Global investment banking, securities and investment management firm the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. announced on Friday that its board of directors intends to elect its current president and chief operating officer Lloyd C. Blankfein as the company’s next chairman of the board and CEO.

His appointment is to become official in the event that current chairman and CEO Henry M. Paulson Jr. is confirmed by the United States Senate as Secretary of the Treasury. U.S. President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate Paulson as the next Secretary of the Treasury On May 30.