Faryar Shirzad
Faryar Shirzad is a managing director at Goldman Sachs serving as Global Head of the Office of Government Affairs(OGA). He was a former White House Deputy Assistant for International Economic Affairs to President George W. Bush and the Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs, serving in this role from 2004 to 2006.
Faryar was born in London in 1965. His father, Nasser Shirzad, was a journalist and a senior State Department diplomat in Iran before the revolution. He came to the United States with his parents when he was fourteen years old after the regime change in Iran. Faryar received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Maryland; a Master of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Shirzad joined Goldman, Sachs & Co. in August 2006 as vice president and director of international public policy. He is now Global Head of the Office of Government Affairs (OGA) for Goldman Sachs. OGA supports and advances the firm’s public policy agenda, manages the firm’s interactions with governments around the world, and serves as a resource of information and analysis on global and domestic policy issues of interest to the firm and our clients. He was named managing director in 2007 and serves on the Public Policy Committee. In his recent job, Shirzad is responsible for coordinating the firm's efforts with respect to international public policy matters, as well as for advising colleagues and clients on international policy and regulatory matters.
Faryar previously served on the staff of the National Security Council at the White House from 2003 to 2006, first as a Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs, and then as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs. In those roles, Faryar was responsible for advising the President and managing the Administration’s agenda on all international economic policy matters. He also served as President Bush’s personal representative to the G-8 (the “G-8 Sherpa”).
Prior to his service at the White House, Faryar was Assistant Secretary for Import Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce from 2001 to 2003. He was previously the trade policy coordinator on the Bush Cheney 2000 Transition Team. He began his career in public service as International Trade Counsel on the Majority Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance under Chairman William V. Roth (R DE) from 1997 to 2001. He previously practiced law in Washington, D.C. at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi.
Although Faryar was not born in Iran, he is completely familiar with Iranian culture. He is honored to be an Iranian, and he likes to help the Iranian-American Society in ways he can. Shirzad recently received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.