People Moves: Symphony, Cboe, Pico, SEC, Avelacom, Predata, HKEX

Cboe Nabs Inzirillo For US Equities

Chicago-based exchange operator Cboe Global Markets named US equities trading vet Adam Inzirillo as head of US equities in New York. Inzirillo will oversee product development and strategies for growing Cboe’s US equities business globally.

Inzirillo was poached from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), where he spent nearly 10 years, and served as head of order routing and execution products. While there, he boosted the firm’s liquidity offerings in developing and managing its smart order router, direct-market access, order-management applications and non-displayed cross-functionality. Additionally, he acted as a director of the Members Exchange (MEMX) and played a critical role in BAML’s investment.

Previous roles for Inzirillo include head of broker-dealer business development at UBS Asset Management, and memberships in the Cboe Equities Advisory Committee, NASDAQ Quality of Markets, IEX Quality of Markets, and Level ATS Board.

Symphony Hires Global Head Of Account Management

Craig Butterworth has joined messaging platform provider Symphony as global head of account management. He’ll play an integral role in the company’s digital transformation projects and work closely with clients and shareholders.

He was previously at Nomura, before getting let go in a major round of cuts at the bank’s London location earlier this year. During his five-year tenure at Nomura, Butterworth held the title of global head of client ecosystem, leveraging technology, market structure and regulatory change to improve franchise profitability. Prior to that, he served as head of fixed income sales in the EMEA region at State Street, then moving to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) as head of fixed income sales again.

Butterworth graduated from the University of Warwick in 2001 with a bachelor’s of science in economics. He began his career at Goldman Sachs the same year as a UK funds sales analyst.

Lee Confirmed As SEC Commissioner

The US Senate confirmed the appointment of Democrat Allison Lee to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), replacing the seat previously held by Kara Stein. Lee fills the last open seat on the five-member commission.

Most recently, Lee has been working in Washington D.C. as a corporate governance consultant at Congress Park Consulting. Prior to that, Lee served as counsel to Stein, who left the agency in January. From 2015 to 2018, she also worked as an enforcement attorney in the SEC’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit. She held other legal positions in Denver, CO, since 1997, including at the Colorado Supreme Court.

Lee graduated with a Juris Doctor from the Sturm College of Law at Denver University.

HKEX Names Brooks Head of Infrastructure And Operations

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) appointed Niguel Brooks as its head of infrastructure and operations. Along with leading initiatives in IT infrastructure and application systems, Brooks will manage information security and hosting services, and report to chief technology officer and deputy group chief information officer, Richard Leung, in Hong Kong.

Brooks joins HKEX following his most recent role as a strategic adviser on information technology at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Prior to that, he served as senior vice president of technology at the Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX), where he consolidated and migrated SGX’s data centers to an active/active architecture and helped to launch the company’s hosting services.

In addition, current managing director of information technology at HKEX, Alfred Lai, will retire from the company after 14 years.

Head Of Global Sales Appointed At Avelacom Amid Expansion Plans

Avelacom, a provider of IT infrastructure and connectivity solutions for financial services, promoted Vincent Harrison to head of global sales, a newly-created role. Harrison joined the company in September as vice president of strategic accounts.

He’ll drive business growth and further develop the company’s low-latency network across the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions amid global expansion plans. He’ll be expected to acquire key clients in the US and develop new services to enter markets untapped for the company, such as Brazil and Mexico.

Harrison spent six years in his last role at Perseus Telecom (now GTT) first as vice president of strategic accounts, and then as senior sales director. He brings experience in working with global banks and hedge funds, as well as tier-1 network providers in various business and sales management roles.

Nations To Advise On Predata’s Nation Indexes

Predictive analytics platform Predata added to its advisory board Scott Nations, president and chief investment officer at NationsShares, the ETF arm of Nation Indexes, a developer of volatility and option-strategy indexes.

Nations will help to expand Predata’s offerings among the buy- and sell-sides, the company’s most recently announced service is a new suite of geopolitical risk signals for US equities. He joins Predata’s finance advisory board along with other industry figures, including Kyle Bass, Neal Brady, Ashby Monk and Emmanuel Derman.

Nations has been an on-air contributor at CNBC since 2009, discussing markets, derivatives and other investment themes. From 2002 to 2014, he served as president of Fortress Trading, Inc.

Sionic Chooses New CEO While Rebranding

Newly-merged firms Catalyst Development Ltd. and Sionic Advisors have announced Craig Sher as its new CEO while rebranding as a single global consulting firm for financial services called Sionic. The two companies joined forces in April. Cher will be based in London.

Cher served as CEO of Sionic Advisors for nearly five years. Before that, he was CEO of Stearclear USA, a mobile transportation and ridesharing app, in New York. He holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce, finance, economics and business administration from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and is ACCA-certified.

Additionally, former-Catalyst CEO Andrew Middleton will become an executive director on the Sionic board, and will lead a portfolio of senior banking client relationships. He’ll also be based out of London. Prior to joining Catalyst, Middleton has been the director of the UK-based Vision Consulting and a consultant, manager and partner at Accenture.

Pico Names Emma Wheeler EMEA Chief Commercial Officer

Pico, a data, infrastructure and technology provider, has announced Emma Wheeler [pictured] will join the company as chief commercial officer in the EMEA region starting in July. As a member of the global senior executive team, she’ll report to Pico CEO Jarrod Yuster and work alongside Michael Verkuijl, global head of sales, and Marc Hineman, chief administrative officer.

Wheeler hails from Interactive Data, where she served as director of specialist sales in Europe. Prior to that, she navigated various roles at Thompson Reuters (now Refinitiv), including head of new business and lead specialists and head of specialist sales, banking and research. She brings to Pico 15 years of work in financial services, data and technology.

Wheeler holds a degree in Kingston University in business studies.

Former Deutsche Bank Chief of Staff Joins Capco

Capco, a technology and management consultancy for financial services, has appointed Olaf Clemens as a new partner at the firm’s Frankfurt office. As a partner, he’ll oversee digital transformation projects and help to expand Capco’s reach in the industry.

For the last nine years, Clemens has been based at Deutsche Bank. In his tenure, he served as chief of staff, reporting directly to former CEO John Cyan. Other titles he held there include executive assistant of the Audit Committee and Risk Committee, and specialist in corporate governance. From 2004 to 2016, he was an assistant manager at KPMG Deutschland in Frankfurt.