This content is from: Research
The 2015 Trading Technology 40: Gerard Beatty
#11 Gerard Beatty, Global Head of Equities Technology, Goldman Sachs Group


Trading technology is but one facet of Gerard Beatty’s 22-year career at Goldman Sachs Group. From his 1992 start designing risk management infrastructure for commodities and structured products, Beatty moved on to building the firm’s institutional web portal, followed by a buy-side stint creating an online business for the wealth management group. He then helped rebuild the investment research group’s analytics and publishing platform, launched two multistrategy hedge funds and served as co-head of technology for Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Currently global head of equities technology, the 49-year-old oversees investment research systems and securities division sales and data services. New York–based Goldman has “written over 1 billion lines of code across all of our businesses,” Beatty says, noting that nearly one third of the firm’s 33,000 employees are engineers. Today, Goldman is leveraging cloud computing and open-source development to extend the reach of its platforms. A case in point is Symphony Communication Services, a messaging platform built in collaboration with other firms that is now being rolled out to the broader financial services community. “Companies that see themselves as technology companies and embrace digital platforms will continue to unlock new sources of value for their clients and grow market share,” says Beatty, a University of Vermont graduate whose first software engineering job was designing embedded controllers for cardiac equipment.