Why I chose IEX

I am excited to share that after a 14-year career at NCR, a career that I am very proud of, and following a brief pause to soak in some quality time with my family – I have decided to join the team at IEX. IEX is a company driven by a mission to ‘build fairer markets’ and move finance forward in a way that serves all market participants.?

The bar was set high for where I would land. So many of you shared in my journey and I want to take the opportunity to communicate more about my decision, as well as articulate what this inspiring company, IEX, is all about.?

Knowing when it’s time to begin something new?

From a young age, I have always known that my purpose is to be a ‘builder’.??

I have been fortunate to live this purpose throughout my career, building teams, building brands, building policy, even helping to build the skylines of Atlanta and Belgrade. And I loved the work I did in the past. But more recently, I felt that nudge to do something completely new – to try out a new industry.?

Why IEX?

I wanted to find a company with a BIG vision for what they wanted to build and a true passion to innovate in ways that drive responsible and sustainable growth for communities as well as the company itself.?

When I was first introduced to the team at IEX, I was immediately struck by the leadership and especially by co-founders Brad Katsuyama, Ronan Ryan and Rob Park’s commitment to drive positive change in an established industry.?While working at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the global electronic trading team led by Brad, Ronan and Rob discovered that stock exchanges were enabling predatory trading strategies that were harming long-term?investors such as mutual funds and pension funds that represent the savings of millions of Americans.?Ultimately, they decided that the best way to truly change the system was to build a new exchange from scratch – one that would put the interests of investors first:?The Investors Exchange (IEX Exchange).?Just after IEX was founded in 2012, they became the inspiration behind Michael Lewis’ well-known book?Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt,?published in 2014. Committed to using technology to level the playing field and create a trading experience that was equitable – the Investors Exchange (IEX) won SEC approval and officially launched as a national stock exchange, competing against exchanges such as Nasdaq and NYSE, in 2016.?

And today one of?IEX’s?key?team standards?remains:?Think Big, Do Good.?The more I got to know the company and the people that work there – the more I saw just how much this value is lived out through their company culture.?They had my attention and were speaking my language.?Let me elaborate…

What IEX is all about

Think Big?has been at the core of IEX’s strategy since they were first founded. They are a company committed to growth, with the goal of building?innovative?technology?to deliver high-performance results for investors.?

Taking what they learned from building a stock exchange, they set out to build more?offerings?that solve for the existing complexity in the financial market.?One addition was?IEX Cloud to the portfolio.?IEX Cloud is a fully managed data platform for application developers that makes it easy to ingest, normalize and deliver data into an application.?

In addition,?IEX recently announced that they will join forces?with?FTX US, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, to help shape and grow the digital asset securities market.?Together, IEX and FTX share a view that smart regulation can be a catalyst for future growth and will be a key factor in the digital asset sector reaching its full potential. Working with FTX, IEX hopes to leverage expertise and experience to help shape regulation for digital asset securities to allow the industry to scale, while also expanding the types of investors who can participate.?This is an especially exciting area,?as I believe that digital assets offer us an opportunity to expand access to the global financial system to the next generation of investors and entrepreneurs in a safe and transparent way.

IEX’s growth mindset and philosophy are well aligned with my purpose to build. And they are truly just getting started. Today, the exchange trading landscape is evolving fast as investors, brokers and regulators are more focused than ever on performance and transparency. I am so excited about how much I?can learn and contribute.

The integrity and meaningfulness of IEX’s work stretches far beyond the technology they build. If I had to think of only one word to describe the team, it would be:?kindness. They exude a level of kindness and authenticity that is rare in today’s world. My direct team is mighty – and has been so welcoming.?

For me,?IEX is the perfect fit?– it has a?start-up mentality. It’s?mission-driven. And, it’s?poised to move forward?in innovative and exciting ways. I am ready to build and I look forward to sharing more about?IEX?and my journey here with all of you!