The Most Powerful Women in Banking NEXT No. 1, Anne-Victoire Auriault, Goldman Sachs

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Anne-Victoire Auriault got involved in the global ETF market some 18 months ago as Goldman Sachs upgraded its offerings to change with the times as well.

Institutional investors have increasingly sought more complex products, from actively managed ETFs and buffer strategies to thematic funds tied to artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies and income generation. These products require more sophisticated trading infrastructure, particularly as firms like Goldman compete in a crowded field against the likes of JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Jane Street and Citadel.

"There's been an explosion in innovation," Auriault said, citing the new ETF structures and a shift in how institutional clients invest. "Because of the innovation, there was a need for investment [in our infrastructure]. We needed to keep up."

Auriault first joined Goldman in 2011 as a three-month intern, and officially joined the firm full time the following year. She spent a year as a commodities analyst before switching to equities in 2013.

Goldman named Auriault managing director in 2019, and then partner in 2020. She's one of the youngest women to be named partner in Goldman's history.

Auriault is Goldman's global head of ETF trading and program trading, both considered among the largest desks on the sell side.

"I think very early on I really found a desk and a product that was a great fit, and so it just kind of happened," she said about her first days in Program Trading. "In some ways, it feels like nothing has changed, and in other ways, everything has."

One significant change for Auriault was becoming a leader to some 20 traders. But because of her disposition, the managerial aspects of her job come naturally, she said.

"To me, being close to the day-to-day actually makes some of the managerial parts easier. Everything comes very organically," she said. "In equities, there's definitely a trend toward having more of a player-coach type manager and being involved in the daily operation of the business, not just sitting in a glass office overseeing things."

This approach has led to positive results for Goldman. While the firm doesn't break out revenues for program trading and ETF trading desks specifically, the broader equities division posted net revenues of $13.43 billion in 2024, a 16% increase over 2023. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, equities revenues rose 27% year over year to $4.19 billion, with equities intermediation — the business line most closely aligned with Auriault's focus — accounting for $2.55 billion of that total.

Auriault is also a strong believer in hands-on leadership and mentoring others, which has become a central part of her role at Goldman.

"When I joined the industry, there was a very clear segmentation between trading and quants … there was very little in between, bridging the gaps between the two functions," she said.

With a computer science background and coding skills, Auriault was "in the right place at the right time with the right skill set" to help close that gap as trading became more automated. Today, she takes pride in "helping people along the way avoid some of the mistakes that I had made."

"When I see interns today, we ask them, 'Can you tell me who's a trader and who's a quant?' They can't, and that's an interesting evolution."

Since 2022, she's served on Goldman's partnership committee. "I think every partner at Goldman would agree that a very core element of the firm's culture is that even though we're a public company, we've retained the status and spirit of partnership," Auriault said. "The committee is really working on how we keep that concept alive."

Outside of the office, Auriault is a lifelong cinephile who lends her time to organizations like Film Forum and Film at Lincoln Center. She traces her love of film to her upbringing in France, and overall believes that art is a powerful tool in achieving social mobility.

"For the cost of a movie ticket, you can travel in time and space," she said.