STANY 2020 Conference Speaker Bios

David Ackerman, Esq.
Regulatory Subject Matter Expert
NICE Actimize

David is a global compliance executive and licensed attorney with 15 years of experience providing trade/communication compliance, operations management, and regulatory guidance to fiduciary advisors, broker-dealers, investment banks, swap dealers, exchanges, technology companies, and major regulatory organizations. David is a recognized compliance and financial regulation expert, published author, and FINRA Arbitrator, possessing in-depth knowledge of SEC, FINRA, CFTC, NFA, and FCA regulations, as well as industry best practices globally across the US, EMEA, and APAC. 

Lauren Biehl
Director, US Electronic Sales
Barclays

Lauren is a Director on Barclays’ US Electronic Sales desk focused on identifying algo trading solutions for buyside accounts across Equities, Options, Futures and FX. She joined Barclaysin 2020 after 8 years at Bloomberg.

During her tenure at Bloomberg Tradebook, Lauren managed one of two Equity & Options Sales and Trading teams responsible for enhancing relationships across the US for multi-asset global trading, which included Buyside majors, Middle Market accounts, and the Sellside vertical. After Lauren successfully migrated Tradebook and its clients to the Goldman Sachs Alliance in 2018, she led a team of account managers in AIM, Bloomberg’s Buyside OMS, that focused on Tier 1 accounts throughout Canada. Lauren started her career at Morgan Keegan, where she was an Equity Research Salesperson based in New York.

Lauren earned her Bachelor of Science from Villanova University and holds FINRA Series 3, 7, 24, 55, and 63 licenses.

Matt Billings
Senior Vice President, Trading Services
Two Sigma Securities, LLC

Matt began his career on the exchange floors in Chicago more than 30 years ago. His long-standing and hands-on experience in the mechanics of trading, coupled with extensive industry engagement and regulatory insight, fuel Matt’s unique perspective on how the markets operate and impact traders and investors.

Today, Matt works in Two Sigma Securities, LLC’s Wholesale Market Making team. In this role, his areas of oversight include the trade/service desks as well as client relationships.  Matt also focuses on market structure, and in particular market data.  Prior to coming to Two Sigma Securities Matt led the team overseeing market data at TD Ameritrade. He managed all aspects of the firm's market data strategy as well as contributed in the areas of government relations and market structure.  Before TD Ameritrade Matt managed Trading Services for Scottrade for over 10 years, accountable for several areas including order routing & execution quality and market data. 

Matt is an active member of several trade organizations including STA, FIF & SIFMA. He maintains his Series 7, 4, 24, 57 and 63 registrations, completed an Executive Leadership Development course through Washington University, completed the three-year Securities Industry Institute course sponsored by SIFMA and The Wharton School, and earned a Bachelor’s degree from Saint Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., and a Masters of Business Administration degree from DePaul University in Chicago.

Michael Blaugrund
Chief Operating Officer
NYSE

Michael Blaugrund is the Chief Operating Officer at the New York Stock Exchange, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE). Blaugrund is responsible for overseeing strategy and operations of NYSE Group’s five equities exchanges and two options exchanges. Additionally, he oversees the NYSE/FINRA Trade Reporting Facility and NYSE Bonds fixed income exchange.

Most recently, Blaugrund was the Director of Business Development at Tower Research Capital, a leading proprietary trading firm, where he focused on expanding the firm’s global market access and developing strategic assets. Prior to that role, Blaugrund led U.S. equity product strategy at NASDAQ OMX and held product management roles at Thomson Reuters.

Blaugrund holds a B.A. in government from Harvard University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Ari Burstein
President
Capital Market Strategies

Ari Burstein is President of Capital Markets Strategies, representing investment advisers, broker-dealers, hedge funds, securities exchanges and trade associations before regulators and policymakers, in the U.S. and globally, and providing advice on trading, best execution, and capital markets issues. Prior to starting Capital Markets Strategies, Mr. Burstein was Head of US Regulatory Affairs for Kreab, a leading global consulting firm. He also was Senior Counsel for capital markets issues for the Investment Company Institute (ICI) and ICI Global, the global trade associations for the regulated fund industry. Prior to joining ICI, Mr. Burstein was an attorney in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management from 1997 to 1998 and the Division of Market Regulation from 1992 to 1997.

Richard Carleton
Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Securities Exchange

Richard Carleton has been CEO of the Canadian Securities Exchange since July 2011. Prior to being named CEO, Richard led the CSE’s technology, operations, market data and trading sales teams after joining the organization in late 2005. Before joining the exchange, Richard worked as a business development consultant in Toronto and New York in the risk management, index product and trading technology fields after spending twelve years with the Toronto Stock Exchange. He was a member of the exchange’s senior management team with responsibility for market information and index services, the ETF programme and corporate communications. Active in industry affairs, Richard served two terms as chair of the market data industry’s global trade association in the late 1990's and is a frequent speaker at market structure and trading technology events across North America. Richard also serves as a member of the boards of the Private Capital Markets Association and the Empire Club of Canada.

