Goldman Appoints Broker to Manage Seattle Office

Goldman Sachs has tapped a veteran broker in Texas to help it expand its private wealth business in the Pacific Northwest. 

John Burpee, who started his career at Goldman 19 years ago, has moved to Seattle from Dallas to run the firm’s Private Wealth Management region, one of 13 single-office “regions” in the U.S. servicing clients with about $10 million and more of assets.

His move comes as Goldman is putting more emphasis on wealth management and consumer banking businesses to offset the capital constraints and volatility of its core investment banking and capital markets operations. It purchased United Capital Management, an amalgam of financial planning and advisory practices that it has rebranded Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management, last year and is about to acquire Folio Financial, a robo-advisory and registered investment advisor custodian.  

“The offering that Goldman has is a lot different than what it was 10 years ago, or 18 years ago, in terms of addressing the whole market,” said Burpee, noting that as regional manager he will coordinate referrals across the client spectrum, from corporate to mass affluent. 

Burpee will continue to oversee some client accounts, but said two other advisors on his Dallas team and its five support staff will cover the bulk of the book from Dallas. In his new post, which officially starts next month, he will report directly to John Mallory, head of private wealth management in the Americas.

“One of my goals is, in a very thoughtful way, to reach clients and prospective clients in a way that they know the good work of the good people who are here and to develop relationships that are more fulsome to connect with different parts of the firm,” Burpee said.

An Oregon native, he also looks forward to being closer to his parents and siblings who live in the Pacific Northwest, he said. 

Burpee declined to say how many advisors work in the Seattle private wealth office or expand on his hiring targets.  

He replaces Aya Hamilton, a managing director who joined Goldman from Citigroup 12 years ago and is returning to production, according to a person familiar with her plans. Hamilton, whose LinkedIn profile says she is chairman of the Pacific Northwest Ballet and an advisory trustee of the University of Washington, her alma mater, did not return a request for comment sent through social media. 

Goldman employs about 800 private wealth brokers globally, and earlier this year moved the organization from its asset management division to a new consumer & wealth management division.  

Its core force of “private wealth” advisors for upper-income investors is about 475, officials and recruiters have said in the past, while about 600 advisors servicing investors with up to $10 million populate the “personal financial management” RIA unit.

Goldman laid out plans in January to add 250 advisors to its private wealth franchise over the next three years, but retracted the goal as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Burpee said his specific goals for recruiting in Seattle are still “to be determined.”