American Financial Exchange founding board member The Honorable Carole L. Brookins has passed away.

The pioneering female executive and former executive director to the World Bank died of

complications from coronavirus

March 31, 2020…CHICAGO-- The Honorable Carole L. Brookins, who was the first member of the board

of the American Financial Exchange and head of its Human Resources and Compensation Committee,

passed away on Monday, March 23rd, in Palm Beach, Florida. She was 76. The cause of death was

complications from coronavirus.

“Carole and I have been friends since the 1970s, when we were both starting our careers in the

commodities markets. No one was smarter or harder working, and she was always open to new ideas

and new ventures,” said Richard Sandor, founder, Chairman and CEO of AFX. “Carole was one of the

earliest believers in the ideas that led to the Chicago Climate Change and, more recently, she has

supported our efforts to develop Ameribor as an alternative to LIBOR. She provided invaluable insight

as a board member and a friend, and I’ll miss her very much.”

“From the inception of AFX, Carole Brookins drew on her lifetime of experience in international

commodity markets and exchanges to make significant contributions and to provide relevant insights to

the Board and senior management. Her comments were always constructive, appropriate, and collegial

– exactly what shareholders and fellow Directors hope a Director will be,” said AFX’s Lead Director Art

Kelly. “As Chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, she made a special effort to get

to know and listen to each AFX employee individually. There is only one Carole; she is irreplaceable.”

A cum laude graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Ms. Brookins began her career in finance as a

trainee underwriter of municipal bonds in Chicago at A.G. Becker & Company. At a time when few

women worked in financial services, she earned less than half the salary of a male trainee, but that was

no deterrent. She was soon hired as a market reporter at the Chicago Board of Trade, and from there,

she came to the attention of the nation’s second largest stock brokerage firm, E.F. Hutton. In the 1970s,

she rose to become E.F. Hutton’s Vice President of the Commodity Department.

In 1980, Ms. Brookins left Wall Street to create World Perspectives, a Washington, D.C.-based

agricultural market analysis and consulting firm, in part to address what she saw as an information gap

between policy makers and traders during the grain embargo against the Soviet Union. Because of her intellect and spunk, she was in high demand throughout her life giving public speeches and providing valuable insight. And, she attracted Washington’s most powerful as headliners at the annual conferences she would orchestrate.

Ms. Brookins served from 2001 to 2005 as The World Bank Group Executive Director representing United States. She earned praise for her interactions with many board members from developing nations as well as her work with members of senior management at the International Monetary Fund.

She also contributed to many corporate and nonprofit boards, holding seats at the American Financial Exchange (AFX) Board of Directors, Center for Financial Stability (CFS) Boards of Trustees and Advisors, Nieuw World Capital Management’s Advisory Board, the AIM-listed holding company Climate Exchange plc (CLE) and the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), as Chairman of the North American Advisory Board of NTR plc, member of the Rabobank North America Agribusiness Advisory Board, and a trustee of E-4 Impact-a UK-based non-profit that accelerates African energy access through small to mid-sized enterprise. She also served on the U.S. President’s Export Council and State Department Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. She was a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ms. Brookins’ passion for France and history led her to establish the First Alliance Foundation (TFA) in 2018 to advance shared strategic goals and build confidence and bilateral camaraderie among U.S. and French military leaders. She continued to lead that organization until her death. In its first year of operation, the TFA awarded its first grants to coincide with commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris (August 1944) to enhance the French-American strategic alliance for the common benefit. Ms. Brookins was especially proud of TFA’s bilateral thought-leadership exchanges between current and future French and American senior military leaders. Ms. Brookins was awarded the Merit Agricole by the Government of France and honored as Woman of the Year by the Organization of Women in International Trade.

Ms. Brookins was predeceased by her parents, Charles H. and Rebecca A. Glueck, and sisters, Rachel Glueck and Anne Glueck Friedman. She is survived by many close friends and godchildren around the world who love her dearly. A celebration of her life will follow.