The Whitney Team

Gary Goldstein is a founder and Group CEO of Whitney Partners, a leading executive search firm in the financial services industry. Considered to be an expert in his field, Mr. Goldstein has extensive experience in human resources recruitment within all areas of the financial services industry and has appeared in a number of articles and television programs ranging from The Wall Street Journal to CNN's Moneyline discussing trends in the financial services sector. He has also been qualified and has served as an expert witness in a number of arbitrations related to compensation and other matters of employment in the securities business. He was also a founder, chairman and CEO of a public human resource staffing and consulting company serving the financial services industry.

Prior to entering the executive search industry, Mr. Goldstein was on the audit and consulting staffs of Arthur Andersen & Co. in New York.  Mr. Goldstein has been the Chief Representative in the U.S. for Peking University’s investment vehicle, Founder Group.  His responsibility has been to introduce them to strategic capital and strategic operating partners.  He currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Sustainability Partners, an investment group specializing in infrastructure investments in the MUSH (Municipalities, Universities, School Systems, Hospitals) markets.

He is a member of AIPAC and a past member of Young President's Organization, Inc. (YPO).

Mr. Goldstein holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Canisius College and is a graduate of the OPM Program at the Harvard Business School.

Alicia Lazaro is a founder and President of Whitney Partners. Ms. Lazaro is an investment banking generalist and has led searches for executives in mergers & acquisitions, all major industry sectors in corporate finance, municipal finance, private equity and infrastructure.

Ms. Lazaro founded Whitney McRae, Inc., one of the first executive search firms to specialize in investment banking recruitment with a focus in corporate finance. The firm later merged with Whitney Group, the predecessor to Whitney Partners. Prior to her career in executive search, Ms. Lazaro held Human Resources supervisory positions at Goldman Sachs & Co. and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Ms. Lazaro has been an active supporter of Plan International USA for the last twenty five years and is a strong advocate for WaterAid.

Ms. Lazaro holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Binghamton University in Romance Languages. Ms. Lazaro speaks Spanish, Italian and French.

John Wright is Chief Executive Officer, International, and Partner of Whitney Partners. Mr. Wright is a financial services specialist known for his ability to manage large projects and transformational placements. Mr. Wright is one of the most highly recognized executive search consultants serving the financial services sector and has an exceptional track record of building businesses across all segments of financial services including banks, hedge funds, asset managers, insurance firms, sovereign wealth funds, wealth managers and brokers. Mr. Wright was previously the founder of two financial services search firms, Executive Access, an Asia-Pacific regional practice, and Global Sage, the first search firm from Asia to become truly global. Both firms were sold to Asian interests.

Mr. Wright and the firms he founded have consistently been ranked No. 1 in the industry internationally by AsiaMoney, The Economist and The Times of London. Prior to joining search, Mr. Wright was Editor of The Wall Street Journal in Asia. John has served on various boards of higher and secondary education institutions as well as hedge funds and private corporations.

John holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Lewis & Clark College. Mr. Wright speaks German, Chinese, Hindi (Nepali) and Japanese.

Michael D. Zinn is a Senior Managing Director in the investment banking and corporate practices. With more than thirty years of search experience, Mr. Zinn brings an extensive track record in the selection of talent. Mr. Zinn has completed searches for all levels and has successfully built teams in investment banking, senior management, restructuring, corporate & business development, technology, marketing & sales, finance, information technology, human resources, and operations including manufacturing, distribution, and logistics. Prior to joining Whitney, Mr. Zinn was head of his own firm, Michael D. Zinn & Associates, Inc for over twenty years. The firm was recognized in the book “Rites of Passage” by John Lucht in which it was awarded the designation of “Outstanding Executive Search Firm.” Previously, Mr. Zinn conducted executive-level searches in the investment banking, corporate, and technology sectors at Richards Consultants Ltd. and corporate and technology searches at Korn/Ferry International.

Mr. Zinn received a Master of Business Administration degree from St. John’s University and a bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College.

Reto Jauch conducts board and senior-level executive search assignments and advises business leaders on organization design and development. His clients include publicly traded and privately held companies, and he advises clients in Financial Services, Private Equity and organizations in the Non-Profit and Public Sector.

