Goldman Sachs Taps New Head of New York Private Wealth

Women entrepreneurs are more common, she said, as are multi-generational families making joint decisions and nonprofits serving diverse communities.

Ross also heads a Goldman initiative to handle wealth management for athletes and entertainers. While the services offered are more specialized, she said their needs don’t differ dramatically from traditional private-banking clients.

“Most of the issues are the same,” she said. “They’re entrepreneurs and they’re similar to our entrepreneurial clients who’ve spent their life crafting their skill.”

Given their name recognition, more emphasis is placed on risk management and fraud prevention, she said. The strategies are also tailored to maximize earning windows and ensuring wealth can endure over a lifetime.

Private Banking in a Pandemic

The pandemic has been a challenge for private banking, which relies on intimate contact to gain trust. To stay in close touch with clients unsettled by market upheaval and concerned about their families’ safety, “we very quickly decided we’d bring the firm to them,” she said.

Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, the wealth division’s chief investment officer, has hosted virtual seminars on the market fallout with as many as 20,000 people tuning in at a time.

Several family clients who had considered selling their closely held businesses prior to the pandemic put the plans on hold after the outbreak, she said. Now some are reconsidering.

“Just in the past several weeks we’ve seen that activity start to pick up again,” she said. “That’s been encouraging for us.”

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