VIRTU FINANCE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Technology Officer
- Executive Vice President
Aaron Simons is Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Virtu Financial. He joined Virtu in 2008 after leaving postdoctoral research in theoretical physics, and has worked in many areas of both trading and technology within the firm. Aaron earned a BS in Mathematics from Caltech in 2002 and a PhD in Physics from Harvard in 2007.
Job Titles:
- Co - Head and Chief Operating Officer for Virtu Execution Services
- Co - Head and Chief Operating Officer, APAC
Based in Hong Kong, Alasdair Thomson serves as Co-Head and Chief Operating Officer for Virtu Execution Services in the APAC region. Mr. Thomson joined ITG in 2001-prior to the firms' 2019 acquisition by Virtu Financial.
Previously, Mr. Thomson held various roles within the financial services industry including positions with Citicorp Scrimgeour Vickers and Baring Securities and was the founder and CEO of Australian Clearing Services, the first outsourced cash equities agency clearing offering in Australia.
Job Titles:
- Media
- SVP, Global Business Development and Corporate Strategy
Andrew Smith joined Virtu in 2009 and leads Global Business Development and Corporate Strategy, working to help grow and scale Virtu's global market-making businesses. His responsibilities include analyzing the market structures of the global FX and Americas equity and futures markets; advancing and distributing Virtu's customized liquidity offerings; expanding relationships with banks' trading desks, exchanges, dark pools, counterparties and brokers; evaluating new technologies; and navigating potential benefits and challenges of new regulation. He also previously headed investor relations since the Company's 2015 IPO. Mr. Smith is also a member of Virtu's management committee.
Previously, he was a senior associate at L.E.K. Consulting, working on business development, venture analysis, product launch strategy design/development, and process improvement.
Mr. Smith earned a B.S. in accounting from the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chief Operating Officer
- Co - President
Brett Fairclough is a Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer at Virtu Financial, where he has worked since 2007. He was the Managing Director of Asia Pacific operations from 2014 to 2019 and the Chief Compliance Officer of Virtu's broker dealers from 2012 to 2014. He has also worked closely with exchanges and other industry participants to foster the growth and development of securities markets globally.
Mr. Fairclough graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Compensation Committee
- Director
- Member of the Board of Directors of Virtu Financial, Inc
Christopher C. Quick became a member of the board of directors of Virtu Financial, Inc. in April 2016. Mr. Quick has more than 30 years of experience in the securities and financial services industries. He is the former CEO of Banc of America Specialist, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation and member firm of the NYSE. He is also a past Vice Chairman of Global Wealth and Investment Management with Bank of America. From 1982 to 2004, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Q&R Specialist, JJC Specialist and Fleet Specialists where he remained following the firm's acquisition by Bank of America Corporation. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Mutual of America. He is also a former member of the NYSE Board of Directors and the board of directors of KCG Holdings, Inc. ("KCG"). Mr. Quick received a B.S. in Finance from Fairfield University in 1979. Mr. Quick's deep industry experience and strategic insight add significant value to the board of directors.
Chair of the Compensation Committee
Mr. Urban has more than 20 years' experience in senior leadership positions in business and governmental roles, including his current position as Executive Vice President, North American Corporate Affairs at ByteDance. Previously, Mr. Urban served as President of the American Continental Group, a leading bi-partisan government affairs and strategic consulting firm which provides strategic consulting services to organizations across the financial services and technology sectors, among others. In addition Mr. Urban previously served in the United States Army's 101 Airborne Division. Mr. Urban currently serves as a Director for FSD Pharma (NASDAQ: HUGE) and various other private technology focused companies.
Mr. Urban holds a B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a J.D. from Temple University and an M.P.A. from University of Pennsylvania.
Douglas Cifu is the Chief Executive Officer of Virtu Financial and was a co-founder of Virtu in 2008. Previously, he was a partner at the international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. At Paul Weiss, Mr. Cifu served as a member of the Management Committee, Deputy Chair of the Corporate Department and co-head of the Private Equity Group.
He is recognized in Chambers USA and Legal 500 as a leading mergers and acquisitions lawyer for buyouts and private equity transactions. In 2006, Private Equity International listed him among the 30 most influential lawyers currently working in global private equity, citing his expertise in technology-driven sectors. He has been recognized by Crain's New York Business in its "Technology 100," a listing of the top 100 people working in technology in the New York area. In 2020, he was recognized as the #3 top FinTech CEO by The Financial Technology Report.
