, Goldman reported a more than 100% increase in profits amid an upswing in dealmaking activity. Wall Street has been bracing for a thawing in mergers and public issuances as a new presidential administration gets underway.

"This group of leaders represents the very best of our culture of excellence, client service and teamwork," Solomon said in a statement that accompanied the announcements. "They have made outstanding contributions throughout their careers to our client franchise, operations and market-leading positions across our business. I am excited to work with them in their new roles as we continue to advance our strategic objectives."

The following executives will join the bank's management committee, its most senior group of leaders:

• Matt McClure, Anthony Gutman, and Kim Posnett are set to become the global coheads of investment banking.
• Jason Brauth, Kunal Shah, and Anshul Sehgal will become the global coheads of fixed income, currency, and commodities.
• Dmitri Potishko, Cyril Goddeeris, and Erdit Hoxha will become the global coheads of equities.
• Kevin Kelly and Sam Morgan will become the global coheads of client coverage for global banking and markets, public.
• Anthony Gutman and Kunal Shah will become co-CEOs of Goldman Sachs International.
• Richard Gnodde will become vice chair of Goldman Sachs.
• Francois-Xavier de Mallmann will become chair of Goldman Sachs Europe, Middle East, and Africa and retain his role as chair of investment banking.

• Will Bousquette, the chief operating officer of asset and wealth management; Kathleen Connolly, the global director of internal audit; and Marie Louise Kirk, the chief administrative officer for Asia-Pacific, will maintain their roles and join the management committee.

  In addition to those appointments, the bank named two partners — John Storey and Tony Pasquariello — as coheads of its crucial One Goldman Sachs initiative, alongside its existing head and partner, Meena Flynn.

  What's more, Jack Sebastian, a longtime partner, will become vice chair of the firm; and Suhail Sikhtian and Marshall Smith will become the chairs of investment banking, in addition to their current duties. (Last year, Sikhtian, who leads natural-resources investment banking at Goldman, was named one of 2023's most successful bankers by deal volume, completing nearly $150 billion worth of transactions, according to MergerLinks data.)

  Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at 561-247-5758.

In 1999, Donald Trump hosted a party at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, featuring a concert with Celine Dion. The New York Post described it as "a huge bash" that snarled traffic and had neighbors calling the police to complain that they were "trapped in their mansions." Not long after, neighbors demanded the town council rein in beach parties and other social gatherings at the estate, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Fast-forward 26 years, and the wealthy resort town is experiencing another round of grueling traffic and high-profile hobnobbing as Trump prepares to take the White House on Monday as the nation's 47th president.

Trump has been conducting his transition plan from Mar-a-Lago, reportedly drawing a dizzying array of business and political leaders to Palm Beach including Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla; Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas; and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The rush of people with power (and often money) has ignited what some have described as a heightened party atmosphere in and around Palm Beach, transforming the wealthy but subdued seaside resort into a political hub by day and a social hot spot at night.

While many of the festivities appear to be taking place at Mar-a-Lago, residents and business owners told Business Insider that celebrations were breaking out in other parts of Palm Beach County, where the population is younger and more middle class. Bar owners and an exotic dancer, for example, said they were seeing more business from people in MAGA hats.

It's also led to complaints. Some residents told BI they'd been locked out of their favorite restaurants and were being driven mad by the traffic, which has been complicated by Trump's security needs.

Young conservatives and businesspeople, however, seem to be welcoming the influx of newcomers — a trend they hope will continue throughout Trump's term. They say it's contributed to a livelier atmosphere on an island still dominated by the over-65 set, generating more business and opportunities.

Jay Parker, a real-estate agent who's the CEO of brokerage for the Florida region at Douglas Elliman, told BI that Palm Beach home sales exploded in the wake of the election.

"The activity in some of our new developments has just been unprecedented," Parker said, adding, "All the eyeballs on the White House being in Palm Beach — essentially, it's the greatest publicity we could ever ask for."

Much of the migration to Palm Beach since the election has centered on Mar-a-Lago, an ornate villa-style estate squeezed between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Worth Lagoon. Trump bought the 62,500-square-foot estate, built by the cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, in 1985 and turned it into a private club a decade later.

Lexye Aversa, an event planner who's a member of Mar-a-Lago, said Palm Beach's social scene had been "like a dam bursting" since the election. She recalled meeting Musk and Jeff Bezos in December at a dinner on Mar-a-Lago's patio.

"The executive that maybe you could never get on the phone up in the tristate area because you have to go through hurdles and sort of give your credentials — well, here they're sitting right next to you at lunch, whether it's at Mar-a-Lago or at the Civic Association meeting or in a restaurant," Aversa said.

Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek last year that Mar-a-Lago membership fees were as low as $25,000 when it opened. Today membership costs $1 million, up from about $200,000 in 2017. Members have access to club events, like Trump's annual star-studded New Year's Eve party, though they often have to pay for themseleves and their guests.

A longtime Palm Beach resident who asked not to be named to preserve relationships with the island's society set said her social calendar had ballooned since the election. While many of the events she's attended, including charitable galas, have been held at Mar-a-Lago, she said other nearby clubs, including The Breakers, were also in on the action.

The downside, she said, was the traffic.

"It's like nothing I've ever seen before. I've been here for 21 years," the resident said. "It's madness, and it's daily. The people here, the residents of the island, are griping that it's taking them 45 minutes to go down the street."

It's always busy on Palm Beach Island during what's known as "the season": the winter months when Northerners flock to sunny Florida. Some locals, however, say that competing for tables at popular restaurants such as Le Bilboquet, La Goulue, and Buccan has become especially onerous this year. Most of the hottest venues are 10 to 15 minutes north of Mar-a-Lago, on or around Worth Avenue.

Bobby Zeitler, a nightlife producer who lives just north of Palm Beach Island in the city of Jupiter, said it had become tough for even well-connected locals to score reservations. He said he recently had to help a close friend of his, a club owner from Miami, score a table at Le Bilboquet, the Palm Beach outpost of the chic French restaurant on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

"I'm meeting lots of people from DC stepping out on the town, which certainly impacts restaurants," he said, adding, "You've got to make a reservation a month or two months in advance for a Thursday or Friday or Saturday night."

Doug Evans, the CEO of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce, said shop owners along posh Worth Avenue had reported that "global leaders" flanked by "their entourages" were dropping big sums in their stores.

"They're here on government business, and they're spending a lot of money in the stores," he said.

James Koutoulas, a Republican lawyer based in South Florida, said he was seeing more people from the Miami-Dade area travel the roughly two hours to Palm Beach in hopes of catching a glimpse of Musk or to attend events connected to Trump, whether at Mar-a-Lago or other sites around Palm Beach. Some people, Koutoulas said, are visiting Palm Beach just for the day, as scoring a last-minute hotel room can cost a pretty penny — accommodations at some of the island's more popular hotels were $1,000 to $2,000 a night in mid-January.

"They're all day-tripping on Uber or the Brightline," he said, referring to the train linking several cities in South Florida, including West Palm Beach and Miami. "I've seen a huge influx of that."

Whether the spending at Mar-a-Lago and the surrounding area will continue once Trump takes office remains to be seen. Some have suggested that Trump could spend more time at the club this term than he did in his first term, spurring more Washington, DC, lobbyists to set up shop in the area.