A member of the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1987, Richard is a graduate of the University of Ottawa (B.A. ’81) and the University of Toronto (LL.B. ’85). He has also completed the executive development programme at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Davies
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
S3

Mark Davies is Co-Founder and CEO of S3, a full–service compliance and trade analytics software. He is responsible for the organization’s business strategy, the executive team and has oversight of the company’s day-to-day operations, including client relations, sales, and business development.

A financial services executive with over 15 years experience in fintech and regtech, Mr. Davies has deep industry knowledge in trading technology, particularly trade surveillance, best execution analysis, and regulatory reporting. Currently, Mark is leading the industry on market structure and regulatory reporting requirements for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Rule 606 under Reg NMS and is sought after for his subject matter expertise.

Mr. Davies co-founded S3 in 2001. In 2004, S3 launched its first trading analytics product, redefining S3’s core business. Since then, under Mr. Davies guidance, S3 has improved trust in the industry through appropriate and intelligent disclosure via regulatory reporting and analytics.

Mr. Davies holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.

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Gene DeMaio 
Executive Vice President, Market Regulation
FINRA

David E. Franasiak, Esq.
Principal
Williams & Jensen

Mr. Franasiak has over twenty-five years of experience working on public policy issues with corporate executives, not-for-profit organizations, accounting firms, broker dealers, hedge funds, financial institutions, and associations.

David Franasiak became a Principal of Williams & Jensen in 1992. As Vice President of Finance and a member of the Executive Committee since 1993, he is responsible for the day-to-day financial management of the firm, pension plans, and outside legal entities. Mr. Franasiak specializes in a legislative and administrative practice focused on tax, securities, financial institutions, and natural resources.

Prior to joining Williams & Jensen, he was a Principal in the Office of the Chairman at Ernst & Young, working on tax, securities, and financial institution issues. From 1984 to 1987, he worked for British Petroleum on tax, finance, environment, and energy issues, and was Director of Tax at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1981 to 1984. Previous to this position, he served as Staff Director to the Tax Oversight Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee. Early in his career, Mr. Franasiak worked on the legislative staffs of a city and county legislature, and worked as a venture analyst for a large multinational corporation while completing his graduate work.

In addition to serving Williams & Jensen clients, Mr. Franasiak teaches a seminar at the University at Buffalo Law School’s New York City Program in Finance and Law; recent course topics focused on securitization, and the crisis in the capital markets.

He is actively involved in volunteering and fundraising related to Maryland state politics as well as many civic organizations. He serves on the Boards of Directors of the International Stock Exchange Executives Emeriti (ISEEE) and the Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP).

Thomas P. Gallagher
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Miami International Holdings, Inc.

Thomas P. Gallagher is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL and their parent company, Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH). As one of the principal founders of MIH and its subsidiaries, Tom has been leading the company since inception. He has been instrumental in sourcing the capital for MIH and assembling the seasoned industry professionals that comprise the MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL teams. Tom has also been driving the building of a consortium of key users for both MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL. Over the past 25 years, Tom has counseled numerous private and public companies on corporate and securities matters including debt and equity financings and transactional matters in a wide range of industries.

Frank Grampone
Executive Vice President, Business Development & Strategy
Best Execution Solutions (BXS)

Frank is a veteran of the financial services industry with experience specifically in trading, business development, client services, and regulatory compliance. Frank is currently Executive Vice President at Best Execution Solutions,  a provider of regulatory reporting, trading analytics, and surveillance in multiple asset classes, where he focuses on business development, strategic initiatives, and tailoring products to better serve its clients and the capital markets community. Previously, he was an Executive Director at UBS Investment Bank where he managed Client Services and Operations for its Broker-Dealer Wholesale Market-Making unit. Frank also monitored and analyzed execution performance statistics, oversaw market structure initiatives, and supported Sales and Business Development. Prior to UBS, Frank spent fifteen years as Managing Director at Knight Capital Group where he oversaw US Operations, managing Client Services and Broker Dealer Sales-Trading. He also spearheaded the Best Execution Committee while coordinating all efforts for Rule 605 and Rule 606 regulatory reporting. Frank is also a successful small business owner having launched, marketed, and operated a chain of environmentally friendly dry cleaners in New Jersey.

Bart Green
Senior Vice President and Manager of Equity Trading
Wells Fargo Advisors

Bart Green is a Senior Vice President and Manager of Equity Trading at Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis, Mo. He began his career in financial services in 1986 working in corporate syndicate and then as an equity market maker and convertible bond trader. Throughout his career, he has conducted numerous seminars for financial advisors and has been interviewed by such media outlets as CNBC, and the Wall Street Journal. Bart has been active in the securities industry having served as Chairman of the Security Traders Association in 2008. He also served two terms as President of the Security Traders Association of St. Louis in 2000 and 2001. Bart received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an MBA from Saint Louis University.

