Obituaries
FIA is saddened by the news that Richard Schaeffer, the former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, passed away on Aug. 8 at the age of 68. Schaeffer had a central role in the exchange's transformation from a member-owned organization to a public corporation and its subsequent merger with CME Group. He was a member of Nymex starting in 1981 and joined the board of directors in 1990. He served as treasurer of the exchange from 1993 to 2004, vice chairman from 2004 to 2006, and chairman from 2006 to 2008. Until his election as chairman, he worked for ABN AMRO Clearing as director of global energy futures.
"Richie Schaeffer was passionate about everything he did," said Terry Duffy, CME group chairman and chief executive officer. "As a longstanding member, director and chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, he helped expand the exchange into the global leader in energy risk management. He was also instrumental in facilitating the acquisition that allowed that business to become part of CME Group. Richie will be missed, and we extend our condolences to his family."
Philippe Buhannic, one of the pioneers of electronic trading in the futures industry, has passed away following a battle with ALS. In a career that spanned more than 30 years, Buhannic worked at Credit Suisse First Boston as head of listed derivatives, electronic trading and fixed income prime brokerage, before his departure in 2000 to establish trading systems provider TradingScreen. He served as chairman and chief executive of TradingScreen for more than 16 years, building the company into a global trading platform.
Buhannic later founded technology vendor NEXSMART, which aimed to solve liquidity and capital shortage challenges for institutions and buy-side firms. Earlier in his career, he served as chairman and CEO of Fimat Futures, a subsidiary of Société Générale, and deputy chief financial officer at Credit Commercial de France
"Philippe was one of the pioneers of electronic trading in the futures industry while serving in leadership positions at Fimat, Credit Suisse, and the firm he co-founded, TradingScreen. He also served on the board of FIA from 1999 to 2013, promoting modernization and innovative developments within the futures industry during his tenure," said Walt Lukken, FIA's president and chief executive officer, and Jerome Kemp, global head of futures, clearing and collateral at Citigroup Global Markets and chairman of FIA's board of directors.
"Philippe was a hugely influential person in our industry and one of the visionaries who helped drive the technology innovations that transformed the global listed derivatives markets during the 1990s and 2000s.We honor him for his contributions to the industry and express our condolences to his family and friends."
People News
European Energy Exchange has hired industry veteran Bob Takai to its Japan power team. Based in Tokyo and reporting directly to EEX’s chief operating officer Steffen Koehler. Takai will oversee EEX’s activities in Japan's energy market following the exchange's launch of Japan power derivatives products in May this year. In a career spanning four decades at Sumitomo Corp., Takai worked in commodities and energy, trading physical products as well as derivatives. He was also president and CEO of global research at Sumitomo until early 2018, when he moved to Washington D.C. to head the Japanese trading house’s operation there.
R.J. O’Brien & Associates has hired industry veteran Mark Donlon to head its newly established sales and trading desk for interest rate swaps. The desk will initially support on-SEF and off-SEF activities, block trades and basis trades, as well as cleared swaps at CME Group and LCH. Based in New York, Donlan reports to RJO chief sales officer Dan Staniford. In a 30-year career in OTC and listed derivatives, Donlon previously built and ran global interest rate swaps businesses at Citigroup Global Markets and RBS Securities and helped to establish and lead the rates swap execution facility at GFI Group.
Joanne Medero retired from Blackrock in July after a long career dealing with legal and public policy issues related to derivatives. She began her career in the industry as general counsel at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1989 to 1993, serving under CFTC Chairman Wendy Gramm. She then worked as a partner at the law firm Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, specializing in derivatives and market regulation issues. In 1996 she joined Barclays Global Investors and remained with the firm when it merged with Blackrock in 2009. At BGI she served as general counsel and then global head of government relations and public policy. At Blackrock she was a managing director with responsibilities for government relations and a member of its government relations steering committee.
Sucden Financial has appointed Alan Burr for LME metals and options trading at its Hong Kong subsidiary. Burr will primarily focus on LME metal products, including options and average price contracts, with a view to adding precious metals and iron ore. Prior to joining Sucden Financial, he was director and head of metals trading at Société Générale in Hong Kong and Singapore. Before that he was director and head of metals at Newedge Financial Hong Kong. He began his career at Natixis Commodity Markets in 1995 and became a floor dealer in 1999 before moving to Natixis Asia as director and head of metals for Asia in Hong Kong.
Marex Spectron has appointed Thomas Texier as head of clearing services based in London. He was previously managing director for R.J. O’Brien’s London business and head of enterprise IT for the firm globally. Before R.J. O’Brien, Texier was chief operating officer of the Kyte Group and deputy general manager of Société Générale Japan.
In other news, Marex Spectron has hired a Chicago-based agricultural brokerage team, the Matthews Group, to bolster its capabilities in North America. The Matthews Group brings to Marex North America a team of 12 industry specialists in grains and oilseeds, soft commodities and energies, led by Craig Matthews. The group is now part of Marex North America and reports to Jason Manumaleuna, CEO of the Rosenthal Collins Group division. Matthews has more than 30 years of experience in agricultural commodities. He began his career in 1988 with Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he established the group, followed by 16 years at Citigroup Global Markets, where he established the commercial hedging division of the Salomon Smith Barney investment bank arm. Most recently the team spent 12 years at ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago.
Bertrand Pelletier has joined Barclays as a director and senior trader on the bank's Delta One desk, based in New York. He is responsible for pricing and hedging Delta One products including equity index futures, exchange-traded funds, and equity swaps. He previously worked at Société Générale in several roles, including equity index trader and head of US ETF trading.
Eventus Systems has appointed Joseph Schifano as global head of regulatory affairs, Mikhail Gasiorowski as sales director, North America, and Diane Imas as director of marketing. Schifano is an attorney with more than 20 years of experience in market surveillance matters, most recently serving as deputy general counsel and global chief compliance officer at Tower Research Capital in New York. Gasiorowski was previously director of sales, North America for b-next Americas, a provider of trading surveillance and compliance software. Imas was previously associate director of brand, advertising and content for Prometheum, a blockchain securities platform. Schifano, Gasiorowski and Imas are all based in New York and report respectively to Jeff Bell, president of Eventus, Scott Schroeder, global head of sales, and Eric Einfalt, chief strategy officer.
Joe Adamczyk has acquired Exchange Analytics, a provider of regulatory compliance training and support services, and has joined the company as its new president. He assumes company leadership from Larry Israel, who co-founded the firm in 1993. Adamczyk previously served as the chief compliance officer for Options Clearing Corp, a position that has since been taken over by Jennifer Baum. Before joining OCC, Adamczyk worked at CME Group as managing director and associate general counsel overseeing non-US legal staff. He also served as the global head of investigations and enforcement in CME’s market regulation department. He began his career litigating antitrust and securities cases for law firms Freeman, Freeman & Salzman and Jenner & Block.
[People News was updated on Aug. 14]
