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

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

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
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.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Gia Moron, 212-902-4307
gia.moron@gs.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008