(FORTUNE Magazine) – Of all the CEOs on Wall Street, only Paulson has been secure enough to speak out against corporate malfeasance. At a June 2002 speech to the National Press Club on the firestorm of criticism leveled against American business, Paulson famously said, "To be blunt, much of it is deserved." Maybe it follows, then, that of the big investment banks, Goldman is the least tainted by scandal. Paulson, 57, a tall and steely Midwestern type, outmuscled then-CEO (and now U.S. Senator from New Jersey) Jon Corzine to grab the top spot shortly before the blue-chip bank went public four years ago. Since then GS stock has beaten the market, as well as that of archrivals Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. During a visit to New York last year, China's President Hu Jintao asked Paulson to host him at the New York Stock Exchange and accompany him on his visit to ground zero with Mayor Bloomberg, making him the only Wall Street CEO so honored. Though Goldman is smallish relative to competitors like Citigroup and CSFB, the firm's influence in sectors like mergers and acquisitions and underwriting far outweighs its size. --A.S.