Bryan Harkins
Executive Vice President, Head of Markets
Cboe Global Markets

Bryan Harkins is Executive Vice President, Head of Markets Division at Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe),  joining the firm in 2017 as part of the Bats Global Markets acquisition. Based in New York, Harkins runs the sales, product development and competitive strategy for the company’s U.S. equities, futures, options and global foreign exchange businesses, its suite of market data and access services products, and the ETP listings business.

At Bats, Harkins led the competitive strategy of the equities business and grew the ETF listings business into a major industry player. He also tripled U.S. options market share and guided the Bats FX business’ rapid growth. Harkins joined Bats in 2014 when it acquired Direct Edge Holdings, where he was a founding employee and Chief Operating Officer responsible for operations, product development and sales.

Harkins co-founded and hosts the annual Wall Street Rides FAR cycling event that supports autism research, and sits on the Board of Directors of Project Hospitality. He recently received the 2019 Markets Media award for philanthropy.

He holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business. Harkins holds Series 7, 24, 55 and 63 licenses.

Michael Harris
Head of Business Development and Capital Markets
Citadel Securities

Michael Harris is Head of Business Development and Capital Markets.  In his role, he is responsible for growing the DMM business and building Citadel’s relationships with corporate clients, pre-IPO investors, sponsors and IPO advisors.

Prior to joining Citadel Securities, Mr. Harris worked as a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley within its Investment Management Group.  Previously, he was the Deputy Chief Investment Officer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.  During his earlier career Mr. Harris held a variety of capital markets and advisory roles at UBS Securities, JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Harris received a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University.

Jay Heller
Head of Capital Markets 
Nasdaq

At Nasdaq, Jay Heller is senior member of the Capital Markets Team.  With over 20 years’ experience in the financial markets arena, Jay was tasked by senior management to lead a team in analyzing and enhancing the process in which new listings are facilitated on the exchange. Over the last several years, Nasdaq has introduced several innovative tools, leveraging data and technology to provide greater transparency for IPOs and Direct Listings.

Under his leadership, the team has executed more than 1,200 IPOs on the exchange. Some of the world’s most innovative companies have gone public on Nasdaq during his tenure including: DocuSign, GoodRx, Roku, Lyft, Zoom, Peloton, Royalty Pharma and Beyond Meat, just to name a few.

Prior to joining the Nasdaq in 2008, Jay was the Managing Director of Institutional Trading and Sales at American Capital Partners. There he managed the Institutional Trading and Sales Desk while working with various hedge funds and financial institutions. Jay also has worked as a market marker at Pershing Capital Markets and NDB Capital Markets, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.

Pat Hickey
Managing Director, Participant Services and Solutions
OCC

Patrick Hickey is Managing Director, Participant Services and Solutions, at OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization. Pat is responsible for OCC’s delivery of new exchange-traded products in U.S. options and futures, as well as furthering initiatives and enhancements on behalf of market participants.

Previously, Hickey was the Head of Market Structure for Optiver U.S., a global proprietary trading company, where he was the firm’s primary liaison to the financial industry, representing the firm strategically to exchanges, partners, and industry groups. 

Hickey served on the boards of the Nasdaq Exchange and International Securities Exchange. In addition, he has served in an elected capacity on the Executive Committee of FIA Principal Traders Group (PTG), and was a member of the STA Listed Options Committee, the Nasdaq Futures Exchange (NFX) Market Advisory and Business Conduct Committees, and the NYSE Arca Options Ethics and Business Conduct Committee.

James Hyde
Senior Director, ICE
Head of Business Development, NYSE Options

James Hyde is a Senior Director of ICE – Head of Business Development for NYSE Options which includes the NYSE American (aka Amex) and Arca platforms. He currently serves on the STANY Board as President. Mr. Hyde is also a Governor and Secretary-elect on the STA Board. Previously, he served as the Chairman of the STA Listed Options Committee (LOC).

Mr. Hyde is the former Vice Chairman of the American Stock Exchange Board and Senior Supervisory Officer on the Trading Floor. As a Floor Governor, he chaired numerous Exchange operating committees and was appointed as Chairman of the Amex Technology Committee. Prior to the closing of the NYSE Euronext/Amex transaction, he was asked to serve as liaison among NYSE Euronext senior staff and the Amex constituencies. Concurrently, he was also a Registered Options Trader for AGS Specialists LLC (Aka Integral Derivatives LLC). Prior to trading for AGS/ID Specialists, he was a Senior Managing Director and head of Option trading for Kellogg Capital Group, L.L.C. He was instrumental in launching Kellogg into the Option, ETF and broker business, through acquisitions of Knight Securities, Spear Leads and Kellogg Index products, the Fogel Group, and the Van Der Moolen Company. Additionally, he is co-founder of TAHOE Trading LLC and TAHOE Technologies, a proprietary analytical software platform utilized in the market today. Also, in 2005 he negotiated and closed the transaction transferring control of the American Stock Exchange back to the members from NASDAQ.

