Gregg Lemkau

Gregg Lemkau is an American businessman. Currently he is the co-CEO of BDT & MSD Partners, a merchant bank that provides advice and capital to family and founder-led companies.^[1] Additionally, he is the Chairman of DFO Management, formerly MSD Capital, the office of Dell Technologies’ Michael Dell and his family.^[2] Previously, Lemkau was CEO of MSD Partners, a predecessor firm of BDT & MSD Partners, and he spent 28 years in various roles and leadership positions at Goldman Sachs.^[1]

Lemkau was born in Boston.^[3] His father, Curt, worked in finance, spending 25 years of his career with Merrill Lynch & Co.. Lemkau’s sister, Kristin, is the CEO of the wealth management arm of J.P. Morgan Chase, and his brother, Chip, is a managing director at Goldman Sachs.^[1][4] Lemkau’s other sister is Holly Lemkau Doran.^[5]

Lemkau attended Dartmouth College, where he played goalkeeper for the soccer team.^[3] After graduating in 1991,^[6] he considered going to Zimbabwe to play professional soccer.^[7] Instead, he worked as a paralegal at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom,^[3] before ultimately deciding to pursue a career in investment banking.^[7]

Lemkau joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 1992, at the age of 22. In the 1990s, he moved to San Francisco to expand the firm’s technology mergers and acquisitions business.^[1]

In 2001, Lemkau was promoted to managing director at Goldman Sachs. The next year, he became partner and co-head of healthcare banking, and five years later he was named chief operating officer of the investment banking division. In 2008, Lemkau moved to London to become the co-head of technology, media, and telecom investment banking. Five years later, he was named co-head of global mergers and acquisitions. In 2017, he became co-head of global investment banking.^[1]

Lemkau became known on Wall Street as a top mergers banker. He advised on hundreds of transactions,^[8] brokering deals for high-profile professionals including Elon Musk, Travis Kalanick,^[3] Marc Benioff,^[1] and Daniel Ek.^[7] He also led the firm’s investments in Facebook^[9] and Spotify.^[10]

After 28 years at Goldman Sachs, Lemkau left the firm in 2020 to help Michael Dell transition the management of Dell’s family fortune into an institutional investor that would provide opportunities for wealthy stakeholders. Lemkau became the CEO of MSD Partners,^[7] and was tasked with expanding the company’s investments and exploring new sectors in which to invest. At the time, MSD Partners had over $15 billion in assets.^[8]

Lemkau had previously worked with Dell in 2013 to take Dell Technologies from public to private. They collaborated again to return the company to the public market in a lucrative deal in 2018.^[3]

In 2023, MSD Partners, run by Lemkau, merged with merchant bank BDT & Company, led by Byron Trott. Lemkau and Trott had previously worked together at Goldman Sachs. Together, they formed BDT & MSD, an investment and advisory firm. The merger more than doubled MSD’s assets.^[1] Trott and Lemkau serve as co-CEOs of BDT & MSD.^[11]

Lemkau is a director of Culligan International Company,^[12] Qualtrics,^[13] and Spurs Sports & Entertainment.^[14] He is also a board observer of GoodLeap. LLC.^[12]

Lemkau is married. He and his wife, Kate, have four children.^[15][16]

He’s a member of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees,^[6] the Board of Trustees of Rockefeller University,^[17] and an Advisory Board Member of Team Rubicon.^[18]

He also served on the board of directors of Grassroot Soccer which fights HIV/AIDS in Africa.^[19]

In 2015, Gregg and Kate Lemkau donated $2 million to Dartmouth to establish the Bobby Clark Head Coach of Men’s soccer position.^[16]