Speakers

Andrew Critchlow

Managing Editor, Dow Jones & Company

Andrew Critchlow is Middle East managing editor of Dow Jones Newswires and the Zawya Dow Jones News Service. He oversees a team of 20 reporters and correspondents contributing to the regional Zawya Dow Jones News Service and The Wall Street Journal, the world’s most respected business newspaper. He started his career as a staff writer for Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) in London (2000-2002) before taking up the position of Senior Gulf correspondent in Dubai for the magazine. Mr. Critchlow covered the occupation of Iraq in 2003 winning Emap Plc’s Business Journalist of the Year Award in 2004 for his reporting from the streets of Baghdad and Basra. Mr. Critchlow worked for three years with Bloomberg News & Television in Dubai as the news agency’s Gulf OPEC correspondent and deputy bureau chief. He regularly contributes with expert comment on energy, finance and Middle East business issues on TV channels such as Sky News, CNBC, Fox News and the BBC. Before embarking on a career in journalism Mr. Critchlow served in the U.K. Armed Forces as a Grenadier Guard completing operational tours in the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Africa. Mr. Critchlow was educated at Barnard Castle School and Durham University, where he read a Masters degree in Middle East politics and Arabic at the Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies. Mr. Critchlow is married with two children.

Shahira Abdel Shahid

Advisor to the Chairman, Egyptian Exchange (EGX)

Dr. Shahira Abdel Shahid has twenty five years of experience covering various areas such as consulting, valuation of companies, research, feasibility studies as well as teaching experience. Dr. Abdel Shahid is the Advisor to the Chairman of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX). Her current job entails being abreast of key developments taking place at World Exchanges and advising EGX on implementing the ones that are relevant to the Egyptian context. Dr. Abdel Shahid's main areas of expertise regarding stock exchanges include; strategies, rules and regulations, new products, international alliances etc. Dr. Abdel Shahid has been instrumental in modernizing EGX rules & regulations, initiating its publications, introducing new products on EGX, presenting EGX in international conferences and assisting EGX to become the first Arab Exchange to be a member of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) in 2005 and board member of the WFE in 2009. Dr. Abdel Shahid has a PhD in Finance from Aston University, United Kingdom in 1993, an MSc. in Finance from Strathclyde University, United Kingdom in 1990. She earned an MBA and BA in Business Administration, with highest honors, from the American University in Cairo, Egypt, in 1988 and 1984; respectively. She is also a member of the following committees and associations:
- Member of the Working Committee of the World Federation of Exchanges since 2005.
- Member of the International Advisory Committee of EGX since 2001.
- Member of the Association of Graduates & Trainees from Britain in Egypt (Chevenings Association) since 1994.
- Founder Member & Vice Chairman of the First Council of Mediterranean Corporate Governance Roundtable (MCGR) established in Malta, September 2002-September 2003.

Rashed Al Baloushi

Deputy Chief Executive, Abu Dhabi Securities Market

Oliver Albers

Senior Managing Director, Market Data Distribution, NASDAQ OMX

Oliver Albers is Head of Global Sales and Account Management for NASDAQ OMX Global Data Products. The Global Data Products team is focused on creating innovative real-time and historical data products that provide unsurpassed market transparency to institutional, retail and individual investors. Mr. Albers and his team are responsible for providing value-added consultative services to all NASDAQ OMX market data vendors and for managing relationships with data subscribers. Prior to this role, Mr. Albers held other sales and product management positions at NASDAQ OMX and was instrumental in the launch and implementation of many new products including the NASDAQ Closing Cross, NASDAQ TotalView, Velocity and Forces, Market Pathfinders, Market Replay and ModelView. Mr. Albers holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from Ohio University and a Masters in Business Administration from The George Washington University.

Maher Asham

Chief Executive Officer, Egypt for Information Dissemination (EGID)

Maher Asham Joined EGID in 2003 as the CEO and a board member. EGID is a totally owned subsidiary of CASE working in the fields of financial information and system development for financial markets. Maher is also the IT Supervisor of CASE since 2004. During that period EGID managed to offer a wide range of information services, consultancy and systems in Egypt and the Middle East as well. Before EGID, Maher worked for Reuters since 1993 in several positions, in Cairo as well as in Geneva, ending as the Marketing and Business Development Manager for East Med. and North Africa. During that period he built the exchange data on Reuters platforms for MENA markets as well as developed several products and services. Maher is also a part time faculty in both the Management and Economics Departments at The American University in Cairo. He has been the IT manager of Santa Fe Drilling Co, and developed several educational simulation models about financial markets. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and an MBA in International Business, both from the American University in Cairo.

