Goldman’s Cohn Accepts National Economic Council Job, CNBC Says

Goldman Sachs’s Gary Cohn, once the heir apparent to Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, has accepted a job as President-elect Donald Trump’s chief economic policy adviser, according to CNBC.

Cohn, who has spent more than 25 years at the investment bank, will head the National Economic Council, among the most influential panels inside the White House, helping to coordinate and develop the president’s economic program, the cable news network reported Monday without identifying where it got the information. Installing the Wall Street firm’s president would strengthen its influence in Washington while clearing the way for the next generation of Goldman Sachs leaders.

Jake Siewert, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, declined to comment. Cohn, 56, and Trump transition officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Cohn became Goldman Sachs’s co-president in 2006, and later sole president, holding an office that in recent decades has been used to groom the next CEO. Both Blankfein and his predecessor, Henry Paulson, served as presidents of the company before ascending to the top spot. But after 10 years there, Blankfein has signaled no intention of stepping down, leaving Cohn to explore other opportunities.