Mr. Hyde received his B.A. from St. John’s University.

Bonnie Hyun
Head of Technology Capital Markets
NYSE

Bonnie is responsible for advising private technology companies on their IPO listing at the NYSE. Bonnie brings 15+ years of senior finance leadership primarily within the high technology industry and a unique end-to-end perspective from having taken companies public to managing investor communications and marketing post-IPO. Prior to joining NYSE, Bonnie held various roles within public and private technology companies as well as investment banking.

Hope Jarkowski, Esq.
Co-Head of Government Affairs
ICE

Hope is the Co-Head of Government Affairs for ICE, resident in the DC Office.  In this capacity, Hope leads NYSE’s government relations matters before the SEC and Capitol Hill.  Hope began her career in the Office of the General Counsel at FINRA, where she worked on a variety of legal and policy issues.  She then transitioned to private securities law practice at a Fortune 100 law firm.  Hope left the private sector for public service at the SEC in 2010, just before the passage of Dodd-Frank.  As a senior lawyer in the Office of General Counsel, and later as Counsel to Commissioner Troy Paredes, Hope provided counsel on the Commission's rulemaking and enforcement efforts and served as Commissioner Paredes' liaison to Commission senior SEC staff as well as external constituencies, including members of Congress.  Following her SEC service, Hope joined the Senate Banking Committee as Senior Counsel for Securities for then-Ranking Member Mike Crapo.  Hope joined ICE in April 2016. 

Bill Karsh
Owner
Bilkar Consulting

Bill Karsh is a special Advisor to Velocity Ledger a Blockchain-enabled Security Token issuance & secondary trading technology Platform. Prior to starting Bilkar Consulting in 2019, Bill served as Vice President Enterprise Sales at OTC Markets from 2016-2019. Prior to that he served as a special advisor to the NSX, with sales responsibility, market structure and development of strategy in cooperation with senior management. Mr. Karsh served as Chief Operating Officer of Direct Edge Exchange LLC. He originally joined Direct Edge in March 2006, serving as Chief Executive Officer while the company operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Knight Capital Group. Mr. Karsh has over 35 years of financial services experience, serving in senior management positions at a number of firms, including the Bass Division of BTIG, Trading Services Group, LLC, UNX Inc., Knight Trading Group, Inc., SunAmerica and National Discount Brokers. Bill is a Director on the Board of the Security Traders Association. 

Vlad Khandros
Global Head of Market Structure & Liquidity Strategy and Global Co-Head of Principal Investments & Strategic Ventures
UBS

Vlad is the Global Head of Market Structure & Liquidity Strategy and Global Co-Head of Principal Investments & Strategic Ventures, Global Markets for UBS Investment Bank. He is on the management committees for Digital Transformation and Electronic Trading. Vlad’s responsibilities include overseeing the UBS ATS, UBS MTF, Americas quant execution, and co-managing the firm’s FinTech investment portfolio, driving automation, scale, and transparency with a constant client focus.

Prior to joining UBS in 2011, Vlad was Global Co-Head of Corporate Strategy at Liquidnet, where he was responsible for business development including M&A and strategic partnerships, global market structure, and government relations.

Vlad is an active advisor to global trading, technology, and non-profit boards and committees. He has helped create, oversee, and sell products and companies across regions. Over the past 15 years, Vlad has been recognized for his civic service and contributions to finance, leadership, and technology.

Mehmet Kinak
Vice President 
T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.

Mehmet Kinak is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. He is the Global Head of Systematic Trading and Market Structure. Mehmet's primary focus is electronic and program trading, market structure analysis, and transaction cost analysis.

He is Co-Chair of the New York Stock Exchange’s Institutional Traders Advisory Committee, serves on the Institutional Traders Advisory Committees of CBOE Global Markets, IEX Group, and Nasdaq and Chairs the Investment Company Institute’s (ICI) Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee. Mehmet previously served as a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee. He is a board member of the National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP) and Luminex Trading & Analytics LLC and a member of Virginia Tech’s Finance Advisory Board.