Nader Azar

Deputy CEO, Amman Stock Exchange

Nader Azar is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE), a position he has held since the creation of the ASE in March 1999. During this period the ASE has implemented electronic trading system and all of the rules and regulations required to run the ASE. Mr. Azar was the project manager of the Automation of the ASE. Mr. Azar responsibilities include overseeing the (7) Departments of the ASE.
Prior to his work at the ASE, Mr. Azar was the Director of different Departments at the Amman Financial Market (AFM) subsequently Jordan Securities Commission (JSC). He was also seconded for two and half years to Muscat Securities Market, Muscat – Oman right after the launching of the exchange 1991. During his work experience, Mr. Azar participated in many conferences and workshops related to the Exchange industry, and he is the Chairman of Working Committee (WC) of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS). Mr. Azar received his undergraduate degree in Financial Institutions Management from the University of Houston, Texas. U.S.A.

Ed Creswell

Sales Executive EMEA, Netik LLC

Ed Creswell is SVP Sales EMEA based in the London office. He has commercial responsibility for sales and account management in the EMEA region. Ed joined Netik in January 2007 as a sales executive in London and has just returned from Dubai where he was Middle East and South Africa Regional Manager. Ed has 15 years commercial experience as a sales executive, team manager and director working in IT and travel companies. Prior to this he was a British Army officer in the serving in the UK, Germany and the Balkans.
He has a BA (Hons) from Brighton University and an MBA from Cranfield University. He is British, 40 and married with three children.

Tom Davin, FIA

Managing Director, FISD

Tom Davin is Managing Director, Financial Information Services Division (FISD) for the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). FISD is the global, neutral forum for the financial information industry with a diverse membership that includes major market data vendors, exchanges, technology providers, and the financial institutions that utilize financial data products. Tom works closely with FISD members to identify major issues and seek opportunities to bring the financial information industry together to discuss and resolve those issues. FISD conducts regular membership events in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia and hosts the biennial World Financial Information Conference – the premiere global industry conference for financial information professionals.

Frank Desmond

Managing Director, Tullett Prebon Information

Frank Desmond manages Tullett Prebon Information’s global business with operations in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. He has been responsible for spearheading Tullett Prebon Information’s market leading growth over the past four years. Tullett Prebon Information provides the financial community with independent market data from the OTC financial markets including Rates, Money and FX, Fixed Income, Volatility, Commodities and Energy. Prior to joining Tullett Prebon Information, he spent more than a decade at Thomson Reuters in a range of legal and business roles. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and served on the executive committee of the FISD for several years. Frank began his career as a corporate lawyer where he worked for several years at international law firm, Clifford Chance LLP.

He was educated at University College Dublin. Married with two children Frank lives near London.

Susan Gogus

Deputy Secretary General, Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchange (FEAS)

Susan has worked over the past seven years in the role of Deputy Secretary General within the FEAS region to help develop and promote the member stock exchanges through her work in finance, statistics, report preparation and publication, conferences, advertising and strategic partnerships. FEAS currently has 34 member exchanges covering 30 countries in the Middle East, Asia and South East Europe.

After graduate school she worked in consulting for 5 years both in the US and Abroad in the areas of telecommunications and finance. In the time between undergrad and graduate school she worked for the Peace Corps in Botswana aimed at small business development.

Susan Gogus earned her “B.Sc.” degree in Accounting and International Business from Wake Forest University, and an “MSIA” degree in Strategy, Economics and Production from Carnegie Mellon Tepper Business School.

Mustafa Halela

Head, Global Data Department, Bloomberg L.P.

Rafah Hanna

Executive Director-Head, MTS Data, EuroMTS

As Head of MTS Data, Rafah Hanna is responsible for global sales, marketing and product development of all MTS Data products. Rafah brings a wealth of experience in market data from several high profile roles in debt capital markets. Prior to MTS, Rafah served as a senior executive of Global Data Acquisition at Thomson/Datastream, where he led key and complex data sourcing initiatives.

At Investthink, he was identified as a pivotal component to lead on a special project group working closely with the former CEO of Reuters Information. He has also held several Chief Content Officer roles with various global institutions and is co-chair of the FISD's Exchange Constituency Group.

