Olof Stenhammar is one of the most entrepreneurial executives to ever run a derivatives exchange. He founded OM in 1984 to introduce stock options in Sweden and led the exchange as it became a pioneer in electronic trading and one of the fist European exchanges to go public.Long before the term demutualization came into vogue, he recognized the value of running an exchange as a commercial enterprise and established OM as a privately-owned for-profit company. He also pointed the exchange in the direction of becoming a supplier of trading technology to other exchanges, and today OMX is one of the leading companies in this field.Stenhammar always recognized his debt to the U.S. derivatives markets. When he began developing his concept for trading options in Sweden, he ordered copies of every options-related rule and regulation published by the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Commission. “It was a very good school,” he said in a 2001 speech. “If there is anything U.S. regulators are good at it is writing extensive regulations.”