Before founding and running an international search firm with offices in London, Zurich and New York, Reto was the European head and managing director of A.T. Kearney’s executive search and talent practice, where he led a team of 80 consultants in 10 office locations across Europe. He started his consulting career at a search firm with a European advisory focus.

Reto is co-founder of and advisor to the Board Mentoring Program. The program focuses on pairing experienced chairs and members of boards with strong female board candidates, with the aim of increasing gender diversity on boards.

He is also a board member at TechSoup, a San Francisco-based technology provider for non-profits, charities and public services. He is also an advisory board member at The Alternative Investment Club (TAIC), which exists to facilitate exchange of ideas and advancement in the alternative investment industry

Reto studied history of economics at the University of Zurich and at theUniversity of Montréal. He also completed the Program for Executive Development (PED) at IMD, Lausanne.

Robert Zimmermann leads assignments across a broad range of industries, includingFinancial Services, Real Estate, Private Equity and the Public Sector.  He advises international and local businesses on executive search and board appointments, and he actively supports diversity searches with a focus on gender diversity at board and senior executive level.

Robert’s profound knowledge of the investment management and investment banking industry has made him a trusted advisor and executive search consultant to some of the leading investment banks and investment managers, particularly in the EMEA region.

Before founding and expanding a successful executive search firm with offices in Zurich, London and Munich, Robert was at Goldman Sachs in Zurich andLondon for five years, with a focus on leadership in distribution and sales. He has also worked at private bank Julius Baer and UBS Investment Bank. Robert has also founded and sold companies as an entrepreneur: he was an investor and member of the board of directors of the start-up derivative.com, a leading structured products meta-platform that was sold to Vontobel in 2014. Additionally, Robert was the founder of Poolside AG, a graduate recruitment specialist, and a successful event management platform.

Robert holds a master’s degree in economics and management from the University of St.Gallen (HSG). Robert is a CFA charter holder and Financial Risk Manager (FRM).

Matthias Schulthess focuses on board and senior management appointments across Financial Services, Private Equity and the Non-Profit and Public Sector. He also advises on succession planning and conducts board reviews and searches for non-executive directors.

He has extensive experience in leading searches across a multitude of functional disciplines, including CFOs, Chief Risk Officers, Human Resources and Chief Information Officers.

Before founding and expanding a successful executive search firm with offices in Zurich, London and Munich, Matthias was with UBS AG for 14 years, in investment and wealth management and retail and corporate banking. He held management roles and accumulated international leadership experience inSingapore, Hong Kong and London. He also had MBA assignments in capital markets at Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs in London. Other assignments included a period in market analysis for Fidelity Growth Partners Europe, a leading venture capital and private equity firm based in London.

He has completed the seminar ‘New concepts for the Board’ at theInternational Center for Corporate Governance and Swiss Board School in collaboration with the University of St. Gallen (HSG). Matthias is also certified on Hogan Assessments and related diagnostic tools. He is an alumni interviewer for admissions at London Business School.

Matthias holds an MBA from London Business School and a BBA from theUniversity of Applied Sciences in Zurich, with a specialization in HR. He is aChartered Financial Analyst (CFA), a graduate-level program that focuses on investment management. 

Alexis DuFresne spearheads the Marketing and Investor Relations search practice at Whitney Partners where she focuses on talent acquisition for hedge fund, private equity, real estate, and long-only asset management firms, as well as allocators globally. Her work spans across single mandated searches of all levels, to multi-hire organizational consulting and team build outs on behalf of managers seeking to boost their sales and client retention capabilities.

Ms. DuFresne's background as a former hedge fund and private equity marketer at Harbert Management Corporation and at EIM provides her with a technical understanding of the space, increases her ability to connect with both clients and candidates, and allows her to leverage her deep network of allocators, marketers, and managers.

Prior to Whitney Partners, Ms. DuFresne served in a similar capacity at Solomon Page and The Atlantic Group, and began her career in hedge fund recruitment at Broadreach Group. Ms. DuFresne attended New York University and is an active and passionate volunteer at New York Cares, a committee member for Help for Children (Hedge Funds Care), and is an advocate for epilepsy awareness.

