Apex's Role vs. Self-Staffed Offices

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.

Today’s episode brings us to the apex of the wealth channel. We sat down in Goldman Sachs’ HQ at 200 West with Sara Naison-Tarajano, a Partner and Global Head of Private Wealth Management Capital Markets and Global Head of Goldman Sachs Apex Family Office Coverage.

Sara is also responsible for the One Goldman Sachs Family Office initiative in the Americas.

Sara has been at Goldman Sachs for over 26 years, where she’s worked in a number of roles across the firm, equipping her with a multi-disciplinary background that is brought to bear in her current role leading a global platform that delivers multi-asset investing, financing, and direct investment opportunities to some of the world’s largest family offices. Goldman Sachs Apex Family Office Coverage now serves more than 600 family offices across the globe.

Sara and I had a fascinating discussion about the growing intersection between private markets and private wealth and what some of the wealth channel’s largest investors find interesting and differentiated in private markets. We covered:

• How Sara expected to spend one year at Goldman and it turned into 26 years at the firm.
• How her background in derivatives structuring in public markets has helped her approach private markets – and what investors in private markets can learn from being exposed to public markets.
• Why Sara decided to create Goldman Sachs Apex to build a dedicated group to help large family offices invest directly into private markets.
• How Apex is related to Goldman’s “One Goldman Sachs” initiative.
• How the power of the platform helps to differentiate Goldman’s wealth management business.
• What lessons the wealth channel can learn from how the UHNW and billionaire family office segment approaches private markets.
• Takeaways from the Goldman Sachs Family Office Insights Report.
• How the wealth channel can engage the next generation clients and how private markets play a role in reaching the next gen.

Thanks Sara for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your expertise and wisdom on private markets and working with the wealth channel.

Show Notes
00:00 Introduction: 26 Years at Goldman Sachs

00:59 Welcome to the Alt Goes Mainstream Podcast

01:05 Meet Sara Naison-Tarajano

03:07 Sara's Career Path

04:51 Intellectual Curiosity in Finance

05:29 The Role of Derivatives

06:59 Transition to Wealth Management

07:51 Goldman's Culture of Creativity

08:48 The Birth of Apex

09:12 Why Apex?

10:48 Serving Family Offices

11:25 The Apex Model

12:46 Early Days of Apex

14:09 Family Offices and Direct Deals

16:12 The Growing Role of Family Offices

19:56 Misconceptions About Family Offices

23:26 Engaging the Next Generation

34:29 Liquidity in Private Markets

34:41 Decline in Public Companies

34:52 Access to Capital in Private Markets

35:14 Emerging Trends in Private Markets

35:36 Focus on Secondaries

36:02 Family Offices and Secondaries

38:19 Goldman's Secondary Market

38:56 Goldman's Acquisition of Industry Ventures

39:55 Family Offices' Investment Strategies

40:14 US vs Global Family Offices

40:38 Private Markets and Inflation

42:42 Advice for Wealth Channel Investors

43:02 Illiquidity Premium in Private Markets

43:56 Importance of Vintaging

44:28 Evergreen Funds vs Drawdown Funds

47:22 International Family Offices

49:27 Geopolitical Concerns and Investments

52:55 Mega Trends in Investing

54:15 Infrastructure and AI

56:16 Simple Wealth Management Strategies

58:57 Private Credit and Fixed Income

01:00:48 Risks in Private Markets

01:02:22 Future of Apex and Wealth Management

Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.