He serves on the board of directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the board of visitors of Columbia College at Columbia University.
Mr. Williams has been with Virtu Financial for 14 years and has more than 25 years' experience in the brokerage and investment industry. He is CEO of Virtu Canada and previously held the position of Head of US Execution Services, ITG Inc. Prior to joining Virtu, Mr. Williams was President at Perimeter Markets Inc., a company that operated institutional and retail alternative marketplaces that provided electronic equity and fixed income trading services in Canada. At TD Asset Management, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Mr. Williams held portfolio management, trading, and risk management positions.
He holds a BA in Economics from York University, Toronto, and a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Senior Executive Vice President of RXR Realty
Joanne Minieri is the Senior Executive Vice President of RXR Realty (RXR) and Chief Operating Officer of RXR Development Services and RXR Construction Services. RXR is a vertically integrated private real estate company with expertise across the entire real estate lifecycle that spans investment management, development, design, construction, leasing financing and property management.
Ms. Minieri brings more than 37 years' experience in senior leadership positions in the real estate and financial services sectors, including professional accounting, and tax and consulting services for both public and private companies. She has served as Deputy County Executive and Commissioner for Suffolk County Economic Development and Planning, President and Chief Operating Officer of Forest City Ratner Companies, as well as leadership roles in professional accounting, tax and consulting services.
She serves on numerous public and private boards including, Trinity Place Holdings, Inc., Hofstra University, Non-Traditional Employment of Women (NEW), Greater Girl Scouts of America and NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate and co-chairs an annual National Women in Real Estate Symposium.
Ms. Minieri is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Hofstra University and is a member of numerous professional organizations including the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts and the New York Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chief Operating Officer
- Co - President
- Co - President and Co - Chief Operating Officer of Virtu
- Virtu in 2013 As Chief Financial Officer
Joe Molluso is Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Virtu. Mr. Molluso joined Virtu in 2013 as Chief Financial Officer. After a brief departure in 2019 to serve as Chief Financial Officer of Capitolis, Mr. Molluso rejoined Virtu in 2020. During his tenure at Virtu, Mr. Molluso has been responsible for all aspects of Virtu's finances, operations and day-to-day management. He played a central role in Virtu's completed merger and integration of KCG Holdings and ITG as well as its Initial Public Offering in 2015.
Prior to joining Virtu, Mr. Molluso was a Managing Director for J.P. Morgan in the Investment Banking Department. Mr. Molluso joined J.P. Morgan in 2006. As an investment banker, Mr. Molluso provided strategic advice to financial institutions with a focus on market structure related companies. Mr. Molluso has advised on many of the landmark transactions among global exchanges and clearing firms. Prior to J.P. Morgan, he was an investment banker specializing in financial services companies at DLJ and its successor, Credit Suisse, where he helped establish the global financial technology group. Mr. Molluso received a MBA from New York University.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Board of Directors of Virtu Financial, Inc
John D. Nixon became a member of the board of directors of Virtu Financial, Inc. in May of 2015. Prior to joining the Virtu Board of Directors, John Nixon was the Group Executive Director of ICAP Plc, and has more than 35 years' of international experience in the interdealer broking industry. He served as a non-executive director of ICAP from 1998 to 2002 and was appointed an executive director in May 2008. John was a member of the ICAP Global Executive Committee from 2003 through to March 2015 with responsibility for a number of business divisions as well as corporate strategy, client and investor relations and strategic acquisitions. Mr. Nixon's is recognized as leader in the financial services industry with extensive experience in building businesses, corporate strategy and market structure which adds significant value to the board of directors.
Mr. Grano, Jr. became a member of our board of directors in October 2017. Mr. Grano has more than 30 years of experience in the securities and financial services industries. Mr. Grano currently serves as the Principal Partner of the JJG Family Office, which primarily engages in advisory services. From 2001 to 2004, he was Chairman and CEO of UBS Financial Services Inc. (formerly UBS PaineWebber), where he was instrumental in helping to bring about the merger of PaineWebber with UBS in 2000. Prior to joining PaineWebber, he held various senior management positions with Merrill Lynch & Co., including Director of National Sales. Mr. Grano also serves as senior advisor to SkyBridge Capital, a global alternative investment firm, and served previously as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) (predecessor to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)), and was formerly a member of the NASD's Executive Committee. In addition to his industry experience, Mr. Grano serves as a member of the City University of New York's Business Leadership Council and Chairman of the Corporate Advisory Board of Law Enforcement Against Drugs, and from 2002 until 2005 served as the Chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council. He has also previously served as the Vice Chairman of the Queens College Foundation Board of Trustees, and has previously sat on the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater New York and on the board of Lenox Hill Hospital, among his other civic and philanthropic endeavors. Mr. Grano holds Honorary Doctorate of Law degrees from Pepperdine University and Babson College as well as Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Queens College, City University of New York and Central Connecticut State University. In addition, he holds an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree from the University of New Haven.