"Florida is becoming the power nexus for the country," Bill Helmich, a lobbyist and close Trump ally, recently told BI. "It's where decisions will get made."

If you cross the bridge from Palm Beach Island to the mainland, you'll hit West Palm Beach and then the rest of Palm Beach County. Census data suggests this area is far younger and more middle class than the wealthy resort town where Mar-a-Lago is.

Business owners and hospitality workers in mainland Palm Beach County say they, too, are seeing more customers with MAGA hats or otherwise looking to celebrate Trump's White House victory.

The owner of a nightlife venue about 20 minutes south of Palm Beach said he'd seen an influx of 20- and 30-somethings ordering pricey bottles to snag an Instagram-friendly sign the bar reserves for big spenders. Patrons who spend at least $650 can request special messages on the sign — proposing marriage or wishing someone a happy birthday. The sign is then presented to the customer by staffers with sparklers, along with their bottles of vodka or tequila.

Recent messages have centered on Trump, including "TRUMP 2024," "MAGA," and "Make America Great Again," said the owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid identifying his customers.

While he welcomes the business, he conceded that the pro-Trump vibe had led to some tense moments. He recounted, for example, the time leading up to the election when a client ordered a sign reading "FUCK KAMALA." He permitted it to be shown for just 30 seconds because he worried it could unsettle other guests.

A woman who danced at Monroe's, a popular strip club in West Palm Beach, told BI that she, too, noticed more customers with MAGA hats until she quit a few weeks ago.

"When I start talking about Trump, they tip more," she said, requesting anonymity because she was not authorized by her former employer to speak about its clientele.

One reason may be that Trump supporters in the area feel they can be more open about their political leanings since his reelection. Alexis Vetter, 29, a stylist who runs the luxury fashion boutique LOVE Binetti on Palm Beach Island, told BI over lunch at the Palm Beach restaurant BiCE that she previously felt it was taboo, even during Trump's first term, to express support for the former reality-TV star. But she said that after Trump won the popular vote, the vibe changed — at least in Palm Beach.

Ashton Munholland, 30, the president of the Palm Beach Young Republicans, agreed. She said the club had grown to 300 members from the low double-digits since she took over in 2023. She attributed this in part to the influx of conservative-minded people moving to Florida in the wake of the pandemic.

"I would say probably 75% of our members are from out of state," she told BI.

Now, with Trump back in the White House, these young conservatives feel increasingly comfortable wearing their political allegiance on their sleeve. It's evident as they swarm nightlife spots like Cucina, a restaurant on the island that transforms at 10 p.m. on weekends into a popular nightclub serving Palm Beach's party people.

Accompanied by bottles and sparklers, big club signs with phrases like "TRUMP 2024" and "FUCK OBAMA" have been spotted at Cucina as Trump's young supporters dance beneath disco balls to a DJ blaring music through the speakers.

"I will say that this is a little different from a year ago, two years ago," Munholland said. Now, when people walk into Cucina wearing Trump's signature red hats, she said, "crowds are cheering."

Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.

• Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon's 2024 comp rose 26% from the year prior, the firm said Friday.
• The Wall Street CEO will be paid $39 million for 2024, up from $31 million in 2023.
• He and Goldman's president, John Waldron, stand to earn millions more over the next five years.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and John Waldron, his top deputy as the firm's president and COO, stand to make millions if they continue to run the bank over the next five years, according to compensation figures released Friday.

On Friday, the bank released pay details for its top leaders in a regulatory filing. It said Solomon received a roughly 26% bump in pay over last year, with his 2024 compensation totaling $39 million. The bank split that out across a base salary of $2 million, performance stock units of Goldman equity amounting to $25.9 million, an incentive bonus of $2.78 million, and $8.33 million in cash.

Solomon and Waldron each received $80 million in restricted stock units that vest over a five-year period — a sign that the bank plans to keep them around for at least the next half decade. The bank called them "retention RSUs," suggesting its intent on hanging on to Goldman's two top leaders.

"The Retention RSUs reflect the Board's desire to retain the current CEO and COO as a senior leadership team, sustain the strong momentum they have demonstrated in executing on our firmwide strategic priorities, help ensure stability and continuity in our senior leadership over the next five years and maintain a strong succession plan for the future of the firm," the bank said in the regulatory filing outlining what the board agreed to pay the bank's top leaders.

The pay structure appears to be a vote of confidence in Solomon's leadership, signaling an end to the narrative that emerged during the pandemic years that Solomon's decision-making and extracurricular pursuits like DJing had left him vulnerable.

Goldman's Compensation Committee, which determines the CEO's and president's salaries, pointed to several factors to explain its decision, including "strong fireside financial performance in 2024 and a significant year-over-year improvement as a result of strategic execution."

This week, the firm reported total 2024 net revenues of more than $53 billion, with almost $35 billion coming from its banking and markets division, in its earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2024. As of mid-January, its stock was trading at roughly $619 a share — a 64% increase over a 12-month period.

What's more, in the regulatory filing, Goldman touted its prowess in both its global banking and markets and its asset- and wealth-management business lines. The former encompasses services like advising on mergers and acquisitions, where Goldman is routinely at the top of the league tables, while the bank said that the latter division houses a "top 5 alternatives business" and elite services for managing the money of the ultrawealthy. Last year, the asset- and wealth-management group's assets under supervision swelled to a record $3.14 trillion, the firm said.

Beyond Solomon's and Waldron's pay, the regulatory filing also announced that the bank would adopt a carried-interest program in which its top leaders also get paid based on the performance of Goldman's third-party alternatives business. The goal, the bank said, is to "attract and retain talent" at a time when the asset-management community is waging a war for the best professionals and has, at times, raided Goldman's ranks.

Reed Alexander is a correspondent at Business Insider. He can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at 561-247-5758.

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was asked on an earnings call who's likely to replace him.
• Dimon suggested there's a running list but that no final decision had been made.
• The comments followed a recent leadership reshuffle over a top exec's retirement plans.

One of the biggest Wall Street storylines over the years has been around who will eventually take over as CEO of JPMorgan Chase — a role long held by Jamie Dimon.

Questions resurfaced this week when America's biggest bank by assets announced a series of management changes triggered by the pending retirement of Daniel Pinto, the firm's president and COO and longtime stand-in for Dimon in case of emergency.

The leadership reshuffle sparked fresh speculation about who might succeed Dimon, which played out on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

"Jamie, who's your successor?" Mike Mayo, a Wells Fargo bank-research analyst, asked on the call.

Dimon suggested that there's a running list of candidates (including some whom analysts like Mayo may not suspect) but that no final decision had been made. He declined to name names, however, except for Jenn Piepszak, the co-CEO of JPMorgan's commercial and investment bank who was tapped to replace Pinto as COO and has said she doesn't want the CEO job.

"We have several exceptional people. You guys know most of them. Maybe one or two you don't know," Dimon told Mayo. "The board reviews and meets with them all the time. I think it's wonderful that Jenn Piepszak, who does not want to be the CEO, will be here as
chief operating officer and stay after that."

