Dive Brief:
- Goldman Sachs named Liz Ewing, previously chief of staff for CFO Stephen Scherr, as CFO of Marcus, the company’s consumer-banking arm, according to a Monday memo published by Business Insider.
- Ewing joined Goldman in 2011 and co-managed its regulatory policy team before taking the chief of staff role in October 2019, the memo said. She also advised internally on trade structures, capital planning, competitor analysis and rule changes, and coordinated board reporting on capital management and stress testing, the company said.
- Ewing fills the vacancy left by Sherry Ann Mohan, who announced last month she was leaving Marcus and is set to join JPMorgan Chase in August as CFO for business banking.
Dive Insight:
Marcus — and its parent company at large — has seen a spate of executive departures this year and has largely promoted from within to fill the openings.
This spring, it tapped Chantal Garcia as its chief operating officer and head of talent strategy; Scott Young as chief commercial officer; Abhinav Anand to become its top lending executive; and Marcos Rosenberg to lead deposits and investments in the U.S.
Banks often see accelerated turnover in the spring because executives who are planning to leave tend to do so after year-end bonuses are paid out in the first quarter.
Marcus also rehired Brian King as chief risk officer and head of business operations in April after he fled to Wells Fargo six months earlier.
"Our business has serious momentum and a deep and growing bench of talent," Andrew Williams, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson, said in February, when Marcus's now-former chief executive, Omer Ismail, and head of large partnerships, David Stark, left the bank for Walmart's fintech startup.
Ewing's appointment can be expected to bring a measure of consistency and stability above a rank and file that also has seen a raft of departures amid an aggressive product rollout schedule. That schedule, since the start of 2020, has included the launch of a Marcus app, checking accounts, the Insights personal finance management tool, the robo-advisory service Invest, and work to transition GM’s credit-card portfolio.
"We have no doubt that the comprehensive experience which Liz brings will support the continuous expansion of the Consumer business," three Marcus executives — Harit Talwar, Peeyush Nahar and King — wrote in the memo.
Nahar, previously Uber's vice president of technology, joined Marcus on June 1 to fill the chief executive role Ismail formally inhabited for less than two months. Ismail, however, had been a mainstay of Marcus since its inception and reportedly took over day-to-day operations in September from Talwar, who became chairman of the bank's consumer division Jan. 1 but resumed his former role in an interim capacity ahead of Nahar's arrival.
Ismail isn't the only Marcus executive to leave shortly after a promotion. Marcus’s head of product, Sonali Divilek, left the bank in April, less than three months after assuming the role in mid-January, when her predecessor, Adam Dell, stepped down. Divilek will become head of digital channels and products for consumer and community banking at JPMorgan Chase this summer.
Goldman has seen a talent drain outside its consumer division, too. Its general counsel, communications chief, head of diversity and asset-management co-head have all announced their departure since March.
In her Marcus role, Ewing will be responsible for budgeting, reporting, financial planning and analysis across products. She also will join the bank’s Consumer Operating Council, which aims to help drive financial growth and efficiencies across the business.
