CHICAGO — Goldman, Sachs & Co. has named Kathleen Brown, its western region municipal banking manager, to a newly created post as chairman of investment banking for the Midwest.
Brown is the sister of California Gov.-elect Jerry Brown. She is a managing director who currently is head of public sector and infrastructure for the western region.
J. Timothy Romer, also a managing director, will take the helm of the regional group, according to Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally. Romer joined the firm in 2003 after working at Bank of America.
“In this new role, Kathleen will have a broader platform,” DuVally said. “She will work with key Goldman Sachs clients in the Midwest — primarily municipal clients, given her experience — but also clients outside that area.”
The firm does not have similar positions for other regions.
Public finance banking at Goldman falls under the public sector and infrastructure group that is part of the larger investment banking division. The firm announced the change internally in a Dec. 15 memorandum signed by David Solomon and John Weinberg. Brown will relocate to Chicago from Los Angeles.
The shift comes as Jerry Brown is set to be sworn in early next year and allows Goldman to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest as it seeks work with the state. “We are aware that had Kathleen continued to work with California municipal clients that might have created the perception of a conflict of interest,” DuVally said.
Brown joined Goldman Sachs in 2001 as a managing director. She served one term as treasurer of California from 1990 to 1994 and was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1994.
Her career also includes a tenure as an attorney in the capital markets group at O’Melveny & Myers, and in investment management at Bank of America. She hails from a political clan that includes her brother and her late father Pat Brown, who also served as California governor.
Brown, 65, will report to James Esposito, chief operating officer for investment banking, and John Waldron, head of investment banking services. John Gilbertson will continue to manage investment banking in the Midwest.
Goldman Sachs ranks seventh so far this year as a senior manager on California debt and finished third last year, according to Thomson Reuters. The firm ranks 10th so far in the western region and was fifth last year. It ranks sixth so far this year nationally among senior managers after finishing fifth last year and is seventh so far this year in the Midwest after finishing ninth last year.
