Thought Leaders

  • Ivy Schmerken, Editor at Large
    Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad number of topics including high frequency trading, algorithmic trading strategies, market structure, electronic trading in fixed income , colocation in data centers, Dodd-Frank regulation and the new derivatives landscape. Ivy meets with software companies and other innovators and writes about cloud computing, OMS/EMSs and other financial technologies.
  • Michael J. Levas, Founder, Senior Managing Principal, Director of Trading, Olympian Group of Investment Management Cos
    Michael J. Levas has been in the investment management business for over twenty years and is the founder,senior managing principal & director of trading at the Olympian Group of Investment Management Companies. Prior to Olympian, he was a VP and Portfolio Manager in the Private Client Group at Lehman Brothers Inc. Prior to that, he was a VP with SG Cowen, UBS PaineWebber and Bear Stearns where he managed in excess of $250 million in both institutional and retail portfolios. Mr. Levas is the former founder and managing member of Olympian Securities LLC, and is a licensed Series 24 general securities principal, Series 7 general securities representative, and a Series 65, 66 investment adviser representative with (FINRA). Mr. Levas is also the former founder and principal of Olympian Futures LLC, a former (NFA) registered introducing broker, and a licensed Series 3 associated person. Mr. Levas currently holds the Chartered Portfolio Manager (CPM) designation from the American Academy of Financial Management. Mr. Levas completed investment management studies at Harvard Business School and additionally, Mr.Levas has completed the Hedge Fund Programme at The London Business School. He is a current member of the CFA society of South Florida, Securities Traders Association of Florida, The National Association of Active Investment Managers, and formerly served on the 2008/2009 board of directors of The Hedge Fund Association. Mr. Levas is a frequent conference speaker, and commentator on the financial markets & asset management industry.He has been featured throughout the U.S.,Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia and in numerous publications, and media outlets including BusinessWeek, Dow Jones Newswires, The Financial Times,Smart Money,Hedge Fund Manager Week, Wall Street Letter, Euromoney, Wall St.& Technology,The Economic Times, Securities Industry News, Alternative Investment Review, Advanced Trading, Markets Media Magazine, TradeTech , Reuters, Bloomberg and National Public Radio.
  • Marc J Firenze, Chief Technology Officer, Eagle Investment Systems
    As chief technology officer of Eagle Investment Systems, Marc Firenze drives the software, technology and architecture decisions across Eagle's investment management suite and ensures that development directly supports the firm's corporate vision. With more than 20 years of experience in the design, development and implementation of financial technology solutions, he oversees a world-class team of technical and functional talent responsible for the software development, delivery, engineering and enterprise architecture for Eagle's suite of products. Mr. Firenze began his career with Eagle in 1997 and has been intimately involved in many facets of the build-out of its products including new feature design, analysis and quality assurance. During his tenure at Eagle, he was responsible for launching the enterprise technology platform, which underlies Eagle's product suite. He was instrumental in the development and delivery of Eagle's data management and of Eagle's alternative investment accounting solution. Prior to joining Eagle, Mr. Firenze worked for State Street Corporation, where he worked on the development of portfolio management and accounting systems. Mr. Firenze earned his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his M.B.A from Northeastern University.
  • Dr. John Bates, CTO, Intelligent Business Operations & Big Data, Software AG
    Dr. John Bates is a Member of the Group Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer at Software AG, responsible for Intelligent Business Operations and Big Data strategies. Until July 2013, John was Executive Vice President and Corporate Chief Technology Officer at Progress Software. John was responsible for creating, evolving and evangelizing Progress' market strategy and technology vision. Previously, John was General Manager of Progress Software's Apama Division. John was responsible for Divisional P&L including sales, marketing, products and consulting services. In 3 years John grew revenue by over 300%.
