Walt Lukken is President and Chief Executive Officer of FIA, the leading global trade organization for the futures, options and centrally cleared derivatives markets worldwide. He has led the organization since 2012, and previously served as acting chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and has extensive experience in global capital markets and derivatives law.
At FIA, Mr. Lukken has been called to testify numerous times before the US Congress on important issues including innovation in digital assets, the implications of Brexit, and the importance of customer funds protections in the wake of the MF Global failure.
He also represents FIA's member firms in important private and public sector forums such as the CSRC International Advisory Council, the U.N. Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets and the industry educational consortium, Futures Fundamentals.
Mr. Lukken's career in financial markets policy began under U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, the longest serving senator from his home state of Indiana and a long-serving chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, which holds oversight over the CFTC. Serving as professional staff member on the Committee, Mr. Lukken specialized in derivatives markets and was prominently involved with the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.
In 2002, Mr. Lukken was confirmed as a CFTC commissioner and went on to serve at the agency until 2009. This included serving as acting chairman for 18 tumultuous months that spanned June 2007 to January 2009 during the global financial crisis. In his role as acting chair, Mr. Lukken testified numerous times before Congress, served on the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, and represented the CFTC before international organizations and forums during the crisis. From 2003 to 2008, Mr. Lukken also served as chairman of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee, an industry-comprised body that advises the Commission on issues affecting cross-border regulation and markets.
Mr. Lukken also worked in the Office of the General Counsel for NYSE Euronext, served on the LIFFE Board of Directors, and served as chief executive officer of New York Portfolio Clearing — the capital-efficient derivatives clearinghouse jointly owned by NYSE Euronext and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. (DTCC).
He holds a B.S. degree with honors from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and his Juris Doctor degree from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.
