In late March, Gregg sent Lemkau, the longtime co-CEO of investment banking services and a manager widely regarded as a potential CEO of Goldman A Twitter post about getting up during the early morning hours to work remotely from his home in Hawaii, which is six hours behind New York.
He soon received a call from Mr. Solomon, who did not satisfy the perception of the message, and says three people with knowledge of the call. According to the people, the two drivers argued that Mr. Lemkau must return to New York. They settled their differences and Mr. Lemkau stayed for two months before flying back. In mid-November, Mr. Lemkau, then 51, announced plans to retire from Goldman to become CEO of the family investment office of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of the computer company.
“The response has been overwhelming,” he said. Lemkau said in a podcast weeks later. The memories shared by colleagues, he said, highlight how his treatment of other people defined him. ‘Not the big deals I did, not something formal I did, but the little things you did made a difference in their lives,’ he reflects, ‘it makes you feel like’ damn , I’m glad it was worth doing all those things. ‘”
Mr. Lemkau told people privately that his departure had nothing to do with his relationship with Mr. Solomon does not.
The exodus took up steam this year. Last month, Michael Daffey, who led the world market division, retired.
Then this week, Eric S. Lane, co-CEO of the company’s asset management business and also considered a contender for the role of Goldman’s CEO, played a senior role at a large hedge fund. Karen Patton Seymour, the firm’s chief adviser since 2019, has also left and plans to return to her former law firm, according to internal emails. Everyone was a member of the management committee, and everyone except me. Seymour had a long term with the firm. Around the same time, Omer Ismail, head of Goldman’s consumer industry Marcus, left to run a new financial technology venture run by Walmart. He takes a deputy with him who oversaw the firm’s Apple credit card partnership.