Goldman Sachs Hosts Brokering Change: A Wall Street Multicultural Women's Exchange Conference

Business Wire,  July 2, 2008  

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NEW YORK -- The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) hosted its Brokering Change: A Wall Street Multicultural Women's Exchange conference last week. The conference aimed to enhance the professional experience of multicultural women by focusing on key issues related to their commercial and professional development, while providing a platform to facilitate relationship building and networking across the industry.

The conference kicked-off with welcome remarks by Edith Cooper, Goldman Sachs Managing Director and Head of Human Capital Management, and a keynote address by Abby Joseph Cohen, President of Global Markets Institute and Senior Investment Strategist at Goldman Sachs, followed by various interactive breakout sessions covering topics from emerging economies to career development. "Perspectives from the Top," was the closing panel discussion led by multicultural Wall Street trailblazers, who gave their opinions, outlooks and experiences in the business. At the evening reception, attendees had an opportunity to network with other women from across the industry.

In November 2007, Goldman Sachs' Office of Global Leadership and Diversity (GLD) launched its inaugural Brokering Change event by hosting a two-hour workshop. The event provided an opportunity for multicultural women across financial services to discuss key issues related to their commercial and professional development as well as to bring a forum for multicultural women to network across the industry. Due to the positive feedback from the first event, the firm held its second workshop in February 2008 and decided to expand the two-hour workshop series to a half-day conference. The conference drew close to 300 attendees from various investment banks and financial institutions.

Feedback from the speakers and participants has been extraordinarily positive. Dr. Ella Bell an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Tuck School of Business and President of conference collaborating partner ASCENT, Leading Multicultural Women to the Top said, "The conference says a lot about the firm. Goldman Sachs walks the talk."

"Brokering Change - A Wall Street Multicultural Women's Exchange - was a powerful and dynamic educational forum that specifically afforded multicultural women from the private, public and non-profit sectors the opportunity to network, dialogue and learn from each other and from industry leaders. The broad array of sessions and presentations covered many practical aspects of career development including professional networking and entrepreneurship skill development," said Jyoti Chopra, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch Banks U.S., Global Wealth Management.

Jessica Faye Carter, CEO of WomenSuite and author of Double Outsiders, said, "This event was groundbreaking as one of the first corporate conferences for professional multicultural women. It provided a rare opportunity for women of all backgrounds to discuss the challenges that exist on Wall Street as well as critical success factors."

"It was remarkable to share a room today with so many dynamic professional women. You could literally hear the excitement in people's voices, see the enthusiasm in people's expressions and feel the growing undercurrent of energy building up. I can't wait until next year," said Darys Estrella Mordan, CEO of Bolsa de Varlores de la Republica Dominicana, S.A. (BVRD).

Goldman Sachs' goal for its Brokering Change program as well as its other diversity initiatives is an ongoing effort to meet the needs of its unique diverse workforce by focusing and supporting the career advancement, representation and workplace experience of the growing population of multicultural people at the firm. To be the best firm, Goldman Sachs must have the best people, and the best people are drawn from the broadest pool of backgrounds. The people that come to Goldman Sachs can only be found by looking across the full spectrum of gender, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, culture and level of physical ability.

"The firm is very proud of our Multicultural Women's Exchange initiative as well as our other diversity programs and affinity networks," said Edith Cooper. "Our business is global and we operate in an industry that demands constant innovation. Our clients rely upon us to deliver unique solutions. We can only do this by having people of diverse cultures, experiences and viewpoints. Establishing a process to meet the needs of the growing population of multicultural women supports our commitment to the business and our clients."

Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.

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