Mehmet joined the firm in 2000 and worked as a portfolio accounting associate, investment liaison, portfolio implementation manager, and electronic trader before assuming his current role in 2014. Mehmet earned a B.S. in finance from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Patricia E. Koetzner
Managing Director
Siebert, Williams, Shank & Co LLC

Patricia E. Koetzner is Managing Director, Equity Sales and Trading, for Siebert, Williams, Shank & Co. LLC, a leading minority owned broker dealer. Patricia’s two primary functions include; driving new revenue growth by expanding revenue generating relationships and facilitating equity trading for the firm. Her equity trading functions include: traditional long/short sales trading coverage, implementation of algorithmic strategies, share repurchases, trading and program trading. Ms. Koetzner has served in various capacities in the securities industry for now over 22 years, most recently including her role as Managing Director/Head of Equity Sales & Trading at CastleOak Securities, L.P. Prior to that, Ms. Koetzner served as vice president of Barclays Capital for seven years where she covered cash accounts and repurchased shares for corporations, before becoming a member of its electronic trading group. For the first decade of her career, she was a NASDAQ market maker for firms including Neuberger Berman, LLC, Gruntal & Co. and Dominick & Dominick, Inc. Patricia earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maine and holds FINRA series three, seven, 24, 55 and 63.

Tim Lang
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Global Liquidity Partners

Tim Lang, the CEO and Founder of Global Liquidity Partners, is an equity trading professional with 40+ years of Wall Street experience. Tim has managed trading desks and served on senior management committees at Merrill Lynch, Spear Leeds & Kellogg and National Discount Brokers. Although his main focus was on the equity marketplace, his duties also included the trading of a variety of other asset classes.  His interest in technology, insight into the potential of electronic trading and entrepreneurial spirit motivated his founding of Phoenix Third Market.  Phoenix was the first automated platform to make markets in listed securities servicing the startup Internet Brokers.  He became an early advocate of NMS committees and served on many through those early years.  This experience led him to a senior position at Swiss American Securities, a subsidiary of Credit Suisse. At SASI Tim created and managed an electronic market making platform that traded over 3000 listed securities.  He continued his education of the evolving NMS regulatory landscape and was a strategic advisor within the firm.

Tim founded GLP in 2010 with the vision that there was a significant technology void in the equity marketplace due to all of the fragmentation and his goal was to create a best in class, performance driven execution services platform. Since January of 2011 GLP has been successfully servicing the broker dealer community in providing a full suite of solution driven algorithmic strategies. Tim and GLP have expanded the offering over the past two years and now provide customized solutions and algorithms to the buyside as well.

Christopher Larkin
Managing Director of Trading and Investing Product
E*Trade

Chris is responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the self-directed channel for retail trading and investing at E*TRADE. Leveraging more than 25 years of experience delivering retail and institutional brokerage services, Mr. Larkin oversees the E*TRADE trading and investing team to deliver innovative and relevant products, tools, education and services to ETRADE’s retail client base.

Mr. Larkin has been instrumental in enhancing the customer experience, expanding capabilities on the Power E*TRADE platform and building the company's options offering from the ground up, resulting in increasing options as a percentage of daily average revenue trades to over 35 percent in 2019.   Mr. Larkin also contributed to the introduction of innovative new product and service offerings including E*TRADE Mobile, E*TRADE Pro, ETRADE’s Global Trading Platform, and the E*TRADE Complete™ Investment Account.  Prior to his tenure at E*TRADE, Mr. Larkin served as Managing Director of Corporate Services and Fixed Income Sales at TD Ameritrade. There he led the TD Bank relationship and referral program and delivered designated brokerage and stock plan services to more than 1,500 corporate clients. Mr. Larkin also served as the Vice President at Datek Online, where he helped grow their online brokerage business and held institutional sales and trading positions with ING Barings and Bloomberg LP.

Mr. Larkin holds series 3, 7, 8, 24, and 63 licenses, and is a member of the SIFMA Options Committee and Options Industry Council Roundtable. He also serves as the Reserve Board Member of the Members Exchange. He earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Villanova University.

Patrick A. Luongo
Director
Credit Suisse

Mr. Luongo is a Director at Credit Suisse and is Head of Options Sales in the US for Advanced Execution Services (AES). In this role he focuses on delivering the Firm’s options algorithmic trading strategies to clients. He has over 20 years of experience in the listed equity options sales and trading markets.

Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Luongo was Head of Electronic Options Sales at Bloomberg Tradebook and was responsible for implementation, sales and development for electronic options execution. Prior to Bloomberg, Mr. Luongo was an options specialist and market maker on the American Stock Exchange with TFM Investment Group which was acquired by Goldman Sachs (SLK-Hull Derivatives).

Mr. Luongo is a graduate from the University of Scranton, Scranton, PA with a degree in Business Management.

Chuck Mack
Head of US Equities
Nasdaq

Chuck Mack is Head of U.S. Equities for Nasdaq. In his role, he is responsible for the management, operation and strategic direction for Nasdaq’s three U.S. Equities exchanges – Nasdaq, BX and PSX. He also oversees the Nasdaq Exchange Traded Products (ETP) business, and the over-the-counter Trade Reporting Facility. Mr. Mack has over 20 years of experience within the financial markets, and has experience in product management and operations in equities, options, and futures. Chuck started his tenure at Nasdaq in 2004 via Nasdaq’s acquisition of the BRUT ECN in a market operations role. Throughout his time at Nasdaq, he has held roles involving market structure and strategy which led to various leadership and management positions in both US equities and options.  Chuck began his career in the securities industry in trading and technology at TD Waterhouse Inc.

