Stephanie Cohen, one of the most powerful women at Goldman Sachs, is leaving the storied investment bank after nearly 25 years to join the IT company Cloudflare as chief strategy officer.
With her departure, Cohen will become the latest key executive to exit Goldman since the start of the year. In January, the bank said Jim Esposito, co-head of banking and markets, would leave after nearly 30 years, while Julian Salisbury, a long-time executive and most recently CIO of asset and wealth management, joined Sixth Street Partners as a partner and co-CIO.
Cohen, who joined Goldman in 1999 as an analyst in the mergers and acquisitions group, was named a partner in 2014 and became chief strategy officer in 2018. In September 2020, Cohen and Tucker York were tapped to co-lead Goldman’s consumer and wealth management business, which included Marcus, the firm’s ill-fated foray into consumer banking.
In late 2022, Goldman reorganized and narrowed its ambition related to consumer banking. It moved Marcus into its asset and wealth-management business and put Cohen in charge of Platform Solutions, which is considered Goldman’s fintech unit. Last summer, Cohen went on personal leave and was not expected to return.
Cohen had been one of two women to run a revenue-generating business at Goldman. The other is Beth Hammack, co-head of the global financing group, but she’s retiring after more than 30 years at the bank.
In a LinkedIn post on Monday, Cohen called Goldman an astonishing institution made up of incredible individuals. “More than anything else 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!” Cohen wrote.
Cohen is expected to start at Cloudflare in the coming weeks, a person familiar with the situation told Fortune.
Matthew Prince, Cloudflare’s cofounder and CEO, said Cohen had her choice of potential suitors.
“Some of the best and brightest executives in the world see Cloudflare as the next iconic tech company, and they’re betting their careers on that,” Prince said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Stephanie, and welcoming her to the team in our pursuit of building the next iconic tech company.”