As Business Insider reported this week, Pinto is set to step down in June from his day-to-day role and fully retire at the end of 2026. Piepszak agreed to take on the COO role vacated by Pinto but took her name out of consideration for CEO.

"And obviously, we're not going to tell the press, but it's not determined yet," Dimon said. Even if there was a top pick, he said, things could change by the time he stepped down as CEO.

"People get sick. They change their mind or family circumstances. So even if you thought you knew today, you couldn't be completely sure," he said.

Dimon made headlines last year when he said his time as JPMorgan's CEO was coming to a close. "The timetable is not five years anymore," he told investors, referring to a running joke about how he's often said five years when asked how long he might remain at the helm.

On Wednesday, Dimon suggested that he still planned to retire as CEO, though not necessarily as chair, in four to five years.

"Now you're talking potentially four, five years or more. I'll be 69 in March. I think it's the rational thing to do," he said.

"I've had a couple of health problems, you know," he added, referring to his cardiac issues in recent years. In 2020, he underwent emergency heart surgery.

"If I'm here for several more years, I may or may not be chairman," he said, adding: "It's going to be up to the board."

• JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs had blockbuster performance numbers for the end of 2024.
• JPMorgan's profit rose 50%; Goldman's profit jumped 105%, led by higher investment-banking fees.
• Here's what it could mean for hiring across Wall Street in 2025.

Big banks posted blowout fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, led by a growing appetite for corporate financing, institutional trading, and dealmaking —  trends that could boost hiring in 2025.

JPMorgan Chase kicked off Wall Street's earnings season by reporting a 50% increase in profits, led by a 49% increase in investment-banking revenue over last year's fourth quarter, and double-digit growth in trading revenue. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, said profit for the three months that ended on December 31 rose 105%, driven by demand for corporate dealmaking and capital raising. And Citigroup showed a 35% increase in investment-banking revenue for the fourth quarter from a year ago.

The robust results follow several years of sagging demand for Wall Street's bread-and-butter businesses, layoffs, lower bonuses, and an overall muted environment for job hopping.

Now, the strong 2024 performances, particularly in trading, mean that annual bonuses could be as much as 35% higher from a year ago. Banks have started to share the bonus numbers with employees, as Business Insider reported last week.

More broadly, Wall Street headhunters say that hiring has been picking up in select areas in recent months, including junior-banking roles and back-office tech jobs. They expect the shift to continue in 2025.

"The 45% surge in Goldman's profits and CEO David Solomon's bullish outlook on M&A signals a notable shift in the hiring market," said Meridith Dennes, managing partner at Prospect Rock Partners recruiting firm. "Banks that aggressively downsized during the 2022 to 2023 slowdown are now selectively rebuilding their deal teams."

Of course, working on Wall Street could also get harder in 2025. The industry's notoriously long hours could intensify as demand for dealmaking and capital raising continues. At the same time, work-from-home options are shrinking, with JPMorgan last week telling employees on a hybrid schedule to return to the office five days a week starting in March.

Here are 4 trends in financial-industry hiring that could spur Wall Street job growth in 2025:

Dealmakers

Following several years of muted dealmaking, demand for mergers and acquisitions has been picking up in recent months, driven by lower borrowing costs as interest rates decline. The M&A streak is expected to continue in 2025, aided by a more business-friendly regulatory regime under President-elect Donald Trump.

The uptick is already having an effect on hiring. As BI recently reported, John Weinberg, the chairman and CEO of the elite boutique investment bank Evercore, said in December that he's been spending an unusual amount of time on year-end hiring.

"Most of the time, you don't really do much recruiting in November or December," he said at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York. "If you could see my schedule, you'd see that virtually every day I am speaking with and recruiting" new talent, he said.

As for the jobs outlook, he said: "You could probably anticipate that our recruiting efforts will increase, not decrease."

Recruiters in December told BI that they have seen surging demand for M&A bankers in industries viewed as hot for deals, including tech, healthcare, restructuring, industrials, consumer retail, and financial institutions — a trend they expect to continue this year.

Junior bankers

Demand for junior investment-banking talent has also been picking up. Dennes, the headhunter, said that she is seeing especially strong demand for what she referred to as "the seasoned associate," but also at the vice-president level, who tend to sit in the middle of the investment-banking pecking order.

As BI reported in October, JPMorgan Chase ramped up off-cycle hiring for junior investment bankers late last year, according to people familiar with the bank's recruitment efforts and to its online jobs board. At the time of the report, a JPMorgan executive told BI that the bank was hiring across all levels of investment banking amid a bump in deal flow.

Whether the JPMorgan hiring boost will continue in 2025, however, remains to be seen. On Wednesday, the bank's chief financial officer, Jeremy Barnum, told investors that JPMorgan intends to keep headcount flat this year, following a 2% rise in staffing in 2024. That included a 3% rise in its asset- and wealth-management unit, according to company filings.

Goldman Sachs' careers portal, meanwhile, displays 15 open job listings for junior bankers in New York, London, and San Francisco, namely at the analyst and associate levels. In January, one open role called for an associate to cover deals for financial institutions and asset-management clients, while another sought an IB associate to focus on the entertainment sector. A third associate position was focused on executing general mergers and acquisitions.

IT jobs

Headhunters have said that an array of financial-services firms, from banks to hedge funds, are expected to boost tech hiring as they explore and build new artificial intelligence capabilities.

In July, JPMorgan's CEO, Jamie Dimon, said he expects to add thousands of AI-related jobs in the next few years. Hedge funds and proprietary-trading firms have also been getting into the act, shelling out big bucks, as much as $350,000 in annual salaries, to snag coveted AI researchers and engineers.

Some private-equity firms, meanwhile, have been paying up to $2 million, including base salary and bonus, for so-called AI operating executives, recruiters told BI last year.

See BI's top tips for landing a Wall Street tech job in 2025.

Private credit and financing

So-called private credit has been on a roll in recent years as more asset managers, like Apollo and Blackstone, pick up lending that banks increasingly deem too risky for their balance sheets.

Plus, there are signs that demand for nonbank loans will only intensify in 2025, as demand for corporate capital raising increases, including for M&A.

On Monday, Goldman Sachs announced a new structure to capitalize on growing demand for financing. Its new Capital Solutions Group is geared to provide alternative sources of lending to corporate clients as well as financial sponsors.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that hedge fund Point72 hired Todd Hirsch, a former Blackstone senior managing director, to build out its new private-credit business.

Goldman on Wednesday reported record results in fixed-income and equities financing, which includes capital raising on behalf of clients. Goldman's CEO referred to financing a "large strategic opportunity" for the bank, thanks to what he described as "important structural trends currently taking place in finance" including the emergence of private credit.

See BI's top do's and don'ts for landing a job in the burgeoning private-credit industry.

• Morgan Stanley on Wednesday promoted a new class of managing directors to help steer the firm.
• See all 173 new MD names here.
• The promotions come as Wall Street prepares for a more active environment for dealmaking.

Morgan Stanley this week welcomed a new class of leaders to help shepherd the bank through what's expected to be a more active dealmaking environment. On Friday, they shared the names of their 173 new managing directors, the bank's highest title outside the C-Suite.

