People Moves: Kingland’s CAT Hire, Refinitiv, SimCorp, Apex, LCH, MTS

Former CTA Exec Jordan to Tackle CAT Coordination at Kingland

Data management software vendor Kingland Systems has tapped new hire Ron Jordan to manage its involvement in the development of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT), a Securities and Exchange Commission-mandated official record of US equities trading activity.

Kingland is a contractor in industry regulator Finra’s plan to build the CAT. Finra was awarded the contract earlier this year, after the SEC’s original choice, Thesys Technologies, failed to deliver on time. Kingland helps Finra manage customer account-level components of the CAT.

“It will require considerable coordination between firms, regulators, and the industry. So I’ll be spending a large part of my time focusing on making the CAT successful,” says Jordan, who joined the vendor last week as SVP of strategic accounts and partnerships, citing his years of experience as head of market data at the New York Stock Exchange, where his role involved serving as chairman and administrator of the Consolidated Tape Association.

After 26 years at NYSE, Jordan joined the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., where he spent seven years as managing director and chief data officer, responsible for the agency’s data business, including setting up its Global Market Entity Identifier utility.

“Ron’s experience with the industry will help clients meet their requirements…as well as help industry member firms on the East Coast who are reporting data into the CAT,” says Kingland president Tony Brownlee, adding that he doesn’t foresee technology presenting hurdles to the vendor’s work on the CAT.

“Kingland and Finra are very aligned technologically. Both have standardized on Amazon Web Services, and have very complementary technology,” he says. “We’re aligned on the customer data side. Everyone knows that securing customer data is of primary importance…so it’s an area we’re going to continue to focus on.”

Jordan will also set up a strategic client support function in New York, where the vendor has maintained a presence but supported clients mainly from its headquarters in Clear Lake, Iowa. Though Jordan will initially tap the Iowa office’s resources for support, Brownlee says he expects to see new hires in New York as business requirements emerge for more local staff.

Data Tech Vet Mazzocchi Rejoins Refinitiv

Refinitiv has hired Anthony Mazzocchi—a veteran of data operations at sell-side firms and data platform providers—as director of enterprise integration in New York, responsible for leveraging “his customer perspective and deep understanding of the industry” to help the vendor evolve its deployed enterprise services into public and private cloud offerings, officials say.

Mazzocchi was most recently director of market and reference data at online broker E*Trade, prior to which he was managing partner and CEO of Tecnecon Consulting. In that capacity, held various data architecture roles at BNY Mellon, West Highland Support Services (including a prior stint at E*Trade), Citigroup, Credit Suisse, TD Securities, RBC, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Moneyline Telerate, and Refinitiv forerunner Reuters, as well as data technology vendors Tibco, Teknekron and Microgsosis.

Coleman Research Recruits Karaev For New Position

Coleman Research Group, a business management consultancy in New York, has hired Isaak Karaev for a newly-created role, executive chairman. While also based in New York, Karaev will develop corporate strategy and oversee all aspects of the firm’s technology operations.

Karaev has extensive background within finance and technology, having founded InfoNgen, an AI-powered search engine for financial services, and Multex, a digital network that aggregates and distributes financial research documents for investors, brokers, money managers and vendors. He served as CEO at both firms, and his track record includes a stint as a managing director for Thomson Reuters.

Finantix Furthers APAC Growth With New Hire

Finantix, global software supplier to the wealth management, insurance and private banking industries, has appointed Haruka Homma as country manager for South Korea and Japan. He’ll further the firm’s mission to expand within the APAC region, and meet client demand for more digital technologies in the wealth management industry. He’ll be based in Tokyo.

Homma joins Finantix on the heels of three years at IBM, where he was finance industry solutions specialist. He’s also held senior IT roles at Nucleus Software Exports, Microsoft and Temenos. His banking experience includes serving as vice president at Merrill Lynch and as a senior manager at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

Apex Pivots To ESG Focus, Hires Global Head of ESG Product

Provider of fund, financial and corporate solutions for financial services, Apex, has named sustainability specialist Amara Goeree as global head of ESG product alongside the launch of its new ESG GreenLight ratings feature. Going forward, she will spearhead enhancement to the system as well as develop further product innovation. She’ll be based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Prior to joining Apex, Goeree was head of corporate sustainability and responsible investment for Julius Baer. She spent the five years before that at RobecoSAM, where she was responsible for all data quality management and led index construction and operations of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).

At the same time, Apex is in the process of becoming a UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) signatory.

SimCorp Makes Bid For North American Insurance Market

SimCorp, the Danish IT solutions provider, has tapped insurance industry stalwart Scott Ferrante as director of consulting services for North America. The new position follows a series of recent North American insurance wins at SimCorp, and his work will underpin the firm’s mission to reach further into the nation’s insurance market by providing multi-asset, front-to-back solutions.

Ferrante spent nearly two decades at State Street in various roles, including as chief operating officer. He’s also been a managing director of the Aladdin & Technology Group at BlackRock, president and global board member at ConVista Consulting and managing director for Compiricus, where he handled business development and client management.

Ferrante will be based in SimCorp’s New York office.

AAX Brings Newell Aboard As Advisor

Michael Newell, based in London, will join digital asset exchange Atom Asset Exchange (AAX) as an advisor to the company, consulting on operations such as exchange policies, monitoring, institutional partnerships and market trends.

Most recently, Newell has been the chief technology officer for IG Group. In addition, he co-founded InvestYourWay, an online discretionary investment management service, and set up the first registered robo-advisor in the UK, both of which were acquired by IG Group. In the early 2000s, Newell also served in various roles at IBM, Goldman Sachs and the London Stock Exchange, and was a founding executive team member for BATS Europe.

Girolami To Replace Pluves as LCH CEO

Global clearinghouse LCH has appointed Isabelle Girolami as chief executive officer (CEO), beginning Nov. 1. She’ll play an integral role in the firm’s next growth phase by driving expansion of the firm’s services and innovation across the asset classes it covers, including interest rate derivatives, FX, equities and fixed income.

Girolami will report to LCH Group CEO, Daniel Maguire, who will also act as interim CEO for LCH Ltd., pending the departure of Martin Pluves, who currently holds the title until July 31.

Girolami has most recently worked at Crédit Agricole as deputy CEO of corporate and investment banking. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Standard Chartered Bank both in London and Singapore, where she served as head of financial markets in Europe and regional head of financial markets in Southeast Asia. Earlier in her career, she worked in senior roles at BNP Paribas and Bear Stearns.

MTS Names Italian Treasury Exec As Chairman

Fixed-income trading venue MTS, part of the London Stock Exchange Group, appointed Maria Cannata as chairman. She’ll play a significant part in growing MTS in Italy and abroad.

For almost two decades, Cannata served as general manager of public debt at the Italian Treasury Department. Prior to that, she was also director of internal public debt from 1992 to 2000. Currently, she is also a member of the Council of Experts within the department.

She succeeds Alberto Giovannini, who passed away in April, having held the title since 2012.