Justin Waldie - Chief Legal Officer, Secretary, SVP
Job Titles:
- Corporate Secretary
- General Counsel
- Senior Vice President
Justin Waldie serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Virtu Financial. He joined the company in 2011, prior to which he was an associate at the international law firm Milbank LLP where he served in the finance practice group. Mr. Waldie received a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Head of Analytics and Workflow Solutions
Kevin O'Connor is the Head of Analytics and Workflow Solutions. Prior to joining ITG in 2005, Mr. O'Connor was a consultant focusing on financial services technology and, before that, worked in fixed income for Deutsche Bank and GE Asset Management.
Mr. O'Connor holds a B.A. in economics and computer science from Colgate University.
Job Titles:
- EVP, Strategy and Corporate Development
- Executive Vice President, Strategy
Marc Rosenthal is Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development. Prior to joining Virtu, Marc was a Managing Director in Morgan Stanley's Equity Division and a senior member of the electronic trading management team. During his more than 22 years at Morgan Stanley, Marc's responsibilities included global liquidity strategy across the firm's global venues and managing several of Morgan Stanley's successful strategic investments. Mr. Rosenthal attended Yeshiva University.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee
- Director
- Member of the Board of Directors of Virtu Financial, Inc
Michael T. Viola became a member of the board of directors of Virtu Financial, Inc. in April 2016. Mr. Viola previously served as a senior trader for the Company, focused on foreign exchange products and global commodities. Mr. Viola currently serves as the President of the Viola family's private investment office, located in New York City. In addition, Mr. Viola is a member of the board of directors of Independent Bank Group, Inc., which he joined in February 2013. Mr. Viola also served on the board of a family-founded nonprofit organization focused on Catholic education initiatives in inner-city communities from 2010 to 2011. Mr. Viola's experience as a trader across multiple asset classes along with his public company board experience add significant value to the board of directors.
Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee
Job Titles:
- Co - Head of APAC 's Virtu Execution Services
- Co - Head Virtu Execution Services, APAC
Based in Hong Kong, Phil Chevalier serves as Co-Head of APAC's Virtu Execution Services team and lends his expertise to help oversee the firm's agency trading and Workflow Technology in the region. Mr. Chevalier joined ITG in 2015-prior to the firms' 2019 acquisition by Virtu Financial.
Previously, Mr. Chevalier held roles in the financial technology field and specializing in execution management systems (EMSs), portfolio management and order management systems (OMSs) at firms such as Advent Software and Eze Software Group.
Mr. Chevalier holds a B.A. in both Political Science and Communications from Boston College.
Job Titles:
- CEO of Virtu Execution Services
- CEO Virtu Execution Services, EMEA
Rob Boardman is the CEO of Virtu Execution Services, EMEA. Mr. Boardman's career began in 1994 at Goldman Sachs, where he filled various roles in deploying trading technology to institutional clients before joining ITG in 2006. He was a founding member of the European FIX Protocol organization in the late 1990s, when standards for electronic trading were formed; he was global head of its marketing working group in 2001.
Mr. Boardman earned undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in particle physics at the University of Oxford, where he participated in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory scientific collaboration.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Co - Founder
- Member of the Economic Club of New York
Robert Greifeld, is a co-founder of North Island and Chairman of Virtu Financial, Inc.
He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") until May 10, 2017 and as Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq from 2003 to 2016. During his tenure, Mr. Greifeld led Nasdaq through a series of complex, innovative acquisitions that extended the company's footprint from a single U.S. equity exchange to a global exchange and technology solutions provider, nearly quadrupling revenue, growing annual operating profits by more than 24 times and achieving a market value of over $11 billion.
