NODAL CLEAR - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Chief Information Officer
• Chief Technology Officer
• Member of the Management Team
• Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer at Nodal Exchange

Mr. Askew has been the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer at Nodal Exchange since January 2008 and is responsible for all Nodal Exchange technology development, acquisition, and operations. Mr. Askew began his career as an analyst at Dean and Company, a strategic consultancy, and then moved into the field of enterprise software design and development. He has worked in both technical and technical lead roles and came to Nodal Exchange from a position as Director of Development for a custom software development company. Mr. Askew holds a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.

Job Titles:

• Chairman of Board Committees
• Chairman of the Nominating Committee
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Member of the Risk Management Committee
• Public Director for Nodal Exchange

Dr. Sacra serves as a Public Director for Nodal Exchange, LLC and Nodal Clear, LLC. Dr. Sacra retired from Nodal Exchange in 2016. At the time of her retirement, she was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Nodal Exchange and Nodal Clear, as well as the Chief Risk Officer of Nodal Clear. Dr. Sacra joined Nodal Exchange shortly after its creation in 2007, and was involved in all aspects of the Exchange and Clearing House development, including Nodal Exchange's initial launch, the launch of Nodal Exchange as a Designated Contract Market, and the launch of Nodal Clear. Prior to joining Nodal Exchange, Dr. Sacra was a partner at a hedge fund and a manager at Dean & Company. Dr. Sacra holds a Ph.D in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University.

Job Titles:

• Chief Compliance Officer
• Corporate Counsel
• Member of the Management Team

Mr. Alvarez joined Nodal Clear as the Chief Compliance Officer in February 2015. He has over fourteen years of compliance experience in the futures industry. Prior to joining Nodal Clear he was Special Counsel in the Division of Market Oversight at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission where he evaluated the compliance policies and procedures of futures exchanges and their compliance with core principles. Mr. Alvarez was formerly a Regulatory Analyst at FINRA where he was responsible for monitoring and reviewing trading activity on the Chicago Climate Exchange. Mr. Alvarez holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law and a B.S. in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business.

Job Titles:

• Chief Operating Officer
• Member of the Management Team

Danny Gomez re-joined Nodal Exchange in 2022 as the Chief Product Officer of Nodal Exchange and the Chief Operating Officer of Nodal Clear. Most recently, Danny was the Managing Director of Financial and Emerging markets for FreightWaves, a leader in supply chain data, technology, media and news. Prior to that Danny was at Nodal Exchange for almost 13 years, dating back to 2008, helping to build and launch the exchange and later was a key member of launching Nodal Clear. Danny Gomez holds a B.A. in Economics from Texas A&M University.

Job Titles:

• President

Mr. Karousos joined Nodal Exchange in January 2008. As President, he oversees the technology, operations, risk, and clearing services for Nodal Clear. Prior to the Nodal Exchange clearing house transition from LCH.Clearnet Ltd to Nodal Clear, Mr. Karousos worked closely with the risk team at LCH,Clearnet Ltd in developing risk models, conducting risk analysis, and monitoring risk performance for the Nodal Exchange market. Mr. Karousos began his career at Cambridge Energy Research Associates and later joined Williams Energy Marketing & Trading's origination team for the international natural gas market. He has held a variety of roles in industry and management consulting prior to joining Nodal Exchange. Mr. Karousos holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Member of the EEX Management Board

Dr. Tobias Paulun has been a member of the EEX Management Board since 1st January 2015. Starting in August 2009, he worked for EEX and ECC in the areas of product development and strategy. Moreover, he was Managing Director Exchange and member of the Board of EPEX SPOT. In these functions, he contributed to the strategic development of EEX Group with special focus on the regulatory market environment and European energy market design. As Chief Strategy Officer of EEX, Tobias Paulun coordinates the strategic direction of EEX Group.

Job Titles:

• Chief Risk Officer

Mr. Zhang serves as the Chief Risk Officer for Nodal Clear, overseeing the Risk Team. Prior to this role, Mr. Zhang spent almost two years in China managing the clearing operations at the Dalian Commodity Exchange and leading the product and operations team at the newly-established Guangzhou Futures Exchange. Mr. Zhang began his career at Dean & Company as a strategic consultant and then worked at Nodal Exchange in market administration and risk management roles for 10 years. Mr. Zhang holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and an MSCEP from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Job Titles:

• General Counsel
• Nodal in 2019 As Deputy General Counsel

Ken McCracken joined Nodal in 2019 as Deputy General Counsel to the exchange and clearing house. Ken began his commodity futures career at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, staying for over ten years and serving as a Chief Trial Attorney in the Division of Enforcement and as a member of the CFTC-SEC Product Definition team that further defined a "Swap," "Security-Based Swap," and "Security-Based Swap Agreement" that effectuated the Dodd-Frank Act changes to the Commodity Exchange Act. Previously, Ken served as an Attorney at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as a Partner at the law firm Schiff Hardin LLP, as an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University Law School, and as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Missouri. Ken McCracken holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Law.

Job Titles:

• President of the Board of Directors

Mr. Maisto is President Commodities and Commercial Services for NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, a leading competitive energy supplier and a NextEra Energy Inc. company, the world's largest utility company by market capitalization and the world's largest generator of wind and solar energy. Mr. Maisto has played a significant role in developing the energy marketing and trading organization at NextEra since joining the company in 2001. Mr. Maisto previously served as president of Edison Mission Marketing & Trading, a subsidiary of Edison Mission Energy. He also was chief executive officer of Citizens Power prior to it being acquired by Edison Mission Energy in September 2000. Prior to joining Citizens Power, Mr. Maisto was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, specializing in energy financing. Mr. Maisto holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Cornell University and a master's degree in business administration from New York University.

