Leo Melamed is one of the most prominent leaders of the futures industry and has played a hand in almost all the major industry-wide developments of the past four decades. During his first term as chairman of Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the exchange launched foreign currency futures and created the International Monetary Market, the first futures market for financial instruments. Under his leadership, CME was transformed from a domestic agricultural exchange to one of the world’s foremost financial marketplaces. In 1984, he spearheaded the effort to establish a linkage with the Singapore International Monetary Exchange and in 1987 led the development of Globex. He also was instrumental in creating the National Futures Association and served as its chairman from its inception until 1989.