The promotions are an annual rite of passage on Wall Street and follow similar elevations at banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which each promoted new executives to their top ranks in recent weeks.

Morgan Stanley new MD class is larger than last year's, although short of the multiyear highs hit at Goldman and Citi. Some 46% of the new MDs come from the firm's institutional securities group, 13% from investment management, and 9% from wealth management.

Here's the full list of names of the new MDs. See here for statistics on the makeup of the new class.

Here's the list organized in alphabetical order:

Andrea Alberti

Andrew Arena

Emma Atkins

Mona Benisi

Maria Berezhkova

Alison Bilger

Priya Bindra

Nathan Bishop

Peter Boehm

Dan Bray

Katalin Broz

Shinya Bukawa

Edward Bury

Ryuk Byun

James Carroll

Matt Cashia

Kathy Chan

Kendal Cehanowicz

Fabien Charbonnel

Issam Cherif

Florence Hiu In Cheung

Simerjeet Chhatwal

Joseph Chiovitti

Cassandra Choi

Lindsay Connor

Lori Corbett

Stephanie Crombie

John Crowe

Jon Davis

Laura D'Albey

Toussaint Davis

Jamie Day

Daniel DeDora

Daniel Diamond

Sean Diffley

James DiGuglielmo

Danielle Dimitriou

James Donnelly

Charles-Antoine Dozin

Patrick Edwards

Cedar Ekblom

Steve Farr

Kurt Gabriel

Tish Garrett

Jenna Giannelli

Marjorie Goichberg

Jennifer Gonzalez

Fernando Manuel Gonzalez Baquero

Max Gordon-Brown

Anna Grainger

Jonathan Greenberg

Stephen Grambling

Emma Griffin

Dirk Grunert

Inan Gunbay

Pranav Gupta

Yash Gupta

Caroline Halimi

Kyle Hallett

Ryuichiro John Hanawa

Todd Hand

Sophia Herrmann

Andrew T. Hill

Jaylene Howard

Phil Humphreys

Ross Hutcheson

Daniel Iacovitti

Eiji Ieno

Kiran Inamdar

Tomoo Ishimaru

Emiley Jellie

Paul Jodice

Chris Ju

Michele Jones

Patrick Keeley, Jr.

Michael Keene

Andrei Keis

Brian Kelly

Aly Kerr

Hussein Khattab

Christopher Khouri

Nicholas R. Kirschner

Krisztian Kovacs

Sara J.G. Krantz

Jenna Krause

Mithun Kunder

Colm Leahy

Jon LeBoutillier

Ben L. Lee

Dick Lee

Jason Lees

Benjamin Liberos

Uri Lichtenfeld

Daniel J. Lingeza

Fan Liu

Sarah Lloyd-Johns

Elly Lukenskaite

Mayank Maheshwari

Richard Mancusi

Koren Maranca

Lesley A. Matthews

Helen Mbugua-Kahuki

Mandy McClung

Felipe Medeiros

Lauren Miller

James Montgomerie

Joseph Morgan

Louise Mylott

Paul Nicely

Marianna Nichols

Patrick J. Nolan

Onyekwere Randy Ojukwu

Dina Paek

Monica Pal

Mark K. Parsonson

Liju Paul

Rebecca Peckham

Richard Perrott

Tony Piperno

Jon Pistilli

Laurie Pistilli

Sanjiv Prasad

Anthony Preisano

Jared Richardson

Chris Rigoli

Lúlica Rocha

Alison Rooney

Brendan Ross

Daniel Rossi

Samantha L. Schreiber

Neil Schwarz

James Scilacci

Stephen Scott

Matt Sebesten

Federico Sequeda

Sajan Shah

Brian Sanderson

Steven Santoro

Rebecca Shaoul

Eugene Shenkar

Aleksey Shevchenko

Derek Simmons

Snigdha Singh

Sat Sivanathan

Ben Smith

Lucio Solms-Lich

Zachary Solomon

Nick Spiller

Reed Staub

Kirsten Stewart

Alexandra Straton Gleich

Jason Swankoski

Keiko Takeno

Emma Tamblingson

Frank F. Tang

Daniel Tay Zhi Yang

Courtney A. Thompson

Paul B. Tucker

Ciaran Tuohy

Bolivar Valera

Alex J. Visokey

Elizabeth Mazzagetti Waggoner

Robert R. Walton, Jr.

Mae Wang

David White

Patrick Whitehead

Emma Whitehouse

Russell Wilk

Brandon D. Winikates

Erik Woodring

Ken Yamaguchi

Saba Zahid

Mike Zheng

• Morgan Stanley has promoted 173 employees to its top rank of managing director.
• That's a 12% increase over last year as demand for mergers and capital rebounds.
• The latest class is smaller, however, compared to 2023 and 2022 when James Gorman was CEO.

Morgan Stanley promoted 173 people to the rank of managing director on Wednesday, a 12% jump from this time last year as demand for mergers and capital raising rebounds across Wall Street.

The promotions come as Ted Pick finishes his first full year as CEO with 25% of last year's global M&A business, giving it the No. 2 spot behind Goldman Sachs, according to the London Stock Exchange Group.

Last year's class included just 155 names class, down from 184 in 2023 and 199 in 2022. The bank promoted 171 employees to MD in 2021 when M&A hit a global record of $5 trillion.

The bank has internally notified its newest members of their new titles and is planning to release the list of names publicly on Friday. Here are some stats about this year's class, according to a spokesperson for Morgan Stanley.

• Institutional Securities Group: 46%
• Investment management: 13%
• Wealth management: 9%
• 68% of MD promotes were in the Americas, 20% in EMEA, 12% in Asia

• The promotions represent 13 countries
• The average tenure of those promoted is 11 years at Morgan Stanley.
• 39% of the class have advanced degrees

• 34% of MD class are women, increasing overall women MD representation to 27%

  • Of US-based MD promotes, 22% of the class are ethnically diverse:

    • 3% are Black, 6% are Hispanic, 12% are Asian, 1% is 2+ races

Do you work on Wall Street? Get in touch with this reporter. Reed Alexander can be reached via email at [email protected], or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (561) 247-5758.

• Each year, Business Insider highlights Wall Street's rising stars.
• These are up-and-comers in investment banking, trading, and investing.
• All are 35 or younger. Check out our lists over the years.

For the past eight years, Business Insider's finance reporters have tapped their contacts to put together a list of who to watch on Wall Street.

We've received recommendations from bosses, colleagues, recruiters, and financial industry experts to create our annual feature. To be eligible, nominees must be based in the US, 35 or younger, and stand out among their peers. The editors make the final decisions.

Business Insider asked these rising stars from leading firms like Goldman, Blackstone, and Citadel to reflect on their successes, challenges, and best career advice.

2024

Meet our 2024 class

Our most recent set of young professionals reflect the future of finance. A number of them are shaping the trajectory of clean energy and artificial intelligence by financing the infrastructure that will underpin it. Some have seen their focus go from niche to hot asset. Others are influencing how Wall Street interacts with Main Street, using their skills and savvy to create new products and services for ordinary investors or giving employees at portfolio companies ownership stakes.

The rising stars also shared how they unwind and stay grounded in order to stay mentally sharp.

