Goldman Sachs appointed the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Robert Kaplan, as its vice chairman on Tuesday.
Kaplan’s new role at the David Solomon-led Wall Street behemoth adds an influential former policymaker and Goldman alum to its management committee.
Kaplan, 66, stepped down as the head of the Dallas Fed in September 2021 over controversy related to his personal stock-trading activity.
His resignation came after the Wall Street Journal revealed that he executed multimillion-dollar trades throughout 2020, including in major companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Delta Airlines and Tesla.
Kaplan vowed to sell his stock at the time and move his money to passive investment vehicles.
He defended his record in a statement that insisted he “adhered to all Federal Reserve ethical standards and policies.”
In January, the Fed’s internal watchdog said Kaplan did not break the law but created the appearance of a conflict of interest in how he invested and reported his financial activity from 2019 to 2021.
Three years later, Kaplan — who previously co-headed Goldman’s investment banking division for more than two decades in the late ’90s — will give strategic advice to the bank’s global clientele, working closely with its teams across global banking and markets, and asset and wealth management, the bank said in a statement.
Kaplan, a Kansas native, will be based out of Dallas, Texas — where Goldman Sachs has plans to expand its footprint. In October, the firm broke ground on a three-building, 5,000-person campus in trendy Victory Park neighborhood just outside of downtown Dallas in October.
The nearly $500 million, 815,000-square-foot development was made possible with the $18 million in tax breaks the city of Dallas granted the Wall Street bank last July in exchange for bringing as many as 5,000 jobs into the city.
The campus, however, won’t be open for business until 2027, at which point it will boast underground parking, a ground-floor retail space, a 1.5-acre urban park, a hotel and residential towers, documents filed with Dallas’ city plan commission showed.
Kaplan is set to work alongside Goldman Sachs’ chairman, Solomon, after shareholders last month voted against proposals to divide the CEO and chair roles both held by the investment bank boss.
He said in a statement he looked forward to working with the “extraordinary array of talented people” across the firm to serve its clients and help enhance and sustain its unique culture.
Solomon added in a press release that “Rob brings a wealth of knowledge, deep relationships and significant global leadership expertise to his role as vice chairman.”
Kaplan initially joined Goldman Sachs in 1983 and became a partner in 1990. He retired from the firm in 2006 to work as the Martin Marshall Professor of Management Practice and a Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Business School, his alma mater.
He later served as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 2015 to 2021.
Kaplan’s appointment at Goldman Sachs comes at a time when the bank is replenishing its bench of heavy hitters after recent high-profile departures including Stephanie Cohen, who had headed its consumer and fintech unit; Jim Esposito, co-head of global banking and markets; and former asset management executive Julian Salisbury.
Last year, the bank brought senior banking executive Tom Montag back into the fold, adding him to its board as it looked to regain lost ground after an ill-fated foray into consumer banking.
With Post wires
