Loose ends are getting tied up in the Goldman Sachs universe with the completion of its GreenSky sale and the departure of a long-on-leave senior executive.
Stephanie Cohen, head of Goldman’s Platform Solutions unit, is leaving the bank for IT firm Cloudflare, where she will be chief strategy officer, she wrote Monday on her personal LinkedIn.
Cohen oversaw GreenSky, as well as the bank’s card partnerships with General Motors and Apple, prior to going on leave to focus on her family in June.
Cohen joins a growing list of tenured senior executives who have left the firm of late, including global financing group co-head Beth Hammack, one of Goldman’s fellow few senior-level women. Hammack confirmed on LinkedIn last month that she was leaving the bank after more than 30 years, with plans to “take a break” for several months. Cohen’s and Hammack’s departures leave Goldman’s 25-person management committee without a single woman in a revenue-producing role, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported Cohen’s exit Monday prior to her LinkedIn post.
Goldman CEO David Solomon plans to host several women partners for dinner Monday evening, the Journal reported, and it’s expected that the lack of women in Goldman’s highest ranks will be discussed.
On LinkedIn, Cohen called Goldman an “astonishing institution made up of incredible individuals.” She named several colleagues, including Solomon, in a thank you note “for supporting me these last 25 years as I wrestled with new challenges and navigated life’s complexities. It is this support and friendship for which I am eternally grateful.”
Her new employer, Cloudflare, created a new position for her to leverage her relationships and expertise to help expand its business with large companies, the Journal reported.
“I leap into this new chapter with the benefit of significant contemplation and research. More than anything else I want to do something that matters with world-class people and in an environment that fosters learning and creativity,” Cohen wrote. “I have had the privilege of doing that these last 25 years at Goldman Sachs and cannot wait for what lies ahead!”
GreenSky, an installment-lending fintech, is now in the hands of an investor group led by Sixth Street, including KKR, Bayview Asset Management and CardWorks, investors announced Friday.
Goldman had purchased GreenSky for about $1.7 billion in 2021 as a bid to make headway in the mass market. The deal proved ill-fated and accounted for a portion of the more than $3 billion in losses that faced the platform solutions business between 2020 and the third quarter of 2022.
The bank confirmed last April that it was exploring a sale of the fintech, following comments by Solomon in February that Goldman was “considering strategic alternatives” for its consumer business. The Wall Street Journal reported in September that it was in “advanced talks” with Sixth Street, and the sale was officially announced in October.
Financial details of the sale to Sixth Street and others were not disclosed.
“Our investor consortium looks forward to providing the GreenSky team with the resources it needs to continue innovating and delivering industry leading and easy-to-use solutions for its merchant network and their customers,” said Michael Muscolino, co-founder and partner at Sixth Street in a prepared statement. “We plan to put GreenSky and its experienced leadership team in the best position to succeed as the platform deepens its focus on helping grow the businesses it serves.”
