Donnie was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He feels fortunate to have grown up near Silicon Valley where he had early exposure to technology and the startup mentality. After high school he moved to Utah to attend college and participate in what was ultimately a brief collegiate baseball career. So, he put his early programming skills to work as a web developer for a small design firm. There he fostered a network of other young professionals with startup ambitions. This led to co-founding a few startups before graduating from the University of Utah in 2007. One, PacsDrive, resulted in a successful exit in 2010. Having studied both finance and computer science during university, he sought a company where he could merge these skillsets. Goldman Sachs was the firm that appealed most to him, given its position in the market and its reputation for hiring bright people he could learn from.
He joined Goldman in 2010 as an analyst on the trading desk pricing fixed income derivative securties—he was able to move up quickly, and was asked to join the investment research division asthe data scientist embedded among the global macro markets research team. He had the opportunity to work on some fun research and collaborate with the best economists and market strategists in the world.
Outside of work he prioritzes travel, skiing, and fly fishing. He's experienced cultures on nearly every continent—though Antarctica remains elusive for now. Recently, he's been enjoying time exploring the culture, food, and scenery of southern France. He has mentored startup founders and maintains civic engagements with the Human Rights Campaign, Fish for Garbage, and Junior Acheivement USA.
If you'd like to read a sample of his research, working papers, or CV please email access [at] donniemillar [dot] com