Ben Jordan is a Managing Director on our team with a focus on banking and capital markets as well as wealth and alternative asset management, including private equity firms and hedge funds. He has an impressive track record of building businesses and making strategic placements for growing organizations. He has completed searches for C-suite executives and has successfully placed senior leaders in management, sales and distribution, investment professionals, information technology, compliance and risk, and financial planning and analysis.

Prior to Whitney Partners, he completed C-suite and Managing Director level searches in wealth and asset management, investment banking, and risk and compliance for Sheffield Haworth, a global executive search firm with a focus on financial services, headquartered in London. Previously, he worked with Whitney Partners’ International CEO on various wealth and asset management searches at Global Sage.

Prior to getting into executive search and consulting, he was a Senior Vice President in Corporate Banking at Citibank for five and a half years. He began his career as a Management Associate in Citi’s rotational analyst program, where he completed rotations in Citi Community Capital Investment Banking, Risk Management, Relationship Management, and formalized credit training.

Ben holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government with a Citation in Spanish from Harvard University.

Jessica Malzman is the Chief Operating Officer of Whitney Partners and a search consultant in the firm’s Investment Banking practice. Her areas of concentration within the financial services sector are Capital Markets and Corporate Finance. Ms. Malzman joined Whitney in 2009 from Morgan Stanley, where she was part of a team covering institutional clients in the Equity Research Sales department. Previously, Jessica was a Sales Associate for the southeast regional sales team at Thomson Financial.

Ms. Malzman holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University in Human Development and is a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall. She is a board member of the Jewish Community Center of Syracuse and an advocate for Literacy CNY.

Jana Byrne has 20 years of senior-level, financial services executive recruiting experience. Prior to joining Whitney Partners, Jana was a Consultant and Chief Knowledge Officer at David Barrett Partners, a leading buy-side executive search firm. Before that, she was Head of U.S. Research and Execution at a specialist wealth management search boutique where she executed searches for private banks and HNW and UHNW wealth management organizations.

Previously, Jana was a Director for five years with Global Sage, a financial markets executive search firm, in their New York and London offices. She helped establish the European buy-side practice which focused on hedge funds and sovereign wealth clients, and covered capital markets and investment banking assignments in both Europe and the U.S.

Jana began her search career at Armstrong International, a London-based executive search boutique specializing in investment banking and capital markets. Jana joined Armstrong in 1991, and during her ten years with the firm helped build the equities practice and supported the development of the fixed income and investment banking platforms.

Fraser Trimble joined Whitney Partners to focus on Leveraged Finance, Debt Capital Markets, Industrials, and Energy Finance.

Prior to joining Whitney, Mr. Trimble was a Vice President at a leading financial services recruiting firm.  Previously, he specialized in senior level searches focusing on Sales and Trading, with a concentration in Finance, Risk Management,  Legal and Compliance.

Mr. Trimble holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Cornell University in Applied Economics and Management and is a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall.

Ms. Ng joined Whitney Partners to enhance the firm’s research and execution capabilities. She has completed investment banking searches for candidates at varying levels of seniority and across multiple industries, with her most extensive experience being in the healthcare and industrials verticals. She is a dedicated advocate for her clients and her candidates alike.

Before joining Whitney, Ms. Ng held management roles at both a tech start-up and a non-profit organization dedicated to helping low-income individuals and families connect to a diverse array of support systems.

Ms. Ng holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeastern University in Communication Studies. She is reasonably proficient with a camera phone and her credits include most of the background photos that appear on this website.

Ms. Rymond is a Vice President at Whitney Partners. She is responsible for strengthening  the firm’s research and organizational capacities. Prior to joining Whitney Partners, Ms. Rymond was an Associate at Counseling in Schools (CIS), a NYC based non-profit organization that provides social-emotional support to students. In this role she assisted in recruitment and development efforts.

Kylah graduated from Kenyon College in 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. In her free time, you can find her at a community board meeting or walking through Prospect Park.