Obituary
Michael Greenberger, a former official at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, passed away on Dec. 21, 2025. Greenberger headed the agency's trading and markets division under CFTC Chairman Brooksley Born from 1997 to 1999. After the CFTC, he joined the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where he founded the Center for Health and Homeland Security, now the Center for Cyber, Health, and Hazard Strategies (CHHS). Earlier in his career, Greenberger served as principal deputy associate attorney general at the US Department of Justice under Attorney General Janet Reno and was a partner at Shea & Gardner, where he argued before the US Supreme Court.
People News
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman Michael Selig announced Alex Titus as chief advisor to the chairman. Titus joins the CFTC after serving as chief of staff at the White House Council of Economic Advisers under chairman Stephen Miran and acting chairman Pierre Yared. Before CEA, Titus led a nationwide talent network preparing individuals for public service, served in the first Trump Administration, and was policy advisor at President Trump's political group, America First Action. He has held fellowships with The Public Interest Fellowship, Observer Research Foundation, and Claremont Institute.
The CFTC named Tyler Badgley as general counsel. He succeeds Meghan Tente, who has served as acting general counsel since January 2025 and will continue at the agency as senior advisor to the chairman. Badgley joins the CFTC from the US Department of the Treasury, where he served as deputy general counsel and previously as executive secretary. He earlier served as senior counsel at the US Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center, focusing on complex litigation and regulatory matters related to capital markets. He also practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell and served as special counsel to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
The CFTC has announced the 35 members of its new Innovation Advisory Committee. Members include leaders from exchanges, prediction markets, crypto, proprietary trading firms and trade associations, including FIA president and chief executive officer Walt Lukken.
The Australian government has appointed Sarah Court as chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. She will succeed Joe Longo, who announced in September that he planned to step down at the end of his term. Court has served as the commission’s deputy chair since 2021 and will start as chair in June. She has more than 15 years of experience in senior statutory positions across various corporate regulators and a strong background in regulation, litigation, and enforcement.
Bloomberg has appointed former CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam as global head of public policy and corporate affairs, effective immediately. Behnam served as the CFTC's chairman from 2021 to 2025, after four years as a commissioner, overseeing U.S. derivatives markets during a period of growth, volatility, and technological change. He also held the position of vice chair of the International Organization of Securities Commissions from 2022 to 2024. In his new role at Bloomberg, Behnam reports to Mary Schapiro, vice chair for global public policy.
Cboe Global Markets has announced the appointments of Scott Johnston as executive vice president, chief operating officer, and Heidi Fischer as executive vice president, global head of equities and spot markets. They will join the Cboe executive leadership team and will report to Cboe CEO Craig Donohue. Johnston will take over chief operating duties from Chris Isaacson, executive vice president and chief operating officer, who is retiring from his role effective March 6. Johnston brings more than 40 years of industry experience to the role, including senior leadership positions at Akuna Capital, Hudson River Trading, Citadel, Tower Research Capital, CME Group and UBS. Fischer will join Cboe from TMX Group, where she was managing director and president, TMX Alpha US, and brings over 25 years of industry experience with previous leadership roles at Deutsche Bank, Instinet and Tucker Alan. Isaacson will continue to serve as an advisor to Cboe through the end of 2026 to help ensure a seamless transition.
Cboe also announced that Alex Dalley, head of European equities, has been promoted to senior vice president and will oversee Cboe’s European equities business, subject to regulatory approval. Natan Tiefenbrun, president, Europe and global head of cash equities, will depart the company to pursue new opportunities. Jon Weinberg, Cboe’s global head of FX, will expand his leadership role and will now oversee Cboe’s global FX and off-exchange trading business lines as SVP, global head of FX and off-exchange Trading.