2023

Meet the 2023 class

2023's cohort included traders setting new playbooks for deals and trades and an investor building out burgeoning private markets businesses within the world's largest bank. These influencers also financed some of the biggest deals of the past few years and provided an edge to top investors with complex and innovative products.

They shared the lessons learned from their biggest career mistakes and how their Wall Street wardrobe had evolved from their COVID work-from-home days.

2022

Meet the class of 2022

As Wall Street navigated volatile markets, fewer deals, and plummeting company valuations, we found the players rising up despite the challenges.

One invested in space ventures, and another executed multibillion-dollar trades. Some up-and-comers pushed their teams to the top of industry rankings.

From books on the science of sleep to fantasy football strategy podcasts, here's what these bright leaders were reading and listening to. And here are some of their lessons and advice.

Here are the previous editions of our Wall Street rising stars list:

• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017

• Donald Trump could introduce sweeping changes to Wall Street when he takes office on January 20.
• His policies are expected to boost core investment-banking businesses, like M&A and lending.
• He may also spur competition from financial technology startups and roll back consumer protections.

Donald Trump is already signaling his plans for Wall Street through his appointments to federal agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, which aims to promote commerce and protect consumers. He wants to replace Lina Khan, the agency's commissioner, with Andrew Ferguson, who is expected to be less aggressive in blocking large mergers.

According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, 2024 saw more than $3 trillion in mergers and acquisitions volumes globally. While it was slightly up from the year prior, it was consistent with the malaise that has gripped Wall Street amid the high interest rates and dealmaking slowdown of the post-COVID years.

But, with the second Trump administration set to take effect come Inauguration Day on January 20, investment bankers and private-equity financiers are gearing up for what could be a friendlier dealmaking environment. In an interview following the election with CNBC in November, Jeffrey Solomon, the president of financial firm TD Cowen, said he predicted that the "regulatory environment will be much more conducive to economic growth."

"There will be lighter and targeted regulation," he told the business news outlet, expressing a view that many in the financial-services industry share, whether or not they express those views aloud.

With Trump's historically less hawkish approach to regulation and pronouncements to spur economic activity and tame inflation, here are five ways his policies could shape Wall Street in 2025 and in the years to come.

Bank lending

Trump is generally expected to reduce regulations for companies, including banks. One way he could do this is by rolling back the Biden administration's plans to enforce stricter capital requirements on banks, nicknamed "Basel III Endgame." Bank leaders, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, have vehemently opposed the latest proposed rules, saying they would require banks to hold on to far more capital than they needed to manage their risks. According to law firm Davis Polk, Trump could ease the capital restrictions, which could free up banks to put more of their capital to work via lending or other activities.

M&A

M&A is once again showing signs of life, thanks to the Fed's plans to lower the cost of borrowing.

A KPMG survey of 300 corporate and private-equity dealmakers released in December revealed a bullish outlook among those poised to engage in M&A transactions in the year ahead. In the online survey, 85% of respondents said they were eyeing more deals now than six months ago, and 79% said that the outcome of the presidential election would produce "an easier regulatory or anti-trust environment for M&A."

Trump is expected to turbocharge the dealmaking environment by replacing the current head of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, who has been aggressive in blocking big mergers, including a $24.6 billion tie-up of supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons. Khan has also taken steps to break up tech giants Amazon and Meta.

Trump has selected Andrew Ferguson, one of the FTC's current commissioners, to replace Khan as the FTC's chair. Ferguson is expected to be more welcoming of large mergers, although he has vowed on Silicon Valley tech giants, especially those that stifle conservative voices. In a post on X, he said: "At the FTC, we will end Big Tech's vendetta against competition and free speech. We will make sure that America is the world's technological leader and the best place for innovators to bring new ideas to life."

Crypto and fintech

Trump embraced crypto on the campaign trail, becoming the first presidential candidate to accept campaign donations in cryptocurrency. Since being elected for a second term in the White House, he named venture capitalist David Sacks as the "AI & Crypto Czar." Sacks' job, according to Trump, will be to find ways to help crypto thrive, including by advising the White House on "a legal framework so the crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for," according to a post on social media site Truth Social.

Trump's focus on crypto and AI has financial industry watchers betting a second Trump administration will prove a boon to fintechs, which could prove a mixed bag for established banks who have adopted new banking technologies to compete with the rise of payments and banking apps.

Davis Polk lawyers explained it this way in a December 19 report: "The focus on growth and innovation is likely to be centered around facilitating safe and sound fintech activities, making the path to achieving a bank charter for innovative firms more readily achievable and drawing clearer rules of the road for banking organizations to participate in a variety of crypto-asset-related and tokenization activities."

Consumer banking

Trump is expected to reduce regulations generally, including consumer protection efforts that have drawn opposition from Republican lawmakers. On December 12, the Biden administration finalized rules limiting what banks can charge consumers who spend more money than they have in their accounts, also known as overdraft fees. The rule drew a lawsuit from banking groups and the ire of Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the incoming chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

"Despite voters' clear message on Election Day, Director Chopra has advanced his agenda at a break-neck speed," Scott reportedly said at a December Senate Banking Committee hearing in reference to Rohit Chopra, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, or CFPB.

Some Trump supporters have called for sweeping changes to the CFPB, an Obama-era agency responsible for protecting consumers from unfair treatment by financial firms.

"Delete CFPB," Elon Musk wrote in November on X, his social media platform.

IPOs

Stock investors reacted enthusiastically to Trump's election, sending stocks to record levels until December when investors started harvesting gains. Continued stock-market optimism stands to boost IPO activity, which thawed out slightly in 2024 following several years of stagnation.

There were 214 IPOs filed in 2024, up 19% from the previous year, according to IPO tracker Renaissance Capital.

Whether the stock-market cheer continues, however, will depend on Trump's policies once he takes office on January 20. The president-elect is largely expected to take a pro-business stance, but he has also proposed taxing foreign imports at levels that threaten to slow the economy by raising the prices of consumer goods.

While tariffs don't automatically lead to rising prices, "adding tariffs at the scale being discussed would have inflation implications," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director with US Bank Asset Management in a recent research report. Trump has proposed levying taxes of 10% on goods imported from China, and 25% tariffs on goods from neighbors Mexico and Canada.

• 10 Goldman Sachs partners shared the books, speeches, and plays that inspired them this year.
• President John Waldron recommended a book about Dwight Eisenhower that taught him about leadership.
• See what 9 other Goldman execs said made them better leaders, industry experts, and humans in 2024.

Goldman Sachs' top brass are revered as some of the sharpest minds on Wall Street — but staying on top of your game takes work.

As 2024 comes to a close, Business Insider asked 10 senior officials of the powerhouse global investment bank — a leader in M&A dealmaking and advice — to share at least one thing they read, watched, or listened to that made them smarter and better at their jobs over the last year.

One Goldman partner recommended a play that helped her think about the long-term impact of her actions. Another partner touted a lecture by a famous philosopher on the importance of organizational trust that can be streamed from Spotify.

As Carey Halio, Goldman's global treasurer, put it, learning is an "endless" pursuit for leaders of the bank, which ranked No. 1 in M&A volumes last year, according to deal tracker LSEG.