Chuck holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Business Administration, both from Rutgers University.

Phil Mackintosh
Chief Economist
Nasdaq

Phil Mackintosh, Nasdaq Chief Economist, has 28 years of experience in the Finance industry, including roles on the sell-side, buy-side and at accounting firms, which included managing trading, research and risk teams. He is an expert in index construction and ETF trading and has published extensive research on trading, ETFs and market structure. Prior to joining Nasdaq he was the Head of Trading Strategy & Analysis at KCG/Virtu Financial. He has also served as the Global Head of Trading Strategy at Credit Suisse, and the Head of Index Portfolios at County Investment Management. He started his career at KPMG and is also a Chartered Accountant.

Phil holds a Master’s in Quantitative Finance from the University of Technology in Sydney and a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of New South Wales.

Mahlet Makonnen
Government Affairs Specialist
Williams & Jensen

Mahlet Makonnen is a Government Affairs Specialist at Williams & Jensen. Ms. Makonnen is an attorney with public and private sector experience in financial services, privacy, and cybersecurity issues.

Previously, she worked as Regulatory Affairs Counsel for the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) advocating on various regulatory developments from federal agencies, including the National Credit Union Administration, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Communications Commission. Ms. Makonnen advised financial institutions on a variety of regulatory and compliance issues as a NAFCU Certified Compliance Officer. In addition to her regulatory role, she drafted data privacy principles for federal legislation on behalf of credit unions. In the public sector, Ms. Makonnen served as an Attorney Advisor with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

She has published extensively on privacy, technology, and international law issues.

Education

• College of William & Mary, J.D.
• Syracuse University, B.A.

Bar Admissions

• Virginia

Howard Marks
Co-founder and CEO
StartEngine

Howard Marks is the co-founder and CEO at StartEngine Crowdfunding/Capital, the leader in equity crowdfunding with over $250M raised for companies from a community of over 150,000 investors.  Marks founded StartEngine with the mission to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. Marks was the founder and CEO of Acclaim Games, a publisher of online games now part of The Walt Disney Company.  Before Acclaim, Marks was the co-founder of Activision Blizzard and Chairman of Activision Studios from 1991 until 1997.  As co-founder, former Board Member, and Executive Vice-President of video game giant Activision, he and a partner took control in 1991 and turned the ailing company into the $60B market cap video game industry leader.  As a games industry expert, Marks built one of the largest and most successful games studios in the industry selling millions of games. 

Marks is the 2015 "Treasure of Los Angeles" recipient awarded for his work to transform Los Angeles into a leading technology city.  Marks is also named one of the 500 most influential people in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal.  Marks is formerly a member of Mayor Eric Garcetti's technology council.  Marks has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan.  He is bilingual and is a triple national of the U.S., United Kingdom, and France. 

Joseph Mecane
Head of Execution Services
Citadel Securities

Joseph Mecane is Head of Execution Services at Citadel Securities. In this role, he is responsible for the firm’s client-facing equity, options, FX, and ETF businesses.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Mecane was Global Head of Electronic Equities at Barclays. Previously, he worked for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for six years, most recently serving as the Head of U.S. Equities. His earlier career included roles at UBS Securities, Schwab Capital Markets, Knight Capital Group and Price Waterhouse.

Mr. Mecane is involved with numerous industry organizations, currently serving as Chairman of the Nasdaq Quality of Markets Committee and serving on the FINRA Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees for the Museum of American Finance. He is also a member of the National Organization of Investment Professionals and the SIFMA Advisory Council. He was previously a member of the SEC’s Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee and a member of the Nasdaq Exchange Board and BATS Exchange Board.

Mr. Mecane received an MBA, with honors, from the Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from Pace University.

Chris Montagnino, Esq.
Managing Director of Compliance Services
Jordan & Jordan

Chris Montagnino is the Managing Director of Compliance Services with Jordan & Jordan.  Chris oversees the Compliance consulting engagements at J&J as well as the Firm’s trade surveillance and regulatory reporting (606/CAT) service, ECS.  Prior to joining Jordan & Jordan, Chris was the Global Head of Exchange Traded Products Surveillance for Deutsche Bank.  Chris was also formerly the Deputy Chief Compliance Officer for First Republic Investment Management, Inc., a private wealth management firm.   Chris has held senior compliance roles focusing on regulatory and surveillance with Jefferies, Credit Suisse and Citi. 