Mr. Greifeld is a member of the Economic Club of New York and the NYU Stern Board of Overseers. He is Founder and Chairman of the USA Track & Field Foundation, which supports emerging athletes and inner-city youth athletics. Mr. Greifeld holds a Masters in Business from New York University, Stern School of Business, and a B.A. in English from Iona College.
Sean Galvin is Chief Financial Officer. Sean has more than 30 years of experience in the accounting and financial services fields and previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of KCG Holdings, Inc., the Chief Accounting Officer of BGC Partners, Inc., and in various other senior finance roles with Virtu, KCG Holdings Inc. and Knight Capital Group, Inc. ("Knight"). Prior to joining Knight in 2000, Sean was a Vice President at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Sean also worked at PwC, beginning as an Audit Staff Accountant and transitioning to Senior Tax Manager. Mr. Galvin earned a Master of Science in Taxation from Fordham University as well as a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Information Systems with a minor in Economics from Queens College, CUNY. Mr. Galvin is a Certified Public Accountant.
Job Titles:
- EVP, Global Head of Execution Services
- Executive Vice President, Head of Execution Services
Steve Cavoli is Executive Vice President, Head of Execution Services, US and Latin America. He joined Virtu in 2015 from Morgan Stanley where he had worked since 2004; he previously worked at Instinet. Mr. Cavoli graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1992 and served nearly eight years as an infantry officer.
Vincent Viola is our Founder and has served as our Executive Chairman since November 2013. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Virtu Financial and its predecessors since April 2008. Mr. Viola is one of the nation's foremost leaders in electronic trading. He was the founder of Virtu East in 2008, a founder of Madison Tyler Holdings in 2002 and the former Chairman of the NYMEX. Mr. Viola started his career in the financial services industry on the floor of the NYMEX and became Vice Chairman from 1993 to 1996 and Chairman from 2001 to 2004. Mr. Viola graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1977. He later graduated from the U.S. Army Airborne, Infantry and Ranger Schools and served in the 101st Airborne Division. In 1983, he graduated from the New York Law School. Mr. Viola's extensive business experience in the financial services industry provides the board of directors with valuable knowledge and experience in the electronic trading and market making business. In addition, as our founder, Mr. Viola has successfully led Virtu since its inception and provides the board of directors with valuable insight regarding strategic decisions and the future direction of our Company.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Managing Partner of Azimuth Partners LLC
Virginia Gambale is a Managing Partner of Azimuth Partners LLC, where she operates globally, as an advisor and consultant, focused on growth and innovation strategies for technology and technology driven services companies in both middle market and large corporations and advisor to startup companies. She is highly regarded for her innovative thinking, leadership, and ability to deliver results. Ms. Gambale has served on over 20 Public and Private boards including: JetBlue, Motive, Piper Jaffray, Workbrain, Synchronoss Technologies and IQ Financial, among others.
As a former senior operating executive of Global Corporations, she held senior management positions (including CIO and Managing Director) at: Merrill Lynch, Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank and Marsh & McLennan. Additionally, Ms. Gambale was the Head of Deutsche Bank Strategic Ventures, and subsequently a General Partner at Deutsche Bank Capital until founding Azimuth Partners in 2003. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University and Mentor for Columbia University's Masters in Technology Leadership and is a frequent lecturer and keynote speaker on the strategic use of emerging technologies. Ms. Gambale holds a B.S. from New York Institute of Technology-Old Westbury.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Audit Committee
- Director
- Member of the Board of Directors of Virtu Financial, Inc
William F. Cruger, Jr. became a member of the board of directors of Virtu Financial, Inc. in 2014. He was most recently Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan and Co. where he was responsible for key client relationships on a global basis. Previously Mr. Cruger held a number of senior positions at J.P. Morgan, including Managing Director in the Financial Institutions group from 1996 to 2011. During this time he also oversaw the rationalization of the firm's private equity investments in trading platforms and related ventures at Lab Morgan from 2000-2001. Prior to this, Mr. Cruger ran the firm's investment banking practices in Japan from 1991-1996, Latin America from 1989-1991 and Emerging Asia from 1984-1988. Mr. Cruger currently serves on the board of MarketAxess Holdings Inc. and has previously served on the boards of Archipelago Holdings, Inc., CreditTrade, Inc. and Capital IQ, Inc. He has an M.B.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Clark University. Mr. Cruger's extensive experience in financial markets and financial leadership adds significant value to the board of directors.
Chair of the Audit Committee