Ken Moelis, 51, might have made a great trader: His market timing is impeccable. In February 2007 he quit UBS as president of investment banking, just before the subprime crisis ignited, hammering many investment banks — especially UBS.
At a firm that bends over backward to quash egos and instill a team ethos, Goldman Sachs’ Richard Friedman has been almost too much of a standout performer.
Andrea Orcel figures prominently in the plans of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s new investment banking chief, Tom Montag (see No. 7), who hopes that Orcel’s deal-making prowess can get BofA Merrill back in the game internationally after the bruising merger of the bank and the brokerage firm.
The most powerful investment banker in Latin America started out as an intern fixing computers. André Esteves, 40, Brazil’s youngest self-made billionaire, began in the IT department of São Paulo investment bank Pactual in 1989 and rapidly rose to the top.
If there is one person other than Gary Cohn (see No. 10) who has a shot at succeeding Lloyd Blankfein as Goldman’s CEO, it is David Heller, 42, say insiders.