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Neal L. Wolkoff to become CEO to ELX Electronic Liquidity Exchange

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:October 6, 2008

ELX Electronic Liquidity Exchange was established by 12 leading financial institutions as a competitive alternative serving global futures market participants. Its mission is to bring enhanced liquidity, cost-effectiveness, and reliability to global future trading. The 12 institutions include Bank of America, Barclays Capital, BGC Partners, Citadel, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, GETCO, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, PEAK6 and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

ELX Electronic Liquidity Exchange, the fully electronic futures exchange formed by 12 leading financial institutions, today announced the appointment of Neal L. Wolkoff as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Wolkoff has more than 20 years of experience as an exchange executive, most recently as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the American Stock Exchange and previously as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

“Neal’s record of effective leadership, deep knowledge of the futures industry and commitment to market integrity make him an excellent choice for ELX,” said Tom Rubio, Chairman of the ELX Supervisory Board and Managing Partner of Breakwater, a leading Chicago-based trading firm.
“As CEO, Neal will play a major role in establishing ELX as a vigorous, competitive exchange, focused on delivering superior cost-efficiency, innovation and service to all futures market participants,” added Catherine Bartzos, a Managing Director of J.P. Morgan and member of the Supervisory Board’s Operating Committee.

Mr. Wolkoff said: “ELX will offer an open and competitive exchange focused on the needs of all market participants and their customers. In a new environment in which most market participants directly access exchanges through advanced trading technology, ELX has unprecedented opportunities to build liquidity by offering a structure tailored to the requirements of high- volume electronic trading. Initially, ELX will focus on the significant opportunity to bring lower transaction costs, successful innovation, and greater speed and efficiency to the global market in U.S. Treasury futures contracts. I look forward to talking with market participants in the months ahead about how ELX can best meet their needs and the needs of their customers.”

Mr. Wolkoff spent 20 years at NYMEX, where he served in several senior roles, becoming Executive Vice President in 1993 and Chief Operating Officer in 2002. His tenure at NYMEX included responsibility for all major functions of the world’s largest energy and precious metals exchange.
In 2005, he was appointed chairman and CEO of the American Stock Exchange. Mr. Wolkoff started Amex on the road to demutualization (converting member seats to shares and becoming a for-profit enterprise), then negotiated the exchange’s agreement to be acquired by NYSE Euronext, announced on Jan. 17, 2008.
Mr. Wolkoff has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and a frequent public speaker on market issues and risk management at industry and government seminars. He is a member of the Bar of the State of New York and the United States District Court, Southern District of New York.

Mr. Wolkoff, who is 53 years old, started his career as an Honors Program trial attorney in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement. He received a B.A. from the College of Columbia University and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

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