Byron David Trott

Byron David Trott was born December 2, 1958, in Springfield, Missouri. He earned an AB from the University of Chicago (1981) and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (1982). He joined Goldman Sachs in 1982 in securities sales in New York, moved into investment banking in 1988 under future Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and relocated to Goldman's Chicago office in 1990. Over a 27-year career he rose to Vice Chairman of the global Investment Banking Division (2005–2009), building a specialty advising the wealthiest families and closely held companies in America.

At Goldman, Trott advised on landmark deals including the roughly $23 billion Mars–Wrigley combination, the Pritzker family's $4.5 billion sale of Marmon Holdings to Berkshire Hathaway, and Berkshire's $5 billion capital infusion into Goldman Sachs at the height of the September 2008 financial crisis. In February 2002 Paulson directed Trott to become Warren Buffett's banker; Buffett later called him "the rare investment banker who puts himself in his client's shoes" and has described Trott as essentially the only banker he trusts.

In early 2009 Trott left Goldman to found BDT & Company, a Chicago-based merchant bank designed to give family- and founder-led businesses trusted, long-term advice and capital — a modern reinvention of the merchant-bank model. In January 2023, BDT & Company combined with MSD Partners, the investment firm managing the wealth of Michael Dell and his family, forming BDT & MSD Partners. Trott serves as Chairman and Co-CEO alongside Gregg Lemkau (formerly of MSD/Goldman Sachs).

Trott sits on the boards of Cox Enterprises, Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise Rent-A-Car), the IMA Group, and Sunrise Group Holdings (owner of Whataburger), and is a strategic advisor to Sierra Nevada Corporation. He is a trustee of the University of Chicago and the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a director of Conservation International, and Chairman Emeritus of the Horatio Alger Association. A Forbes-listed billionaire, Trott and his wife Tina signed The Giving Pledge in 2021.

• Backs established, family- and founder-led private companies — not startups — offering patient, relationship-driven capital and advice rather than transactional dealmaking.
• Provides liquidity, growth capital, succession, and diversification solutions that let owners raise money or partially cash out without giving up control of their businesses.
• Positions the firm as a trusted long-term partner and "merchant bank" — combining M&A/advisory work with direct principal investing from its own funds.
• Prizes discretion, trust, and alignment: the model is built on being the confidant to billionaire families, echoing Buffett's praise that he "puts himself in his client's shoes."
• Post-2023 merger, the platform spans advisory, private capital, growth equity, and a growing global credit business (bolstered by senior hires such as Greg Olafson as president and co-head of global credit in 2025).