ASX has announced that managing director and chief executive officer Helen Lofthouse will step down in May 2026, following an 11-year career at the Australian exchange. Lofthouse became chief executive in August 2022 and was previously group executive for markets. She previously worked for UBS Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Nasdaq has appointed Christian Mittelberg as chief risk officer. Mittelberg succeeds Catherine Addona-Pena, who left Nasdaq in September 2025 to join BNY Mellon. Mittelberg brings nearly 25 years of experience across operational risk management, cyber and technology risk, crisis management, and legal risk. He joins Nasdaq from Citigroup, where he served as head of operational risk, and has previously held senior roles at Boston Consulting Group, S&P Global, Deutsche Bank and KCG Holdings.
Noriko Utzig has been promoted to managing director and global head of clearing at UBS, based in New York. She assumed the role in January 2026. Utzig has been with UBS for nearly 15 years and most recently served as managing director and operating officer for the bank's global markets financing services, which includes securities lending, prime brokerage, clearing and cash management.
Steve Goulet has joined FMX, the startup futures exchange backed by BGC, as general counsel. He is responsible for leading the exchange’s legal and regulatory affairs functions. Goulet joins from TP ICAP, where he spent nearly 20 years, most recently serving as general counsel for the Americas.
Eurex Clearing AG has appointed Laura Bayley as chief executive officer, effective 1 June 2026. She will also join the executive board of Eurex Clearing. Bayley succeeds Erik Tim Müller who left his role at the end of 2025. She joins from SIX x-clear, the clearinghouse subsidiary of Switzerland's SIX Group, where she has served as head of clearing services and CEO since 2022. Prior to joining SIX in 2016, she practised law at a leading Swiss law firm.
Rutger Vijgen has joined Euronext as senior adviser, government affairs, based in Amsterdam. Vijgen joins from ABN AMRO Clearing Bank, where he led global regulatory affairs and governmental relations from 2024 to 2026. Earlier, he spent more than six years at the European Principal Traders Association, most recently as policy adviser for sustainable finance and digital, focusing on EU financial markets regulation and digital market structure initiatives.
Patrick Desjardins has been promoted to managing director, derivatives trading and clearing operations at TMX Group, based in Montreal. Desjardins joined TMX Group in 2023 and most recently served as director of derivatives trading operations. Prior to that, he was senior market supervisor, overseeing Canada’s listed derivatives markets. Earlier in his career, he was a proprietary futures trader in Montreal.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited has appointed Jalal Almarhoon as managing director and chief regional representative for the Middle East. Almarhoon is based in HKEX’s newly established Riyadh office, reporting to Johnson Chui, the exchange's head of global issuer services. Almarhoon joins HKEX from BNP Paribas, where he served as managing director and head of strategic corporate coverage in Saudi Arabia. Before that, he spent almost 10 years at Société Générale in Saudi Arabia, leading corporate coverage, and he held a variety of senior positions at Standard Chartered.
Trading Technologies has promoted Reena Raichura to senior vice president and chief product officer. Based in Chicago, she reports to Jason Shaffer, executive vice president and chief technology and product officer. Raichura joined Trading Technologies in May 2025 as managing director, core platform product management. She previously held senior product and technology roles at J.P. Morgan Corporate Investment Bank and Wealth Management, ION Fidessa, Exane BNP Paribas and interop.io. She also serves as a non-executive director at Alfa Financial Software Holdings plc.
Morrison Foerster has appointed Ryne Miller and Trevor Levine as partners in its financial services and fintech industry groups. Miller is based in New York and Levine is based in Washington, DC. Miller joins the firm from Lowenstein Sandler LLP, where he was a partner, chair of its commodities, futures & derivatives group and co-chair of its fintech, crypto and trading & markets groups. He previously served as a senior US financial markets regulator and as counsel to the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act. Levine joins from the same firm, where he was a partner in its commodities, futures & derivatives, crypto and fintech groups. He previously served as general counsel of a digital asset investment bank and as associate counsel at a financial services and digital assets business. Earlier in his career, he was an attorney at two global law firms.
John Kabacinski has joined Citigroup Global Markets as global head of futures product, based in New York. He previously worked at Morgan Stanley for more than 25 years.
