Jake Woodson’s Goldman promotion came during a market sell-off

Colleagues on the trading floor fell quiet as Woodson answered Waldron’s call. Partner is Goldman’s highest-ranking title outside the C-suite, and Woodson was the second-youngest of 109 executives promoted this year. After congratulations, there were hugs and high-fives; then Woodson returned to trading. He said his memory of the moment was hazy, though he thought colleagues on the leveraged finance credit desk applauded.

Woodson took a few minutes to call his mother, father and brother. His mother had traveled from near Vancouver to New York. “I flew my mom out because I figured either I'm not going to make it and I could use a shoulder to cry on, or I really want her there to be a part of it,” he said. “I've lived a six-hour flight from my family for 12 years, so it's nice to be able to show them it was worth it.”

That evening, she joined about 50 colleagues and 20 clients at Monk McGinn’s, a pub near Goldman’s office. Woodson said his family has no background in finance and his mother knows little about his work beyond the fact that he does it at Goldman. They left early for a quiet dinner at his apartment and FaceTimed his father and brother in Canada. After dinner with friends the next night, Woodson’s mother flew home and he drove to the Catskills, where he spent Saturday by a lake.

From Vancouver suburbs to Goldman’s trading floor

Woodson grew up about 45 minutes outside Vancouver and studied at the University of British Columbia, rather than an Ivy League school. He credited UBC’s Portfolio Management Foundation, a small program offering practical investing and finance training, and its alumni network and Goldman ties with changing his life. He joined Goldman in 2014, worked in investment-grade private credit and distressed credit, and led US distressed credit trading through the 2023 banking crisis. This fall, he became head of leveraged finance trading.

He said he feels a responsibility to represent people who did not start as interns or attend a target school, and to support a range of young talent at Goldman. The promotion, he said, is not a finish line but “the beginning of growing into this role and continuing to operate at a high level.” He expects balancing trading with managing his team well to be a growing challenge, possibly requiring longer hours.

Woodson has said that treating colleagues and clients kindly matters even when it may seem disadvantageous in the short term. He attributed that outlook to his mother and Canadian culture. Among her gifts for the occasion: six-foot-tall, multicolored balloons he described as appropriately cheesy.