People moves: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, DataBP, LME, Azentio, and more

New York Fed names Neal as head of the markets group

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has named Michelle Neal as head of the markets group. In this role, she will also be a member of the bank’s executive committee. Neal will join the New York Fed in March. She is currently CEO of US operations at LedgerEdge, a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-powered corporate bonds trading platform.

The markets group’s key activities include implementing market operations consistent with Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) authorization and directives, monitoring and analyzing global financial market developments, and executing lender of last resort operations and collateral valuation services. They also include providing financial services for foreign and international monetary authorities and providing capital markets-related services to the US Treasury as its fiscal agent.

Neal has held leadership roles in financial services organizations for nearly 20 years, during which time she was previously head of US fixed income, currencies and commodities at RBC Capital Markets. She was also CEO of markets at BNY Mellon.

DataBP appoints Schaedel CEO

DataBP, a data licensing and commercial management platform, has appointed Mark Schaedel CEO as the company prepares for the next stage of growth.

Schaedel co-founded the COBA Project, a consortium established to create a European consolidated tape, and chaired the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) Mifid data working group. He also participated in Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) and UK market structure working groups. Prior to joining DataBP, he was managing director and global head of index services at IHS Markit and before that, he led the equities and ETF business at Markit Boat after disposal of the Boat asset. Schaedel was also previously global head of information services at the New York Stock Exchange (Nyse) for 12 years and a founding executive board member of Nyse Technologies.

LME CEO leaves position to join crypto start-up, LME Clear CEO to become interim head

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) has announced that Matthew Chamberlain, CEO of the London Metal Exchange (LME) and group head of commodities, will step down at the end of April. Adrian Farnham, LME Clear CEO, will become interim LME CEO and group head of commodities. He will become a member of the HKEx management committee and report to group CEO Nicolas Aguzin.

The Financial Times reports that Chamberlain is leaving LME to join Komainu, a custody business start-up for digital assets backed by Nomura and hedge fund manager Alan Howard.

Azentio adds Knox to board

Global IT company Azentio Software has appointed Aliza Knox to its board as a non-executive director.

Knox was previously Asia-Pacific head for Cloudflare and served as COO at Unlockd. Before that, she was head of Asia-Pacific for Twitter, joining from Google, where she was managing director of online sales and operations in Asia-Pacific. She has also served as vice president and director for Asian financial services at Boston Consulting Group.

QED Investors hires Gbenga Ajayi to build Africa presence

QED Investors, a global venture capital firm focused on investing in disruptive financial services companies, has hired Gbenga Ajayi as a partner. Ajayi is the company’s first hire focused on fintech investments in Africa.

Ajayi has spent his career working across fintech and Africa in a variety of roles from product development and growth to marketing and partnerships. Prior to joining QED, he was co-founder of Kanza Ventures, a boutique seed investment and advisory firm focused on fintech in Africa. Before that, he was product director for SMB growth at Wise (formerly TransferWise), a global cross-border remittance fintech company, and the head of strategic partnerships at Revolut, Europe’s biggest neobank.

In addition, he spent six years at Google in a variety of roles from managing telecom industry partnerships and strategy in Africa to leading Google’s mobile app business and strategy with clients spread across Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. He was also a product partnerships lead in Europe and Africa where he worked on localizing Google Search in Africa and launched Google Events Search in Germany, the UK, Spain, and France.

Aquis Exchange CEO Haynes to lead new TheCityUK business council

Aquis Exchange founder and CEO Alasdair Haynes has been appointed the inaugural chair of TheCityUK’s new business council.

TheCityUK business council will convene the chairs, managing partners and CEOs of around 35 high-growth, innovative companies from across the financial and related professional services industry. It will provide a forum to discuss critical cross-sectoral issues while also allowing for constructive engagement with government, members of Parliament, regulators, and other key UK and international industry stakeholders.

The business council is complementary to TheCityUK leadership council, chaired by Adrian Montague, which brings together the leaders of TheCityUK’s most senior members with ministers, regulators and stakeholders. The business council will meet four times annually, with its first meeting taking place in spring.

Prior to founding Aquis Exchange in 2012, Haynes was CEO of Chi-X Europe. Prior to that, he spent over a decade heading ITG’s international business, pioneering the introduction of electronic trading and crossing into the European and Asian marketplaces.

Drawbridge makes senior appointments

Drawbridge, a provider of cybersecurity software and solutions to the alternative investment industry, has announced several senior appointments.

Bill Waters will become global head of software development to drive the complete software development life cycle and launch new products that will add to the company’s existing technology stack. He has 25 years of experience directing technology innovation and building high-performance software teams, including his position as director of development at Broadway Technology. He has held multiple senior technology roles throughout his career, including director of software at Sandvine and co-founder and vice president of engineering at Simplicita Software, where he led the company through two sales, a spinoff from Sandvine and a rebrand to Xerocole prior to its acquisition by Akamai.

Jacob Cane has been appointed global head of strategy and client success. He was previously head of strategy at Drawbridge and will focus on managing global client engagement, enhancing customer experience, and driving measurable success for Drawbridge’s global client base. Prior to his role at Drawbridge, Cane was founder and managing director of Proactive Technologies, which served alternative investment clients and was acquired in 2019.

Darrell Tucker has been appointed head of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He was formerly head of client success at Drawbridge.

MultiLynq appoints capital markets veteran Pasternack

MultiLynq, a provider of electronic fixed-income trading connectivity and integration solutions, has selected Wayne Pasternack to advance sales growth as the adoption of electronic fixed-income trading accelerates. 

Pasternack joins MultiLynq with over 25 years experience as a senior sales representative. He was previously a senior sales representative at Bloomberg LP, covering Bloomberg Terminal sales in Michigan and Missouri for over 20 years. Pasternack was also vice president of research sales and new business development at High Frequency Economics, a provider of global and US daily macroeconomic research to institutional money managers, hedge funds, and corporations.