"The more you can expand your knowledge base, the better you will be at your core function, the more you will be able to connect the dots and the more effective you will be as a leader," Halio told BI.

Here's what top Goldman executives like President John Waldron, Vice Chair Rob Kaplan, and M&A cohead Stephan Feldgoise shared as their top recommendations from 2024. The responses all come from Goldman partners, the bank's highest rank outside the C-suite. They are in the partners' own words, edited only for length and clarity, and are organized alphabetically by last name.

Jared Cohen

Title: President of Global Affairs and cohead of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute

Recommendation: "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuchman and "A Peace to End All Peace" by David Fromkin

Why: Earlier in my career, I found that you couldn't truly understand World War I without reading these books. Now, they help me make sense of the world we're living in. Tuchman offers a sobering reminder of how quickly things can fall apart. Many leaders took peace in Europe for granted in 1914, as they did in 2014 and even 2022, with devastating results. Fromkin is especially worth reading this year after the fall of the brutal Assad regime in Syria. That country's borders emerged in large part as a legacy World War I.

"A Peace to End All Peace" details the history behind the headlines, and it remains a key text for anyone trying to understand one of the world's most challenging but amazing regions.

Stephan Feldgoise

Title: Cohead of Global M&A

Recommendation: "The Confident Mind" by Dr. Nate Zinsser

Why: Dr. Zinsser teaches performance psychology at West Point, working with members of the military who need to perform and excel in high-stress situations.

I found the concepts around preparation and mental positivity to be useful for me personally but also highly valuable in mentoring and developing the next generation of Goldman Sachs leaders as they move into roles where they face performance challenges in high-stress environments.

Most valuable were the very specific and learnable techniques that can be taught to next-generation leaders to build confidence and improve performance.

Gizelle George-Joseph

Title: COO of Global Investment Research

Recommendation: "The Promise of Leadership," readings curated by the Aspen Institute's Finance Leaders Fellowship

Why: A selection of readings curated by the Aspen Institute's Finance Leaders Fellowship as part of the final week-long intensive seminar had the most significant impact on my leadership this year.

There were many aspects of the readings and the seminar that resonated, including a deep discussion on happiness and what makes for a good life: health, wealth, knowledge, friendship, good moral character – all of it? There was also a heart-wrenching reminder of both the courage and the depravity that can exist in the world through stories of survivors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, as told by New Yorker writer Paul Gourevitch in the book "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families."

From the readings, which included works by Frederick Douglas, Wendell Barry, and Mary Oliver, I took away multiple concepts that I continue to contemplate both as a leader and a citizen of the world and these have guided many of my endeavors and decisions this year. My takeaways included the importance of taking action to create change in big and small ways and enjoying the journey of life itself.

Carey Halio

Title: Global Treasurer

Recommendation: Speeches by the Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson

Why: This fall, I really enjoyed two speeches by Vice Chair Philip Jefferson from the Federal Reserve on the history of the discount window since it was initially created in 1913, and how it has provided liquidity to the US banking system and broader economy in different environments.

Despite being someone who has been a student of the banking industry for over 25 years, I learned new points that help me think about our approach to the discount window today. It was a good reminder to not only constantly seek out information but to look at history as a tool for understanding the path in front of you.

I am a firm believer that you can always learn more about your industry and your area of expertise – it is truly endless. The more you can expand your knowledge base, the better you will be at your core function, the more you will be able to connect the dots, and the more effective you will be as a leader. While this example is unique to my work, I think the theme applies more universally.

And, if you are interested in banking, I highly recommend this speech and this speech.

Rob Kaplan

Title: Vice Chairman

Recommendation: "War" by Bob Woodward

Why: I have always been interested in learning about how leaders operate under highly ambiguous and stressful conditions. Whether it is Woodward, William Manchester, or David Halberstam, authors who explore leadership actions in difficult situations that changed the course of history can provide compelling lessons on decision-making under pressure.

Making one decision versus another, having even a slight misunderstanding, or making a seemingly minor miscalculation can cause mistakes that may look innocuous at the time but can have a lasting impact.

Ericka Leslie

Title: COO of Global Banking & Markets

Recommendation: "Trust the Universe," a lecture by Alan Watts

Why: Throughout my career, I have found the philosopher Alan Watts to be particularly inspiring as I think about how to lead different organizations and functions. I regularly revisit his famous lecture "Trust the Universe" on Spotify and recommend it to my colleagues each year. He argues that most people fail to trust the organization they are in and try to control it, which eventually leads to failure.

If you trust the system, as long as you believe in it, then your ability to get the most out of other people to scale and grow your business is greatly enhanced. Through trust and delegated authority, businesses can grow, and organizations can scale. This idea is borrowed from the way the human body operates, and he presents it as a more natural way to create meaningful impact in an organization.

These lessons are both timeless and universal and something I try to integrate into my work every day.

Asahi Pompey

Title: Global Head of Corporate Engagement and Chair of the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs

Recommendation: "Good Bones," a show by the playwright James Ijames

Why: I saw "Good Bones" at the Public Theater — not once, but twice — because it was that compelling. The play explores the complexities of urban renewal projects, asking essential questions like: Who belongs in a neighborhood, and who benefits from its evolution?

The work my team and I lead is centered on creating durable, lasting economic progress, with over $20 billion deployed in community development projects like affordable housing. "Good Bones" was a welcome reminder that as investors, we should never lose sight of the history and the voice of a community — to build long-term trust, and ultimately, to deliver sustainable impact.

When it comes to running a team and leading an organization, the same ideas are at play. Building and managing relationships with honesty and empathy, especially during times of change, creates a foundation of collective resilience, which is essential for the long-term success of an organization.

Padi Raphael

Title: Global head of Third Party Wealth Management in Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Recommendation: "The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution" by Gregory Zuckerman

Why: One book I read this year that stands out to me is "The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution" by Gregory Zuckerman, a compelling biography of a titan of the hedge fund industry. Jim's story underscores the value of being the very best at what you do by finding a niche in which your skills and perspective can uniquely position you to win.

Producing consistent alpha in investing can be a notoriously difficult undertaking, and the book narrates a masterclass in resilience, painting a picture of Jim's extraordinary successes following early hardships in launching his career.

Two themes that resonated with me as a leader were perseverance in the face of challenges and a lifelong love of learning. In his own immortal words: "work with the smartest people you can, hopefully smarter than you...be persistent, don't give up easily. Be guided by beauty...". The book is a highly engaging read, and I devoured it in one sitting!

John Waldron

Title: President & COO

Recommendation: "Eisenhower: The White House Years" by Jim Newton

Why: I spend a lot of time thinking about risk and how to steer our organization through today's geopolitical crosscurrents, so I went looking for inspiration and found it in Jim Newton's book, "Eisenhower: The White House Years."

Although Newton covers the entirety of Eisenhower's life, he focuses on Ike's two terms as president, which are largely remembered as eight torpid years of peace and prosperity, though, as Newton points out, there was nothing ho-hum about them. Eisenhower inherited not only a hot war on the Korean peninsula, but also a Cold War with the Soviet Union, whose tensions erupted in Iran, Vietnam, Guatemala, Taiwan, Hungary, the Suez Canal, Lebanon, Cuba, the Congo.