  • Andrew Waxman, Thought Leader
    Andrew Waxman writes on operational risk in capital markets and financial services. Andrew is a consultant in IBM's US financial risk services and compliance group. The views expressed her are those of his own. As an operational risk manager, Andrew has worked at some of the leading investment banks and consulting firms in Wall Street and the City of London. He writes on topics such as: rogue and insider trading, technology and markets, disaster planning, regulatory responses and risk management strategies. Andrew has a first class degree in history from Kings' College London and an MBA in finance from NYU.
  • Jennifer L Costley, Ph.D, Principal, Ashokan Advisors
    Jennifer L. Costley, Ph.D. is a scientifically-trained technologist with broad multidisciplinary experience in enterprise architecture, software development, line management and infrastructure operations, primarily (although not exclusively) in capital markets. She is also a non-profit board leader recognized for talent in building strong governance and process. Her current focus is in helping companies, organizations and individuals with opportunities related to data, analysis and sustainability. She can be reached at www.ashokanadvisors.com
  • Vamsi Chemitiganti, Chief Architect, Red Hat
    As Chief Architect of Red Hat's Financial Services Vertical, Vamsi Chemitiganti is responsible for driving Red Hat's technology vision from a client standpoint. The breadth of these areas range from Platform, Middleware, Storage to Big Data and Cloud (IaaS and PaaS). The clients Chemitiganti engages with on a daily basis span marquee names on Wall Street, including businesses in capital markets, core banking, wealth management and IT operations. The other large component of his role is to work with Client CXOs and Architects to help them on key business transformation initiatives. Chemitiganti hold a BS in Computer Science and Engineering as well as an MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also a regular speaker at industry events on topics ranging from Cloud Computing, Big Data, High Performance Computing and Enterprise Middleware.
  • Dr. Howard A. Rubin, President and CEO, Rubin Worldwide
    Dr. Howard A. Rubin is a Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Hunter College of the City University of New York, a MIT CISR Research Affiliate, a Gartner Senior Advisor, and a former Nolan Norton Research Fellow. He is the founder and CEO of Rubin Worldwide. Dr. Rubin is a pioneer in the area of technology economics and has built the world's largest database in the field consisting of business, national, and technology data. He is personally retained by many of the world's largest enterprises as a strategic advisor to provide them with continuous competitive calibration via benchmarking and to advise them on business-technology strategy and trends. His current portfolio of client companies in total generate more than $1.5T in revenue to the global economy annually and account for almost $100B in yearly Information Technology (IT) spending. Dr. Rubin has also worked directly with heads of state or their key ministers around the world in the development of national competitive technology strategies - Canada, India, the Philippines, South Africa, and in the United States with former President Clinton. He currently is an informal advisor assisting President Obama's Council on Job Creation and Competitiveness. Dr. Rubin possesses a Ph.D. from the City University of New York in Computer Science and Oceanography. Outside the world of technology Dr. Rubin is Chairman of the Board of Riverkeeper, a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, a Leadership Council member of the RFK Foundation, a major support of student development programs at the Tribeca Film Institute, and a supporter of the Rainforest Foundation.
  • Sang Lee, Co-Founder, Managing Partner, Aite Group
    Sang Lee is a co-founder of and currently serves as managing partner. Mr. Lee's expertise lies in the securities and investments vertical and has advised many global financial institutions, software/hardware vendors, and professional services firms in sell-side and buy-side electronic trading technology and market structure. Prior to joining Aite Group, Mr. Lee was a founding member of Celent Communications and served as the Manager of the Securities & Investments Group as well as the Operations Group.
  • Alexander Fleiss, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, Rebellion Research Partners LP
    Alexander Fleiss serves as Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Rebellion Research Partners LP, a Global Macro hedge fund and financial advisory that invests across all asset classes and is based in New York. Mr. Fleiss also oversees the firm's institutional research division, Rebellion Economics, which offers coverage of 44 countries. Mr. Fleiss has spoken about Artificial Intelligence investing at conferences, colleges and in the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg News, Geo Magazine and Institutional Investor. Prior to co-founding Rebellion Research in 2007, Mr. Fleiss served as a Principal at KMF Partners LP, a long-short US equity fund. While at KMF, he was primarily responsible for investments in the financial service, technology and consumer industries. Mr. Fleiss began his investment career as an analyst for Sloate, Weisman, Murray & Co which was acquired by Neuberger Berman. Mr. Fleiss developed investment algorithms with the firm's CEO, Laura Sloate who is now a partner at Neuberger Berman. Mr. Fleiss received a BA Degree from Amherst College.
