David Alan Viniar was the CFO and executive vice president at
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
from 1999 until January 31, 2013. He is currently on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs.
Biography
A 1972 alumnus of
The Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Spec ...
, Viniar spent summers at Kozan's Bungalow Colony in Ellenville, New York, and graduated from
Union College, New York
Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia C ...
, in 1976, where he majored in economics. He then attended
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...
, earning an
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
in 1980.
After receiving the MBA, Viniar joined
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
where he has remained since. He became a
partner
Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to:
Books
* ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997
* ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928
* ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart
* ''Partner'' (m ...
in 1992, a
managing director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
in 1996 and executive vice president and chief financial officer in 1999.
He has been the head of Operations, Technology, Finance and Services Division since December 2002.
Viniar headed the Finance Division and co-head of credit risk management and advisory and firmwide risk from December 2001 to December 2002. He co-headed operations, finance and resources from March 1999 to December 2001. He was CFO of the Goldman Sachs Group, L.P. from March 1999 to May 1999. From July 1998 until March 1999, he was deputy chief financial officer, and from 1994 until July 1998 he was head of finance, with responsibility for controllers and treasury. From 1992 to 1994, he was head of treasury and prior to that was in the Structured Finance Department of investment banking.
In September 2012 Viniar announced that he would be retiring from Goldman Sachs in January 2013. On January 31, 2013, he retired from his positions as CFO and executive vice president and took on the role of director at Goldman Sachs.
On October 30, 2013, Viniar became a director on the board of
Square, Inc., the mobile payments firm run by
Jack Dorsey
Jack Patrick Dorsey (born November 19, 1976) is an American Internet entrepreneur and programmer who is a co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, Inc., as well as a co-founder and the CEO and chairperson of Block, Inc., the developer of the Squar ...
.
"25 standard deviations" quote
On 13 August 2007, The
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
reported Viniar's explanation of why two large hedge funds managed by Goldman Sachs had both lost over a quarter of their value in a week, requiring the injection of $3 billion to support them. Viniar ascribed the events to a series of exceptional events: "We were seeing things that were 25 standard deviation moves, several days in a row". This has since been used to illustrate the problems of inappropriate mathematical models in finance, especially those based on the assumption of
Normality. Kay & King (2020, p. 68) refer to the 'Viniar problem': 'He confused a probability as calculated within a model with a probability in the world of which the model claimed to be a representation. To make a statement about probability in a real world it is necessary to compound the probability derived from the model itself with the probability that the model itself is true. And there is no means of knowing whether the model is true."
Senate testimony
Viniar testified in front of the
Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), stood up in March 1941 as the "Truman Committee," is the oldest subcommittee of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (formerly the Committee on Governme ...
on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 regarding the role of investment banks in the financial crisis that began in 2007 and, specifically, the role of Goldman Sachs in that crisis.
Affiliations
Viniar served on the board of trustees of
Union College
Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...
and is a member of the board of trustees of both
Children's Aid and Family Services
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
and the
Financial Accounting Foundation
The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) is located in Norwalk, Connecticut, United States. It was organized in 1972 as a non-stock, Delaware Corporation. It is an independent organization in the private sector, operating with the goal of ensur ...
.
Profile of Viniar at ''Businessweek''
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Family
Viniar is married and has four children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viniar, David
1955 births
The Bronx High School of Science alumni
Jewish American bankers
Directors of Goldman Sachs
Living people
Harvard Business School alumni
Union College (New York) alumni
Place of birth missing (living people)
Date of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American Jews