In other People Moves items, the SEC fills two key directorships and BNY Mellon Pershing find a COO.
Gill Leaves CEO Post at MillenniumIT
Mack Gill, COO, Torstone Technology
Torstone Technology, the London-based provider of post-trade securities and derivatives processing, has appointed industry veteran Mack Gill as chief operating officer (COO) and as a member of the board of directors, company officials report.
Gill, who will be based in London, was most recently the CEO of MillenniumIT, a trading technology company and subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), officials say. Before his time at MillenniumIT, Gill served as president of the global technology group at systems and software giant SunGard, which is now a part of FIS. Also at SunGard, he served as senior vice president, corporate development and strategy. Gill had responsibilities for SunGard’s global technology strategy and consulting business, and led a global team of 5,000 staff.
His experience in capital markets technology includes work with exchanges, clearinghouses, depositories, banks and brokers.
Torstone has found a “sweet spot” in the post-trade industry, Gill tells FTF News.
“The post-trade industry is embracing and investing in new technology innovation like never before,” Gill says. “Torstone is in a sweet spot as it has modern but proven technology that is helping banks do an architectural refresh.”
Gill acknowledges that there is more interest in post-trade operations since his time at SunGard.
“The post-trade space has become much more dynamic given the speed up in trading cycles and higher trade volumes, the greater focus on consolidated real-time risk management, and not least the enhanced regulatory focus since 2008,” Gill says. “With cost pressures on top of that, every financial institution on the planet needs to develop integrated, agile, digital-post trade infrastructure.”
The flagship product for Torstone is Inferno, designed to support straight through processing for settlement of many asset classes from complex derivatives to high volume equity processing, officials say. In addition to London, Torstone has offices in New York, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong.
SEC Names Director of the Division of Investment Management
Dalia Blass, director, division of investment management, SEC
The SEC reports that Dalia Blass has been named director of the agency’s division of investment management.
The division of investment management “works to protect investors and to promote capital formation and innovation in investment products and services through oversight and regulation of the nation’s multi-trillion dollar investment management industry,” the commission says in a statement.
The Division of Investment Management is “responsible for the Commission’s regulation of investment companies, variable insurance products, and federally registered investment advisers.”
Blass returns to the SEC after “serving in a number of leadership roles in the Division of Investment Management, most recently as Assistant Chief Counsel,” per the SEC.
She joins the agency from Ropes & Gray LLP, where she advised on a broad range of investment fund, private equity, and regulatory matters, the SEC says, noting that she “previously practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, and began her career in the London office of Shearman & Sterling LLP.”
SEC Appoints Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis
Dr. Jeffrey H. Harris, director, division of economic and risk analysis, SEC
The SEC reports that Dr. Jeffrey H. Harris has been named director of the agency’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA), which was created in September 2009 to “integrate financial economics and rigorous data analytics into the core mission and operations of the SEC,” according to a statement.
DERA “relies on a variety of academic disciplines, quantitative and non-quantitative approaches, and knowledge of market institutions and practices to help the Commission approach complex matters and conduct economic analysis,” the SEC observes. “DERA also assists in the Commission’s efforts to identify, analyze, and respond to risks and trends, including those associated with new financial products and strategies.”
Harris replaces former director Mark Flannery, who has left the commission to return to teaching, per the commission. Harris is currently a professor and the Gary D. Cohn Goldman Sachs Chair in Finance at Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington, D.C., the SEC says, noting that he “recently served as Chief Economist at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, with prior experience as Visiting Academic at the Nasdaq Stock Market and at the SEC.”
New COO for BNY Mellon Pershing
BNY Mellon’s Pershing, a provider of global financial business solutions, reports that Jim Crowley has been named the company’s new chief operating officer (COO).
At BNY Mellon’s Pershing, Crowley has worked in various operations areas, the firm points out, “including a role at the New York Stock Exchange before leading the marketing and business development efforts for Pershing’s fixed income business.”
Most recently, Crowley was the company’s chief relationship officer, “overseeing relationship management strategy across its businesses and collaborating on strategic relationships across BNY Mellon.”
He will “continue to be directly involved in setting the strategic direction of the firm,” per the statement, which points out that BNY Mellon’s Pershing and its affiliates “provide advisors, broker-dealers, family offices, hedge fund and ’40 Act fund managers, registered investment advisor firms and wealth managers with a broad suite of global financial business solutions,” including for clearing and custody, investment and retirement solutions, technology, enterprise data management, trading services, prime brokerage and business consulting.
BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
Need a Reprint?