David Solomon, Stephanie Cohen, Sherry Wang and Daniel Alger
David Solomon, Stephanie Cohen, Sherry Wang and Daniel Alger
Chairman and CEO; Global Co-Head of Consumer and Wealth Management; Co-Heads at Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs played an active role in the past year in diversifying a commercial real estate industry sorely in need of such an effort.
A lot of companies talk a good game when it comes to diversity and inclusion, but David Solomon, who has run the Wall Street giant since October 2018, put more teeth in Goldman’s proposals than any of the bank’s peers, launching a new commitment of more than $10 billion in March of this year to advance racial equity and economic opportunities.
That sum includes direct capital, as well as $100 million in philanthropic investments over the next decade for its new One Million Black Women initiative to address gender and racial biases that women of color have faced for generations.
Goldman also elevated Stephanie Cohen to global co-head of consumer and wealth management in January, following a three-year stint as chief strategy officer, where she helped focus the firm on diversity. Cohen is a member of Goldman Sachs’ Global Inclusion and Diversity Committee, serving as global executive of the Women’s Network. She has also led the firm’s Launch with GS, a $500 million commitment to invest in companies and investment managers with diverse leadership.
In February, Sherry Wang and Daniel Alger took over the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group (UIG), and are looking to build on more than 11.2 million square feet of real estate commitments that the firm has fostered the last 20 years in predominantly minority communities. The two new UIG heads — who were promoted after previous longtime managing director, Margaret Chinwe Anadu (who was on Commercial Observer’s Power Finance list earlier this month), was appointed Goldman Sachs’ global head of sustainability — are planning to focus heavily on addressing socioeconomic gaps in housing and health care.
UIG’s latest project, a $242 million National Urban League headquarters in Harlem, is sprouting after a St. Patrick’s Day groundbreaking. Goldman Sachs is contributing $188 million of financing for the nearly 42,000-square-foot, 17-story, mixed-use building that will include affordable housing, a civil rights museum and retail space.—A.C.
