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Stephanie Cohen, one of the most senior female executives in Goldman Sachs’ history, is leaving to become chief strategy officer of digital services group Cloudflare.
Cohen’s exit is the latest in an exodus of top women from Goldman that has raised questions about chief executive David Solomon’s long stated efforts to promote female executives. She was the first woman to run a core operating division and one of eight women on the 25-member management committee.
Other notable Goldman Sachs female executives who have left the firm or have announced departure plans include Beth Hammack, a top investment banker; Katie Koch, now head of money manager TCW, and Dina Powell McCormick, now at merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners. Solomon is expected to discuss concerns about the departures at a meeting this week with a number of Goldman’s remaining senior women.
Cohen, 46, who joined Goldman as an analyst in 1999, rose rapidly through the ranks of the investment bank and became a partner in 2014. She most recently headed up the Wall Street institution’s failed efforts to build up consumer banking and fintech as a counterweight to its trading and advisory businesses.
She first served as co-head of consumer and wealth management, and then was put in charge of the struggling platform services division in 2022 as part of a major reorganisation. She has been on leave since June of last year, not long after Solomon announced another strategy shift that involved selling off parts of her division. Her departure was widely expected by others at Goldman.
At Cloudflare, a $30bn market cap company that provides cloud connectivity and cyber security services, Cohen will serve as the first ever strategy officer. She will report to chief executive and co-founder Matthew Prince, who said on Monday that his new hire was “incredible. Anyone who has worked with her can attest she operates at a different clock speed.”
Cloudflare has more than 190,000 paying customers, including about 30 per cent of the US’s 1,000 largest companies.
Cohen previously served as chief strategy officer at Goldman Sachs, and Solomon praised her ability to work with engineers in the memo announcing her departure. “We have benefited greatly from Stephanie’s leadership, deep client relationships, and commitment to innovation and growth, as well as her passion for the firm and our culture,” he wrote.
Cohen posted on LinkedIn that she took the job because, “I want to do something that matters with world-class people and in an environment that fosters learning and creativity. I have had the privilege of doing that these last 25 years at Goldman Sachs and cannot wait for what lies ahead!”