Goldman Sachs' ETF Growth in Focus as Lake Arrives

ETF veteran Byron Lake arrives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on Monday as the asset manager is in the midst of building out it's $35.5 billion exchange-traded fund unit. 

Lake is credited with helping build JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s ETF business into the sixth-largest, with 62 funds and assets of $160.2 billion, nearly five times those of Goldman Sachs'. While he'll have a broader mandate than exchange-traded funds—his title is chief transformation officer for Goldman’s Client Solutions Group—his arrival signals Goldman's focus on the growing ETF industry. 

Goldman is a top 20 ETF issuer, with 43 funds.

His appointment follows recent departures in Goldman’s ETF business, including global ETF head Mark Crinieri earlier this year. He arrives on the heels of Goldman launching a handful of ETFs over the past year, including four muni bond funds this week, and starting a so-called accelerator aimed at helping other firms get their exchange-traded funds to market.  

While Lake’s background is rooted in ETFs, his new role at Goldman Sachs appears to have a broader scope. He'll will work with leadership across a variety of business units to deliver advice, design portfolio solutions, and extend Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s suite of investment strategies to institutional investors and wealth management clients, according to a statement released early this week.

Byron Lake's Broader Role Beyond ETFs

Deborah Fuhr, founder of London-based ETF research firm ETFGI, noted the potentially expansive nature of Lake’s role.

“It seems like the role is broader than just ETFs,” Fuhr said, adding that it could possibly have been left intentionally not narrowly defined because the industry is rapidly transforming. Fuhr is a member of the etf.com advisory board.

Lake starts at Goldman as ETFs grow globally, with worldwide assets hitting a record $13.1 trillion at the end of June, according to Fuhr, and expectations that new full year inflows will hit a record.

During his tenure at JPMorgan, Lake oversaw growth in the bank’s ETF business, particularly in active ETFs. The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) grew into a wildly popular $34 billion behemoth during his tenure, netting more than $13 billion since the beginning of last year.

Fuhr highlighted the evolving ETF landscape as a key factor in Lake’s appointment.

“The opportunity set is broader than just ETFs. It’s figuring out how to design solutions for clients in different geographies," she said, adding that areas like tokenization and AI-driven research could play roles in future asset management strategies.

Goldman Sachs did not respond to requests for comment on Lake’s hiring by the time this story was published.