It is a sign of Eisenhower's success that those perilous years are now remembered as the days of "Leave It to Beaver," and yet he was still human. He wasn't immediately sympathetic to the cause of civil rights, though when push came to shove during the Little Rock crisis of 1957, he did send in the National Guard to enforce court-ordered desegregation. He also advocated for and oversaw the establishment of the Interstate Highway System, which laid the foundation for years of robust economic growth.

He was a man who wasn't afraid to compromise and who always took the long view. Not a bad example for other leaders to follow.

Tucker York

Title: Global Head of Wealth Management

Recommendation: "Leadership by the Good Book" by David L. Steward

Why: Each year, I keep a list of the books I've read, who recommended them to me, and any takeaways or lessons that I took from the reading. One that stood out this year was "Leadership by the Good Book" by David L. Steward. David gave me the book during his visit to Goldman Sachs this fall as he was the keynote speaker at our inaugural Garland Summit.

While the book suggests biblical lessons appropriate for the business world, the wisdom is non-denominational. David and his coauthor, Brandon Mann, delve into the themes of servant leadership, loving what you do, investing in your people, risking your reputation for what's right, growing through external challenges, and celebrating milestones on the journey. I saw clear parallels to our work in serving clients, risk management, and mentoring our people.

Regardless of one's religious affiliation, the applied learnings are relevant for the business world and the guidance applies to my work at Goldman Sachs.

• Wall Street banks are proving that generative AI is here to stay and the tech is not just a fad.
• Business Insider has reported on how some of finance's biggest banks are approaching generative AI.
• See how giants like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are weaving the tech into the fabric of their firms.

Wall Street bank leaders say generative AI is here to stay, and they're weaving the technology throughout the fabric of their banks to make sure.

From trading to payments to marketing, it's hard to find a corner of the banking industry that isn't claiming to use AI.

In fact, the technology's impact, made mainstream by OpenAI's ChatGPT in late-2022, is becoming cultural. Generative AI is changing what it takes to be a software developer and how to stand out as a junior banker, especially as banks begin dispatching autonomous AI agents. The technology is even changing roles in the c-suite.

From supercharging productivity via AI-powered search engines to figuring out the best way banks can realize a return on their AI investments, here's what we know about how Wall Street banks are embracing AI.

JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is a "tremendous" user of the bank's generative AI suite. We have the story of how he and other execs use AI at the bank.

• JPMorgan's AI rollout: Jamie Dimon's a 'tremendous' user and it's caused some 'healthy competition' among teams
• JPMorgan is making a big bet on AI. Here's how its private bankers are using it.

Dimon also laid out his vision for how America's largest bank will win the AI battle against fintechs through data. Meet the leaders of that mission.

• Jamie Dimon says he's out to win the AI arms race. See who he's put in charge of this critical mission.
• JPMorgan's Lori Beer just added 2 new tech leaders to her ranks. Meet the team behind the bank's AI future.

Mary Erdoes, the boss of JPM's asset- and wealth-management business, used these slides to outline how she wants to get her people ready for the "AI of the future."

• Here's how JPM boss Mary Erdoes wants to use AI to eliminate "no joy" work

Manuela Veloso has been focused on AI for decades. The former head of machine learning at Carnegie Mellon University, Veloso has been JPMorgan's head of AI research since 2018. She broke down seven main challenges her team is trying to solve with AI for the bank.

• JPMorgan's head of AI research Manuela Veloso breaks down 7 areas she's looking to apply the cutting-edge tech

Goldman Sachs

Goldman's top partners and CEO David Solomon are eager to see AI rev up their businesses. From realizing internal productivity gains to capturing more business as clients look to raise money in anticipation of AI development and acquisitions, here's what the top echelon is expecting.

• How AI will shake up Goldman Sachs, according to top partners and CEO David Solomon
• Inside Goldman Sachs' plans for AI, from helping non-tech workers do more with software to streamlining how code is documented

There is no AI without data, and there is no data strategy at Goldman without its chief data officer, Neema Raphael. Raphael gave BI an inside look at how his roughly 500-person team melds with the rest of the bank to get the most out of its data.

• Meet Neema Raphael, the data whiz key to Goldman's AI ambitions who's overseeing the bank's army of engineers and scientists

AI's impact has ripple effects that go far beyond technology. Goldman's chief information officer, Marco Argenti, predicts that cultural change will be critical to getting the bank to 100% adoption.

• Goldman Sachs CIO Marco Argenti says Wall Street's 'next big wave' in AI will come down to culture, not just technology

Many dollars are being spent on Wall Street's AI ambitions. But how do you measure the return on the investment? Argenti offers some tips on the calculus that can help firms prioritize where to invest.

• As AI usage ramps up on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs CIO details how the bank analyzes return on investment for the tech

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley wants to turn employees' AI ideas into a reality. Here's an exclusive look at that process.

• Morgan Stanley has 30 AI projects in the pipeline. Here's how the bank sources employees' ideas for inspiration.

Morgan Stanley's wealth division is getting an AI facelift. See how the technology is transforming the jobs of the bank's 16,000 financial advisors.

• Morgan Stanley is betting on AI to free up advisors' time to be 'more human.' Nearly 100% of advisor teams use it, and here's how.

Thanks to its partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Morgan Stanley has ramped up its AI efforts. The exec in charge of tech partnerships and firmwide innovation opened up about how it all started.

• Morgan Stanley's new innovation head lays out his plan for more OpenAI-type partnerships
• A Morgan Stanley exec breaks down how the bank courts tech partners like OpenAI

Citi

Citi's top tech executive, Shadman Zafar, outlined the bank's four-phased AI strategy and how it will "change how we work for decades to come."

• A top Citi tech exec breaks down the 4 phases of the bank's AI strategy that will impact everyone from operations to wealth and product

Bank of America

Bank of America's chief experience officer, Rob Pascal, details how the bank's internal-facing AI assistant helps bankers collect, record, and review client data. Here are all the ways it's helping employees be more effective and efficient.

How Bank of America is using an AI-powered tool to help its bankers prep for client meetings more efficiently

AI hits the investment bank

Investment bankers are hopeful that corporate America's obsession with AI could kick off a new era of mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs. From execs stepping into recently created roles to accommodate the sector to industry veterans launching their own AI-focused M&A-advisory firm, meet 11 investment bankers poised to lead Wall Street's AI revolution.

• Wall Street is gearing up for an AI shopping spree. Meet 11 bankers poised to come out on top.

We spoke with four of those AI bankers about why 2025 is going to be all about AI pickaxes and shovels rather than pure-play AI deals.

• The deals 4 tech bankers think the 'AI arms race' could drive in 2025

AI could save junior bankers time by automating tedious tasks known all too well by Wall Street's youngest ranks. But it can also make it harder to break into the industry by shifting the skills required for entry.

• How AI will change the job of the junior banker and raise the bar to entry

A former Goldman Sachs managing director built an AI-powered networking tool to spur dealmaking. The budding startup, Louisa AI, already has a few clients, including Goldman Sachs, Insight Partners, and a global exchange.

• See the pitch deck that helped a former Goldman Sachs exec raise $5 million for an AI-powered networking startup that feeds deal ideas to bankers.

