Polymarket brings aboard Goldman partner Lisa Mantil to lead institutional growth

Lisa Mantil's nearly 27-year stint at Goldman Sachs culminated in a partnership, and on Tuesday she left for Polymarket. The partner title is one of Wall Street's most prestigious.

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said her mission is to attract Wall Street's largest players. Her specialty, as reported, lay in understanding institutional clients' needs and developing products to meet them.

Goldman Partner Moves to Polymarket

Coplan revealed that Polymarket is just the second employer in Mantil's career and added that Goldman CEO David Solomon introduced the two.

Super excited to announce that Lisa Mantil has joined Polymarket to grow our Institutional business.

Polymarket is only the second job of Lisa's career. She spent 27 years at @GoldmanSachs rising through the ranks to Partner, where her specialty was understanding what…

— Shayne Coplan 🦅 (@shayne_coplan) September 29, 2026

Mantil headed Goldman's ETF Accelerator, which aided clients in launching exchange-traded funds (ETFs), investment products that trade on exchanges.

Moving forward, she will design products for banks, asset managers, and corporations looking to price and hedge elections, interest rates, and geopolitical events, as stated in Polymarket's announcement.

“The opportunity to join Polymarket is a rare chance to help shape an exploding asset class at an inflection point in its development,” Mantil stated.

Polymarket Courts Wall Street as Kalshi Gains Ground

Retail investors have driven the boom so far, with the majority wagering on sports. Institutional players, however, prefer block trades — large transactions negotiated privately to avoid price fluctuations.

Kalshi completed the first block trade in April; Polymarket's international site followed a month later. Brokers have reportedly told CNBC that Polymarket is close to offering block trades on its U.S. exchange.

“Brokers working with early institutional participants on prediction markets have told CNBC that the company has had discussions about completing block trades on its U.S. exchange, and is nearing the ability to do so.”

Polymarket and Shayne Coplan did not immediately respond to BeInCrypto’s request for comment.

Nonetheless, Polymarket needs the trading volume, given that Kalshi handled 83% of weekly volume in mid-September, BeInCrypto reported.

“Lisa’s experience and relationships across the institutional world are world class,” Coplan added.

New York Takes Legal Action Against Polymarket

Mantil may call prediction markets an exploding asset class, but New York Attorney General Letitia James sees it differently.

On September 24, James sued Polymarket US, alleging the company runs an illegal gambling operation within the state.

CNBC noted that some institutions are holding back until state and federal regulators decide which body governs sports contracts.

Coplan continues to make his case, inviting anyone interested in trading large size to contact the firm directly.