Marty Chavez Takes On a Top Role at Alan Waxman’s Sixth Street

(Bloomberg) -- R. Martin Chavez, a long-time force behind Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s trading and technology architecture, is expanding his role at Alan Waxman’s $50 billion money manager.

Chavez, who has been a senior adviser since earlier this year, said he is becoming vice chairman and partner at Sixth Street, where he will work on deals and seek to bring his programming expertise to new areas of financial services. He calls the appointment “a kind of coming home, a reunion.”

“In many ways I see this as going back to my roots,” Chavez said in an interview. “Building software to model a trading business is hard. Building software to model an investing business across the capital structure in large investments in companies -- that are all different from one another -- that is much harder.”

The firm run by Waxman, also a Goldman veteran, is a force in credit markets and is expanding in private capital, with assets surging by about $20 billion since announcing its separation from buyout giant TPG in early 2020. Sixth Street is also growing in technology investing and is embracing new software within its own ranks to create a competitive edge.

Read more: Martin Chavez Reunites With Goldman Alumni at Sixth Street

Chavez will steer the firm further into technology investments including in life sciences. That’s an increasingly popular area for Sixth Street and rivals including Blackstone Group Inc., the world’s largest private equity firm. He said techniques that made Goldman a trading behemoth can be applied to investments in health care and software.

“I’m interested in spending to make patient outcomes better, drug discovery more efficient and effective,” he said. “It is financing these activities that I’m passionate about.”

Chavez holds a Ph.D. in medical-information sciences from Stanford University and computer-science degrees from Harvard. He and Waxman worked together at Goldman and have known each other for about two decades, rising to partner at the same time in 2006. Sixth Street was founded three years later in the wake of the global financial crisis.

“Marty’s talent and eye for finding innovation opportunities make him the perfect addition to Sixth Street,” said Alan Waxman, co-founding partner and chief executive officer of Sixth Street. “With his expertise in finance, technology, and science, he’ll be bringing valuable insights and growth to our team.”

Since leaving Goldman in late 2019, Chavez joined the board of life-sciences company Paige and of Banco Santander SA. He also taught a class at Stanford on “How Software Ate Finance,” and has served as president of Harvard’s board of overseers.

Chavez started and led several technology companies including Kiodex and Quorum Software prior to joining Goldman.

He said he will continue to focus on expanding Sixth Street’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, in an industry that’s long been dominated by White men. Chavez himself is a prominent gay, Latino executive, rising at a time when few major financial firms pursued diversity.

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