Spring Snapshot 2021 Speaker Bios
David Abner
Global Head of Business Development
Gemini
David Abner is the Global Head of Business Development at Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian. In this role David oversees the expansion of Gemini’s institutional business and leads the relationships with major institutional partners and high-net-worth individuals on a global scale.
Prior to joining Gemini, David spent the last 20 years focusing on driving the growth of the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) industry. He was instrumental in bringing ETFs from a fringe arbitrage trading tool to an investment product utilized by institutional asset managers, reaching more than 7 trillion in AuM. His most recent book, The ETF Handbook (Wiley Finance) describes the inner workings of ETFs and how to achieve efficient portfolio implementation and execution.
Most recently, David was the CEO of the European Division of WisdomTree Asset Management and a member of their global executive committee. He joined the firm as a startup and helped it grow to more than $60 billion in assets under management. Prior to that he held Managing Director roles at BNP Paribas and Bear Stearns & Co, Inc.
Catherine Clay
SVP, Global Head of Information Solutions
Cboe Global Markets
Catherine Clay is SVP, Global Head of Information Solutions at Cboe Global Markets and leads four distinct business lines: Cboe Global Indices, derived data and market analytics, financial risk analytics, and execution services. She came to Cboe through the 2015 acquisition of the San Francisco fintech company, LiveVol, where she was CEO. At LiveVol, Catherine led both the technology division and the registered broker-dealer.
Prior to LiveVol, Catherine was a market maker in equity options and single stock futures from the floor of the NYSE Arca exchange from 1994-2010. As a market maker, she began her career at Interactive Broker’s market making group before co-founding her own proprietary trading company.
Daniel Duffy
Managing Director, Head of Equity Sales & Trading, Americas
State Street Global Markets
Dan Duffy is Managing Director, Head of Equity Sales & Trading for the Americas. Prior to joining State Street he was head of execution services at Clearpool Group. Mr. Duffy currently operates out of the firms Boston headquarters
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).
Stephen Kay
Global Head of Sellside Sales
Virtu Financial
Mr. Kay leads Virtu’s global broker dealer client relationship management and sales efforts and oversees sales for the firm’s electronic services. Virtu uses advanced technology and transparency to deliver liquidity to the global capital markets and help clients pursue best execution in a scalable, efficient and data-driven manner.
Partnering with broker dealers of all sizes across the globe, Mr. Kay and team seek to customize Virtu’s award-winning products and services to fit their client’s wide-ranging needs. Stephen offers an extensive background in multi-asset class execution, global market structure, execution management systems, algorithmic trading technology, smart-routing, trade analytics and the other global trading solutions Virtu offers.
Mr. Kay joined Knight Capital (also known as KCG Holdings, Inc.) in 2005 before it was acquired by Virtu Financial in 2017. He has over 20 years of experience in the wholesale equity market making segment and prior experience includes roles at equity market-making and NYSE specialist firms, as well as five years as an active trader.
Mr. Kay holds an MBA from New York University and a BSc from Washington University, St. Louis. He served as President of the Security Traders Association of New York in 2007 and 2011.
He is also an avid Phillies baseball team fan.
Jamil Nazarali
Global Head of Business Development
Citadel Securities
Jamil Nazarali is Global Head of Business Development for Citadel Securities. In this role, he is responsible for identifying opportunities for global growth and expansion across markets and into new, diverse product lines.
Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Nazarali served as a Senior Advisor to Citadel Securities CEO Peng Zhao. Before that, he was Head of Execution Services, overseeing the firm’s client market-making offerings in equities and options. He joined Citadel Securities in 2011.
Mr. Nazarali previously was Global Head of Electronic Trading at Knight Capital Group, and earlier was a management consultant at both Ernst & Young and Bain & Company.
Mr. Nazarali is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Members Exchange (MEMX), a planned U.S. Equities Exchange of which Citadel Securities is a founding member. He also sits on the Board of Directors of Symphony, a messaging and collaboration platform, and on the Board of Advisors of The Small Exchange, a pending futures exchange targeted at retail investors. Mr. Nazarali also serves as an Advisor to DARPA’s Financial Markets Vulnerabilities Project.
Mr. Nazarali received an MBA with high honors from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from University of Western Ontario.
Hester M. Peirce
Commissioner
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Hester M. Peirce was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was sworn in on January 11, 2018.
Prior to joining the SEC, Commissioner Peirce conducted research on the regulation of financial markets at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She was a Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where she advised Ranking Member Richard Shelby and other members of the Committee on securities issues. Commissioner Peirce served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins. She also worked as a Staff Attorney in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Commissioner Peirce was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) and clerked for Judge Roger Andewelt on the Court of Federal Claims.
Commissioner Peirce earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and her JD from Yale Law School.
Craig Salm
Vice President, Legal
Grayscale Investments
Craig Salm is the Vice President, Legal of Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager. At Grayscale he is responsible for the daily legal and regulatory affairs of the company. Prior to joining Grayscale, Craig was a Corporate Associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and a member of its Capital Markets & Securities Group. His practice focused primarily on representing issuers, private equity sponsors, investment banks, hedge funds, and other stakeholders in corporate finance transactions as well as advising on securities law and corporate governance matters. Craig received a BS from the University of Michigan and JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Craig serves as a member of the Blockchain Association as a co-chair of the Securities Law Working Group, the Crypto Ratings Council (CRC) and is a board member of the Ethereum Classic Cooperative.
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.
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.
