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.
  • 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.
  • 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. 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%.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Gavin Little-Gill, Global Head of Front and Middle Office Asset Management, Managing Director, Asset Management for North America
    Gavin Little-Gill joined Linedata in 2007 and is responsible for Linedata's North American asset management business and the global front and middle office asset management businesses of Linedata. In this role, Gavin has overall responsibility for the vision, strategy and growth across the business. Prior to assuming this role, Gavin was Global Head of Asset Management Product Strategy where he oversaw global product management and strategy for all of Linedata's Asset Management Solutions. Before joining Linedata, Gavin was employed at Tower-Group for six years most recently holding the role of Group Research Director, overseeing the Securities and Investments practices. During that time, his research concentration was technology trends on the buy-side with a focus on trading technology. Prior to joining Tower Group, in 2001 Gavin spent 12 years in various capacities working in the financial industry. Two of these years' where spent at a US subsidiary of CDC-IXIS as Vice President. Prior to CDC, Gavin was with Scudder for nine years, most recently as Vice President. Gavin holds an M.S. in Finance from Boston College and a B.A. from Bates College, Maine. In addition, he has a Certificate in Pensions and Benefits from Bentley College, in Massachusetts, and has successfully passed the first exam of the C.F.A. Gavin has held Series 6, 7, 63, 24, and 26 registrations.
  • George Kledaras, Chairman and Founder, FIX Flyer
    George Kledaras is the founder and Chairman of FIX Flyer, a financial technology company in New York City. He is also the author of numerous articles about the FIX protocol and electronic trading standards, and a frequent speaker on the major technology issues of our time. Kledaras started FIX Flyer in 2006 to re-invent electronic trading infrastructure brought on by the growth of algorithms. Now more than ever, he says, "the securities industry needs sophisticated tools for managing diverse, networked communities, providing end investors with more transparency and efficiency. FIX Flyer has offices in New York, Boston and Hyderabad, India with over 170 clients globally and counts some of the world's greatest financial and technology institutions as partners. FIX Flyer has been a strong supporter of the FIX Protocol Ltd. organization and a member since inception. He is well known throughout the technology world as the founder, in 1996, of Javelin Technologies Inc. At Javelin, he was recognized as the leader in electronic trading software, especially through his initiative in creating the first high-speed messaging FIX engine built entirely in Java called Coppelia. Javelin was the winner of the 2001 Deloitte & Touche Shooting Star award for New York's fastest-growing technology company. He is also widely credited for introducing Java to Wall Street for serious trading applications. Then in 2000, he helped to ignite the world of high-speed global trading with Appia. Javelin was sold in 2002 to NYFIX is now owned by NYSE Technologies. Kledaras received a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA, and an MS degree in Mathematics from the Courant Institute at New York University. He helped Lehigh start their innovative Masters Degree in Analytical Finance program. He served the Board of Trustees and also as Chairman of the PC Rossin College of Engineering Advisory Council, both at Lehigh University. Kledaras is frequent lecturer on electronic trading, messaging, market structure, low latency trading technology and entrepreneurship. He has lectures globally and recently participated at major industry conferences in Mexico City, Bogota, Bombay, Singapore, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Istanbul and other major financial centers. With his home and office in New York City, Kledaras says he lives and works in "the two greatest cities of the world -- the East Side of New York and the West Side of New York."
  • Philippe Buhannic, CEO and co-founder of TradingScreen
    Philippe Buhannic, CEO and co-founder of TradingScreen, is an industry pioneer. Buhannic has stayed on the forefront of global markets and financial technology for more than 30 years, in a career that has spanned executive management, technical, and marketing experience in international markets. Buhannic founded TradingScreen with Joseph Ahearn in 1999, working to connect global sell-side participants and leading regional brokers to a common environment. TradingScreen was ahead of the curve from day one - delivering market access, and order and liquidity management to the buy side - anticipating the shift away from paper-based trading towards digital markets. Today, TradingScreen is not only the world's leading execution management system (EMS), it is also the leading independent provider of liquidity, trading and investment technology via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to the financial community. Prior to TradingScreen, Buhannic served as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) in New York. While at CSFB, he worked in fixed income where he handled listed derivatives, prime brokerage and e-commerce. Buhannic was also responsible for creating and implementing CFSB's e-commerce products, including the "Prime Family" comprised of PrimeTrade, PrimeClear, Prime Brokerage and PrimeFund; all of which have received industry accolades as a successful attempt at global distribution of electronic, multi-asset asset class transaction processing via the Internet. From 1993 to1995 Buhannic served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fimat Futures USA, Inc., the subsidiary of French investment bank Societe General (SocGen), where he was credited with establishing Fimat as a viable and profitable player in the US marketplace. Prior to SocGen, from 1987 to 1993, Buhannic was the deputy Chief Financial Officer of Credit Commercial de France, where he oversaw the development of the foreign exchange dealing rooms and the global marketing of FX and interest rate products. Buhannic holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in international business from New York University's Stern School of Business, a Master's degree in Finance and Taxation from Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and has taught business and finance courses at his alma matter. He is a longtime board member of the Futures Industry Association and has worked in most major financial cities such as New York, Paris, Zurich and Sao Paulo. He is fluent in French and Portuguese.
  • Sugata Ray, Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Florida
    Sugata Ray is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Florida. His research interests include hedge funds and market microstructure. Prior to joining the finance department at the University of Florida, he worked as a consultant for financial institutions with Oliver Wyman. He holds Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in finance from the University of Pennsylvania.

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