Laide Majiyagbe has been promoted to global head of markets at BNY and has joined the firm’s executive committee. She was previously global head of liquidity, financing and collateral. Before joining BNY, Majiyagbe spent more than 14 years at Goldman Sachs in the United Kingdom. Most recently, she served as managing director in corporate treasury and global head of liquidity projections. She also serves on the board of directors of Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.
Tersia Tame has joined GH Financials as head of compliance. Tame joins from Société Générale, where she served for more than seven years as compliance director for prime brokerage and clearing in London. Earlier in her career, she was a compliance officer at Market Securities LLC in New York, where she spent over two years overseeing regulatory compliance matters.
Stephen Plestis has also joined GH Financials as head of sales, based in London. Plestis joins from Société Générale, where he served in prime services and clearing sales from 2021 to 2024, focusing on listed derivatives and OTC clearing solutions. Earlier in his career, Plestis spent nearly 14 years at Credit Suisse in London, where he was managing director and co-head of the listed derivatives and OTC clearing business for EMEA between 2016 and 2018,
Vitol has announced that Jeff Dellapina will retire as chief financial officer after more than 15 years in the role. Dellapina, who joined Vitol in 2005 from JPMorgan, is expected to step down in the coming months. He will be succeeded by Jay Ng, currently head of finance for Vitol’s Asia operations. Ng joined Vitol in 2008 following a career start at PwC and has been a member of Vitol’s eight-person executive board since 2024. Ng will continue to be based in Singapore.
Sigma Broking Ltd has appointed Tris Simmonds as group chief executive officer, with the appointment effective immediately. Simmonds joins from Braemar plc, where he most recently served as group chief operating officer. He brings more than 35 years of experience across global commodities markets . Earlier in his career, Simmonds was a founding partner of Atlantic Brokers, a boutique energy brokerage that was acquired by Braemar in 2018.
Angela Cappuccino has been appointed European chief operating officer at DRW, in addition to her ongoing role as head of global trading operations. Cappuccino joined DRW in 2022 as head of global trading operations, after eight years at Tower Research Capital, where she held several senior leadership positions including global head of clearing and operations, managing director, and director. Earlier in her career, she held roles at Merrill Lynch gaining experience across fixed income, currency, and commodities markets.
Veteran futures brokerage executive Jamie Philip has joined Liquidnet, the agency execution arm of TP ICAP, as head of listed derivatives business development in London. Philip spent more than 18 years at J.P. Morgan, most recently as managing director and head of EMEA futures and options execution sales from 2020 to 2025.
Broadridge has appointed Trish Mosconi and Christopher Perry to its board of directors. Mosconi is a senior adviser to chief executives and boards in the financial institutions, payments, fintech, digital transformation and artificial intelligence sectors at Boston Consulting Group. Prior to rejoining the firm, she served as executive adviser to the chief executive of Synchrony Financial, where she was also executive vice president and chief strategy officer. Perry joined Broadridge in 2014 and has served as president since 2020. He previously held the role of corporate senior vice president, global sales, marketing and client solutions. The company also announced that Brett Keller, a director since 2015 and member of the audit and compensation committees, will resign from the board effective 30 April 2026.
KuCoin EU Exchange has promoted Sabina Liu to managing director. Liu has led KuCoin’s institutional business since September last year. Prior to joining KuCoin, Liu served as head of equities trading sales for UK agency clients and Asia-Pacific at London Stock Exchange Group. She has also held roles at the Financial Markets Standards Board. Her appointment follows KuCoin EU’s receipt of a Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) licence, positioning the firm to expand its regulated crypto-asset services across the European Union.
GCEx, a prime broker specializing in crypto asset markets, has appointed Carmen Tan as managing director, Middle East and North Africa. Based in Dubai, Tan joins from CoinW Exchange where she most recently served as chief communications officer. She initially joined the firm as global strategy and growth manager. Prior to CoinW, Tan spent nearly two years at MultiBank Group, latterly as regional marketing and growth lead, based in Dubai, where she concentrated on expanding the institutional client base across Asia.
