As chairman and chief executive officer of the giant investment banking firm of Goldman, Sachs & Company, Stephen Friedman is one of the most influential figures in the world of international finance.

Friedman was an outstanding wrestler, winning the Eastern Intercollegiates for Cornell in 1959 and the National AAU Freestyle championship for the New York Athletic Club in 1961. In a regional Freestyle tournament in 1960, he defeated Doug Blubaugh, who won the Olympic gold medal later the same year.

He is a member of the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame, and in 1984 was one of five recipients of NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards.

A graduate of Cornell University and the Columbia University Law School, Friedman spent four years as an attorney before joining Goldman, Sachs in 1966. He became a partner in 1973, a member of the Management Committee in 1982, and headed the Investment Banking and Fixed Income divisions for various periods. He became Vice Chairman and co-CEO in 1987, and co-Senior Partner and co-Chairman three years later.

In 1993, co-Chairman Robert Rubin accepted a position in the Clinton administration as assistant to the President for economic policy. Ending the firm's 25-year policy of shared responsibility, Friedman was named the sole leader of more than 6,000 employees.

Friedman is a trustee of Columbia University and chairs its investment committee, a trustee of the Brookings Institution, a member of the Trilateral Commission, and of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the Advisory Council of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and is a trustee of the New York Zoological Society.