Job Titles:

• Chief Marketing Officer

Ms. Ricard has over fifteen years of experience in marketing, and joined Nodal Exchange in March 2008. Prior to joining Nodal Exchange, Ms. Ricard was a Senior Manager, Marketing and Alliance Management, at Perlegen Sciences. She also previously worked in marketing management at AOL, Microstrategy and Capital One Financial. Ms. Ricard holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University.

Job Titles:

• Chief Financial Officer
• Treasurer

Palloma Peterson re-joined Nodal Exchange in 2019. As Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Nodal Exchange and Nodal Clear, Palloma is responsible for financial planning and strategy, treasury management, and oversight of all aspects of finance and accounting across Nodal's portfolio. Palloma has over 15 years of experience in operations, finance, and accounting including over 9 years supporting Nodal, dating back to 2007, where she was previously Nodal's Controller and Director of Human Resources, Treasury and Finance. She holds a B.A. degree in Business Administration from the Federal University of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Job Titles:

• Chairman
• Chairman of the Risk Management Committee
• Chief Executive Officer
• Member of the Board of Directors
• Member of the Management Team
• Member of the Nominating Committee
• Chairman and CEO of Nodal Exchange
• Member of Board Committees

Mr. Cusenza has over thirty years of experience in building and managing businesses. He has been Chief Executive Officer of Nodal Exchange since January 2008 and led Nodal Exchange to its commencement of trading in April of 2009. Prior to Nodal Exchange, he was a co-Founder and co-President of 23andMe, a personal genetics company, and the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Alliance Management at Perlegen Sciences. He was part of the Senior Management Team of Capital One Financial during a period of great growth in the 1990s, as the Managing Director of Value-Added Alliances and Vice President Marketing & Analysis. Prior to Capital One Financial, he was a Vice President and Partner at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) for nearly a decade focusing on financial services. He also worked for IBM early in his career. Mr. Cusenza holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Harvard Business School and a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Chairman of the EEX Management Board

Peter Reitz has been chairman of the EEX Management Board since 1st August 2011. After gaining a degree in mathematics, he started his career as a product manager at Deutsche Börse AG in Frankfurt. From 2000 to 2001, he worked at Dow Jones Indexes in New York before he became a member of the Eurex Management Board. Since 2007, he has overseen the development of the EEX as a member of the EEX Supervisory Board.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• President of WM Renewable Energy

Mr. Malik is President of WM Renewable Energy (WM, formerly known as Waste Management, is a Fortune 200 company). In this role he is responsible for managing a multi-billion dollar renewable energy business focused on producing Renewable Natural Gas as well as Renewable Power. He also oversees WM's investments in other renewable technologies including Hydrogen and Carbon Capture. WM is spending over $1.4 billion building 20 new RNG plants to add to its existing RNG fleet as well as the 90 power plants in WM's portfolio and the company's investments will produce anticipated earnings of over $500 million per annum. He is also directly responsible for WM's Trading, Marketing and Commodity Risk Management. Prior to his current position, he was President of PSEG Energy Resources & Trade (ER&T). Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) is a diversified energy company headquartered in Newark, N.J. Mr. Malik was Responsible for commercial management and trading of 18,000MWs of assets including new generation development, wholesale marketing, retail sales, trading, risk management and business development. He managed PSEG's retail electric and gas requirements and all associated logistics. Mr. Malik was a member of PSEG's Executive Officer Group. Mr. Malik has an extensive background in the energy industry across the oil, gas, electric and renewable energy sectors in Europe and the United States. Prior to joining PSEG, he worked for companies such as BP, Entergy and Evergy where he served as president and CEO of Strategic Energy, Evergy's retail marketing subsidiary. He served on the board of directors of South Jersey Industries (NYSE: SJI) immediately prior to joining PSEG. Mr. Malik received his economics degree from Manchester University in England and an MBA from Rice University, Houston. He is a Board member of HyAxiom (leading fuel cell provider) and previously was the Chairman of the Finance committee of the board of trustees of the Newark Museum of Art.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Member of the Nominating Committee
• Member of the Risk Management Committee
• Member of Board Committees
• Public Director of Nodal Exchange

Dr. Perfect serves as a Public Director of Nodal Exchange, LLC and Nodal Clear, LLC. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Finance at Florida State University teaching derivatives, investments, and portfolio management in the Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Science in Finance programs. Prior to returning to Florida State's faculty in 2012, Dr. Perfect was with NextEra Energy (formerly FPL Group) for over a decade. He was the Senior Director of Option Trading & Quantitative Analysis at NextEra Energy Resources, where he managed energy derivatives traders and trading analysts as well as overseeing quantitative and risk analysis. He was also formerly the Senior Director of Transmission Trading for FPL Energy. Prior to NextEra Energy he worked at Sonat Energy Services / El Paso Merchant Energy in risk strategy for two years and taught at Florida State University for seven years achieving tenure while teaching at the undergraduate and doctoral level in finance. He has been qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst since 1998. He is a former Board Member of the Eastern Finance Association. Dr. Perfect earned a B.S. in Physics from Oklahoma State University and a Masters of Business Administration and Ph.D. in Finance both from The University of Texas at Austin.