Here's how former investment bankers left their Wall Street jobs to build an AI startup to solve junior bankers' woes.

• See the pitch deck that helped former investment bankers raise a $7 million seed round for their generative 'AI consigliere' to bankers and analysts

• 2025 is expected to be a robust year for mergers and acquisitions as well as IPOs.
• Consequently, some investment banks are bulking up on hiring, industry recruiters say.
• Here's a look at which firms are staffing up and what sectors are seeing the most action.

When John Weinberg, the chairman and CEO of the elite boutique investment bank Evercore, sat down for a fireside chat in December at an annual Goldman Sachs conference, he revealed that his firm had been ramping up hiring.

"Most of the time, you don't really do much recruiting in November or December," he told listeners — adding that this year had been different. "If you could see my schedule, you'd see that virtually every day I am speaking with and recruiting" new talent, he said. "You could probably anticipate that our recruiting efforts will increase, not decrease."

Weinberg isn't the only Wall Street dealmaker for whom recruiting is top of mind. According to industry headhunters, hiring across the Street has been gaining steam.

"We're probably up 60% to 70%," Kevin Mahoney, a managing partner in the global financial-services practice at Christoph Zeiss Partners, told Business Insider in December. "We haven't been this busy in a long time," he added, saying he expects 2025 to be "bonkers" in terms of hiring volumes.

After several years of lackluster deal activity, Wall Street is finally starting to see signs of a thaw in mergers and public offerings. A cocktail of lower interest rates, pent-up demand, and expectations for a friendlier landscape under a Trump presidency has left many dealmakers across the Street feeling bullish about the prospects for 2025. Robert Stowe, the head of Americas equity capital markets at Barclays, told BI that he predicted some $50 billion in initial public offering volumes in the US next year. That would be a roughly 20% increase from 2024's just over $41 billion worth of IPO volumes in the Americas, as recorded by the deal-tracking firm Dealogic.

BI got an update on the latest investment-banking hiring trends from three top Wall Street headhunters: Mahoney; Meridith Dennes, the managing partner of the firm Prospect Rock; and Brianne Sterling, the head of the investment-banking recruiting practice at Selby Jennings.

Dennes said the industry's "musical chairs" could start to spike in about January or February after bankers receive their bonuses. Many, she said, have gotten early hints about their bonus numbers this year and are privately grumbling.

"Bonuses are not coming out as strong as we expected them to be, and I think the reason is because there's been so much hiring at the senior level and at the MD level," she said. "A lot of that compensation pool may be spoken for."

So, with moves on the way, which sectors will see the most activity? Here are a few key trends the headhunters say are worth watching in 2025.

The hot sectors

Banks big and small are already dialing up recruiting for their technology, media, and telecommunications teams, known as TMT in Wall Street parlance.

One reason, Mahoney said, is that those sectors are popular acquisition targets for financial sponsors. Indeed, private-equity firms are itching to deploy the billions they've raised from limited partners — but have been waiting for interest rates to decline.

"Something that I think will be interesting within the tech space, as well, is how teams are looking at staffing and positioning" for AI deals, as well as deals for cryptocurrency and digital-assets companies that may consolidate over the next year, Sterling of Selby Jennings said.

Tech has been a major area for banker movement, said Dennes, who also named healthcare, restructuring, industrials, consumer retail, and financial institutions as hot. Among some of the early findings of Prospect Rock's annual compensation survey, bankers in tech and restructuring displayed the highest levels of dissatisfaction with pay.

"Now, if they're not really paid," Dennes said, "they're going to want to jump — and there's opportunity for those folks to jump."

Tech dealmakers on the move

Union Square Advisors, a boutique technology-focused investment bank in San Francisco, has onboarded a series of dealmakers recently, including tapping Terry Jackson — who previously worked at JPMorgan and Bank of America Securities — as a managing director. The firm also hired Todd Meadow to pitch in with sponsor coverage and brought on the banker Chris Appaneal to focus on software for governance, risk, and compliance.

Houlihan Lokey, a midsize firm long respected for its prowess in restructuring and distressed deals, has also been growing its wallet share in tech to win competitive M&A mandates.

In the spring, the bank appointed Ryan Lund as a cohead of US technology. It's been deepening the granularity of its software coverage with subsequent hires, as well — like Nana Kyei, a managing director who joined from Jefferies this fall and focuses on education tech. Geoff Rhizor joined the tech team in San Francisco in late summer; his coverage, in part, intersects with the fintech group.

Barclays has also emphasized hiring managing directors focused on tech and healthcare deals, a company spokesperson told BI. Rob Patterson, who serves as head of data and information platforms coverage within tech investment banking, came over from Morgan Stanley. And the bank appointed David King, a former top-level banker at Bank of America, as global head of technology mergers and acquisitions last summer.

Big banks are staffing up

Some banks have already initiated widespread recruiting plans for juniors.

JPMorgan Chase, for instance, was engaged in a vigorous off-cycle recruiting spree for junior investment bankers as deal flow picked up speed in the fall, according to industry sources and postings on its job board.

Goldman Sachs' careers portal recently displayed roughly a dozen openings for junior bankers in New York, San Francisco, and London. Vacancies included analyst and associate positions in coverage groups like financial institutions, entertainment banking, TMT, and industrials, as well as product-focused functions like equity capital markets.

Bankers need fresh blood: 'Send them our way'

The last time there was an M&A boom during the pandemic, in 2021, many banks were caught unprepared and understaffed, resulting in complaints from overworked junior bankers.

Wall Street employers now say they won't make the same mistake twice — and many are eyeing boosting their junior ranks in preparation, the recruiters said.

Dennes expects an emphasis on associates and midlevel vice presidents to help juggle the ins and outs of executing the manifold deals coming down the pike. "Experienced bankers are always in demand," she said. "Anyone who has closed a couple of deals and is able to train junior staff is very valuable."

Dennes' firm, Prospect Rock, is working on filling four analyst roles, six associate roles, and two VP roles, postings on its website showed. Still, she doesn't see 2025 hiring following the same frenetic pattern it did during the earlier pandemic-era M&A boom.

"In 2021, you just needed bodies — more horsepower. This is very different," she said. Now, banks are markedly more vigilant in emphasizing quality over quantity. "Nobody wants a 2021, 2022 redo," she added. "A lot of those hires were not strong."

Some senior dealmakers are already worried about short-staffing. A managing director at a Wall Street bank told BI he was confident that 2025 would deliver a volume of work comparable with 2021 levels, if perhaps not the same soaring valuations.

"Part of the conversation that we're going to have to think through is augmenting the team at the midlevel" to handle execution, he said. In this hiring market, though, "it's almost impossible" to find impressive associates or VPs, he cautioned. "Send them our way — because it's hard."

Are you an investment-banking insider, or do you have knowledge of industry moves on Wall Street? Get in touch with these reporters. Reed Alexander can be reached via email at [email protected] or via the encrypted messaging app Signal at 561-247-5758. Emmalyse Brownstein can be reached at [email protected] or via Signal at 305-857-5516.

Correction: December 20, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated Meridith Dennes' role at Prospect Rock. She's the firm's managing partner, not one of its managing directors.