Chris has also worked for NYSE Regulation as a Director in Market Surveillance performing assessments of the NYSE’s specialist and market trading surveillance programs.  Chris began his career in the securities industry with NYSE Enforcement initially as an investigator and later as an attorney in litigation.  Chris holds a BA in Economics from New York University and earned his JD from Brooklyn Law School.  Chris is a licensed attorney in both New York and New Jersey.

Yoshi Nakamura
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
NAKA Capital

Yoshi Nakamura is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of NAKA Capital focused on investing, owning, and operating high quality companies in consumer and technology.  

Prior to founding NAKA Capital, Yoshi was the Head of Global Business Development & Sales at Galaxy Digital Trading. In addition to his responsibilities as Head of OTC sales, Yoshi is an active speaker conferences for Galaxy Digital Trading, anchors Galaxy Digital “Heard Around the BLOCK” video interviews, and facilitates distribution for public and private placement offerings to Galaxy Digital Trading counterparties as a part of Galaxy Digital Advisory.  Yoshi spent 14 years at Citi in the Equities division covering the largest global hedge fund clients. During that time he was the Co-Head of Citi’s Equity Hedge Fund Strategy, involved in anchoring Citi Velocity’s “Citi Minute” video content, helped create Citi PARTNER (Principal At Risk Net Exposure Reporting tool), and contributed to a number of other big data content projects for the markets businesses.

Yoshi serves as a Trustee on the Board of Directors at Beat the Streets, a charity that supports the development of the youth through the sport of wrestling. He is a 2x Division I All-American in wrestling, represented the United States in 2001 as a member of the national freestyle wrestling team, holds a first degree black belt in Judo, and is a multiple time national Judo champion. Yoshi received a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School, with a concentration in Management.

Tim Nersten
Global Head of Strategy
OptimX

Tim Nersten leads the global strategy effort at OptimX, establishing product direction, and strategic relationships.  Previously, Tim was at Liquidnet for over sixteen years, most recently co-leading the Algo Services Group and heading Liquidity Partnerships. Tim was responsible for the development and growth of Liquidnet’s quantitative solutions and buy side algorithmic relationships.  He also assisted in the launch of H2O and founded the high touch trading desk. Earlier in his career, Tim worked at BRUT ECN and Dreyfus. 

Tim has an MBA in Strategic Business Management and a B.A. in Marketing from Hofstra University in New York. He is also pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration from Temple University. Tim holds the Series 6, 7, 24, 55 and 63 registrations, along with the Canadian New Entrants and Trader Trainee certifications. 

Amy E. Reichard
Vice President, Account Management
Broadridge

Amy Reichard is a VP in Account Management at Broadridge focused on buy-side clients. Previously, Amy held roles in Sales & Trading and Account Management at Macquarie, Bloomberg, BAML, CIBC and Goldman Sachs. Amy has served on the SFSTA Board and currently sits on the Board of STANY. She has led multiple Women's Leadership programs within the industry in both New York and San Francisco. Amy holds her MBA from NYU Stern and her Series 7, 55, and 63.

Debbie Sabo
Founding Partner and Head of Trading
Jackson Square Partners

Debbie is a founding partner and the Head of Trading at Jackson Square Partners in San Francisco.  Prior to this, she was Head of Trading at Delaware Investments, McMorgan & Company and Husic Capital.  She also spent time on the sell side at Robertston Stephens, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Smith New Court.  She holds a BA in Business and Japanese from the University of Pittsburgh and has a CMT certification.

Stefan Spath
Managing Director
MCAP Markets

Stefan Spath has two decades of experience in the financial markets, serving in various capacities from equity research and portfolio management to securities trading and investment banking. Spath is a
Managing Director at MCAP LLC., a financial technology developer, electronic market maker, and global securities markets operator. Spath began his career as an investment analyst in the corporate finance
department at RMC Group PLC. Based in Paris, Spath managed the currency hedging aspect of RMC’s European projects in the years prior to the implementation of the European Union common currency.

Spath earned a master’s degree in international business and finance from Thunderbird School of Global Management and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rollins College. Spath is a FINRA-registered
principal having passed the series 7, 63, 55, 65, and 24.

Rich Steiner
Head of Client Advocacy and Market Innovation
RBC Capital Markets

Rich Steiner leads RBC Capital Markets’ efforts to foster an open and honest dialogue on equity market developments with government officials and actively engages clients to develop a truly unique offering. He leads RBC’s equity market structure advocacy efforts, focusing on more efficient, more transparent, less-conflicted markets and works closely with RBC’s Regulatory and Government Affairs team in Washington, DC. Additionally, Rich helps to capitalize on RBC’s innovation capabilities by connecting clients with fintech offerings through a partnership with RBC’s West Coast Innovation Team. He also drives various strategic innovation initiatives across RBC Global Markets, Investment Banking, Wealth Management, and City National Bank.