  • Brooke Allen, 30-Year Industry Veteran
    Brooke Allen is a 30-year industry veteran who most recently founded a quantitative trading desk now celebrating its 17th year in continuous operation. For years he wrote a monthly piece for International Family Magazine, in 2009 he founded NoShortageOfWork.com to discuss work life, and in 2011 he created Questions For Colleges (Q4Colleges.com) to discuss issues facing higher education. Now he is beginning a series for us here on his beloved Securities Industry. Before you decide to trust him or collaborate with him, look at BrookeAllen.com where you will find his Personal Disclosure Statement.
  • Sean Owens, Director, Fixed Income and Derivatives, Woodbine Associates
    Sean Owens is Director, Fixed Income at Woodbine Associates, Inc. focusing on strategic, business, regulatory, market structure, and technology issues that impact firm’s active in and supporting global fixed income and derivative markets.
  • Joe Saluzzi, Partner and co-head of equity trading, Themis Trading
    Joseph Saluzzi is partner, co-founder and co-head of equity trading of Themis Trading LLC, a leading independent agency brokerage firm that trades equities for institutional money managers and hedge funds. He is also the co-author of Broken Markets -- How High Frequency Trading and Predatory Practices on Wall Street are Destroying Investor Confidence. Mr. Saluzzi is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on issues involving market access, algorithmic trading and other sell- and buy-side concerns. He has provided expert commentary for media outlets such as CBS's 60 Minutes, BBC Radio, Bloomberg Television & Radio, CNBC, Fox Business, BNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Reuters, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News. Mr. Saluzzi also has authored articles for Traders Magazine, Dow Jones and Journal of Investment Compliance. Prior to Themis, Mr. Saluzzi headed the team responsible for equity sales and trading for major institutional accounts at Instinet Corporation for more than nine years. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an MBA in Finance and received a Bachelor's Degree in Finance from New York University.
  • Sean O'Dowd, Capital Markets Program Director, Teradata
    Sean O'Dowd leads the Global Capital Markets program at Teradata for Industry and Marketing Solutions. In this role Sean focuses on industry strategy, marketing and field enablement. Areas of focus span financial market structure, regulations and technologies that impact the business models and strategies of financial markets firms (buy-side, sell-side, wealth management, custody, exchanges, and retail brokers). Topics include many of the large transformational technologies impacting capital markets, such as cloud services, mobility, information management and big/fast data, unstructured data and analytics. Additionally, Sean covers many industry specific trends and technologies including electronic trading, investment management operations, wealth management and personal finance, oversight infrastructure (Government agencies and SRO's). Sean's personal area of expertise lies within investment management, derivatives securities and trading technology.
  • Stephen Davenport, Director Equity Risk Management, Wilmington Trust Company
    Steve is responsible for developing risk-managed investment strategies for high-net-worth clients. He has a strong background in quantitative investment analysis, and a sophisticated approach to asset allocation and the use of derivatives. In particular, he has managed a call writing strategy for clients seeking additional income for the last six years. Steve began his career with State Street Global Advisors and later joined Columbia Management Investment Advisors in Boston as a senior investment advisor. During his career, Steve has focused on developing comprehensive solutions for families, executives, and entrepreneurs with concentrated stock positions. Steve holds an M.S. in Finance from Boston College's Wallace Carroll School of Management as well as bachelor's degrees in industrial engineering and mathematics/computer science from Columbia University and Providence College, respectively. Steve holds CFA designation and he is a member of Atlanta Security Analyst Society.

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