From where I sit as Global Co-Head of Private Wealth Management (alongside Meena Flynn), I am extremely proud of how our business has developed and excited about its future. I am in my 28th year at the firm, and the evolution of our business providing advice, solutions, and execution to ultra-high net worth individuals has been a story of continued adaptation in order to meet the changing needs of our clients. It was gratifying last month when the franchise was awarded the “World's Best Private Bank” designation by Euromoney1.
As one of the few businesses at the firm that caters to individuals, Private Wealth Management has had many iterations over the years. For those of you who are GS historians, you may recall that for many years, Private Client Services (PCS) sat in the Equities Division and was essentially a sales and trading operation that leveraged GS research to cover individuals. In 1999, PCS moved into the newly created Investment Management Division, and in a 2000 memo, John McNulty and Phil Murphy announced its combination with the Investment Management Services (IMS) business, to form Private Wealth Management.
Fast forward 25 years, and while the mission to be “the pre-eminent financial advisor to the wealthiest individuals and their families globally” has not changed, our platform looks materially different. Our offering now includes:
Today, we supervise client assets of $1.3 trillion with over 1,000 advisors globally, and our average client tenure is over 10 years. We have had very little turnover in both our management and advisor ranks, which is a distinguishing characteristic for us in the industry. The uncertainty we have seen in the markets recently has been an opportunity to showcase the resources offered by PWM, whether it is comfort from advisors who have weathered previous ups and downs, economic and financial outlooks from the Investment Strategy Group, or wealth planning tools from the Goldman Sachs Family Office.
Among our priorities going forward, some of the most important are growing our international business to scale, leveraging the One GS initiative and firmwide relationships to add more PWM clients, and evolving our offering to meet the needs of next generation investment decision makers given the large generational wealth transfer that is currently taking place. The next generation demands greater digital capabilities, which is something that continues to be a big focus for us.
On the personal side, I am thrilled that my eldest son, Will, who is graduating from Dartmouth this June, will be joining GS full-time in Equity Capital Markets (ECM) in July. Nothing makes you feel older than running into your son in the Sky Lobby cafeteria! I am excited for him to benefit from the same intellectual rigor, commitment to excellence, and camaraderie of working as a team that I have had the good fortune to experience during my career.
Finally, the alumni network at our firm is unparalleled in terms of its talent and influence, and 80% of you are Private Wealth Management clients for which Tucker, Meena and I are very appreciative. I thank you for your continued engagement and welcome any and all feedback. Feel free to email me at john.mallory@gs.com.
John Mallory
1) Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management received the Euromoney “World’s Best Private Bank” award on March 28, 2025. The awards celebrate the achievements across the private banking and wealth management industry within the review period (October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024), with winners determined by a panel of private banking experts.
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