Rich joined RBC in 2009 and was one of the key founding members of RBC's THOR electronic trading platform, as well as Head of Market Structure Strategy. He currently serves on a number of industry groups, including the SIFMA Equity Markets & Trading Committee and is a board member of National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP). Prior to joining RBC, Rich held electronic and program trading positions at BNP Paribas, ITG and Goldman Sachs.

Jim Swartwout
President and COO
Robinhood Securities LLC

Jim Swartwout is President and COO of Robinhood Securities LLC, where he is responsible for all back office and trading operations for Robinhood, a fast-growing brokerage giving millions of people access to our financial system. Jim is an experienced veteran of the brokerage industry with over 30 years of experience across the industry having had roles at Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, E*TRADE, Scottrade, and others. Prior to his current role he ran global trading operations and clearing at E*TRADE and was head of operations at Scottrade. Jim was also part of the team that created tradeMONSTER, the first firm to stream quotes in a browser in 2008 before being acquired by General Atlantic Partners. In his various roles he has overseen website and application development, customer service, trading and clearing operations as well as execution quality.

Lisa Utasi
Director and Senior Equity Trader
ClearBridge Investments

Lisa Utasi is a Director and Senior Equity Trader at ClearBridge Investments, a leading global equity manager committed to delivering long-term results through active management with strategies focused on three primary client objectives in our areas of proven expertise: high active share, income solutions and low volatility

Personally, Lisa was elected to become the President of the Security Traders Association of NY (STANY) in 2004 and again in 2009. In 2004, Lisa was the first STANY President to open the NYSE on behalf of the organization and as an honor to its members. She is also a Past Chairman of the Security Traders Association and was the Chair or Co-Chair of the Trading Issues, Affiliate Liaison, Education, and Institutional Committees.

Lisa is a Past Chair and current Member of the of the NASDAQ ITAC Committee and served on the NASDAQ Quality of Markets Committee. She participates as a member of the NYSE Institutional Traders Advisory Committee. Lisa was inducted into the National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP) in 2004 and served as its Chairman of the Board from 2019-2020. Lisa is a member of Inst. Investor’s Trader’s Forum and the Investment Company Institute’s Equity Markets Committee.

Lisa holds a B.A. in Political Science and a B.B.A. in Finance from Southern Methodist University.

Lisa is extremely active in the NYC charity community. She has served as an MDA National Vice President and is a two-time Chair of MDA’s Wings Over Wall Street an ALS Fund Raising Committee. She is committed to causes including the Inner-City Scholarship Fund which changes lives for the better by providing families with demonstrable financial needs the opportunity to give their children a quality, values-based K-12 Catholic education within the Archdiocese of New York. Inner-City exists to ensure that the gift of an excellent Catholic school education continues to be a viable option for students of all faiths today and for future generations to come.

Joe Wald
Managing Director, Co-head of Electronic Trading
BMO

Joe Wald is responsible for BMO’s Electronic Trading vision and strategic direction. He identifies and executes on growth opportunities and shares responsibility for the overall growth and success of the electronic division. He has a proven track record, years of industry experience, thought leadership, and public speaking. Prior to the sale of Clearpool Group to BMO Capital Markets, Mr. Wald was the CEO and Co-Founder. He was executive vice president at GAIN Capital where he ran GTX, the institutional electronic FX trading business. Before Gain, he was managing director and head of Knight Direct, Knight Capital Group’s institutional electronic trade execution business. Before Knight Capital, he was CEO and co-founder of EdgeTrade Inc., the pioneer developer of agency-only, liquidity seeking algorithms and direct market access technologies for the U.S. equities market. EdgeTrade was sold to Knight Capital Group in 2008.  Mr. Wald holds a B.S. in Business, Management and Finance from Brooklyn College.

David Weisberger
CoFounder and CEO
CoinRoutes

David Weisberger, CoFounder and CEO of CoinRoutes, has over 30 years of experience in market structure, quantitative finance, and trading automation. CoinRoutes provides algorithmic trading tools & consolidated market data from exchanges and market makers to traders of digital assets. He built the first trading program and electronic systems for Morgan Stanley, was global architect of Salomon Brothers’ equity trading platform. Dave then developed Two Sigma’s wholesale market making business and most recently was the global head of equity market structure for IHS Markit.

Mark Wetjen
Executive Vice President,Futures and Innovative Product, &Executive Regulatory Liaison Officer, CEO
MIAX Futures

Dan Zinn
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
OTC Markets Group

Dan Zinn is OTC Markets Group General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. He leads the company's regulatory and policy making efforts and is often a speaker on over-the-counter equity markets. Prior to joining OTC Markets Group in 2010, he served as outside counsel to OTC Markets, as a partner at The Nelson Law Firm LLC. Previously, Dan worked in the corporate office of AIG. He earned his JD at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and received his BS from Pennsylvania State University.