Michael Hodgson

Head, Exchange Management, Thomson Reuters

Mike Hodgson has worked in the market data industry for 22 years and is currently Global Head of Exchange Management for Thomson Reuters (TR). Mike is responsible for building strategic relationships with Exchanges and sourcing Exchange data for use across all TR products. Previously at UBS Mike acted as Exchange global sourcing lead to the key business areas. This included negotiating and implementing global, strategic enterprise deals with Exchanges. In addition, Mike led UBS's market data interest in BOAT and Turquoise and Chaired a London Investment Bank Association committee focused on Exchange market data policy and pricing issues. Prior to that Mike was a consultant for Intelligent Growth, a market data agency specialising in product and business development and strategy. Mike started his career at London Stock Exchange where he spent 14 years in information services managing major products and services. His main focus was on the strategic development of the Exchange's real-time, historic and reference data services including product development, pricing and usage policies.

Manjula Jayasinghe

Senior Executive, Mubasher/DirectFN

Manjula Jayasinghe is an executive board member of DirectFN/Mubasher and overseas Market Data and Technology Solutions business. Manjula has been with Mubasher from its inception 10 years ago and worked on many of its initiatives over the period. Prior to joining Mubasher he worked at an investment bank and a venture capital company for over 8 years where he was primarily responsible for investment appraisals, due diligence and post investment management. Manjula is a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in the UK and holds an MBA from George Mason University, USA.

Antoine Kohler

MD Fixed Income OTC, S&P Capital IQ

Antoine is responsible for the Fixed Income and OTC business at S&P Capital IQ, which includes the evaluated pricing and market data businesses, the CDS and Credit instruments price collection services as well as the portfolio valuation initiatives. Antoine joined S&P Capital IQ through the acquisition of CMA in June 2012, where he served as Chief Executive since 2010. Antoine was previously MD of ICAP Information at the interdealer broker ICAP, a role he took in 2006. Prior to joining ICAP in 1997, he was a manager in business development at Liffe and a Swaps Money Broker at Harlow Butler UEDA.

He has bachelor’s degrees in Business Management and Marketing from Université de Bretagne Occidentale (France) and in Economics and Business Administration from Fachhochschule Bielefeld (Germany).

Brian Kopp

Exchange Business Management, Bloomberg L.P.

Max Linnington

Head of Bloomberg for MENA and South Asia, Bloomberg L.P.

Max Linnington is the newly appointed Head of Bloomberg for MENA and South Asia based in Dubai. He is Bloomberg's Senior Executive for the region reporting directly to Peter T Grauer (Chairman/CEO) Bloomberg LP in NYC. Max was formerly Head of Bloomberg Product Sales Americas based in New York overseeing Bloomberg’s Terminal, Order Management, Data Solutions, Electronic Trading and Media Sales Operations. Responsible for managing a staff of 600 people and Annual Revenues of USD2BN, Max held this position from 2001 to 2008. Max joined Bloomberg in 1995 in London, was responsible for Terminal Sales for the Netherlands until 1998 when he then assumed managerial responsibility for Bloomberg's Nordic Operations until 2001. Prior to joining Bloomberg in 1995, Max worked for Sternberg Thomas Clarke and Co as a jobber on the floor of the London Stock Exchange between 1986 and 1988. In 1988 he joined Parrish Stockbrokers London as a Portfolio Manager. From 1990 to 1992 he worked as an Asset Manager for Natwest Stockbrokers London. He holds the FSA Securities Industry Diploma and BA Honors in Financial Services UWE, Bristol, UK. Max is a UK National and is married with two children.

Hilary London

General Manager, Real-Time Markets EMEA, Interactive Data Corporation

Hilary London is General Manager Real-Time Markets, EMEA, Interactive Data. She is responsible for unifying the company’s real-time feed and desktop businesses in this region thereby enhancing the company’s ability to effectively and efficiently address the real-time needs of its retail and institutional customers. Hilary joined the company some 20 years ago; her other roles included regional sales director for Interactive Data’s Pricing and Reference Data business and more recently, general manager, EMEA, for eSignal, Interactive Data’s desktop solutions business.

Christian Nilsson

Head, Sales-Middle East & Africa, Thomson Reuters

Dean Noble

Vice President, Head of Market Operations, Nasdaq Dubai

Dean Noble joined NASDAQ Dubai in August 2007 and is currently Vice President, Head of Market Operations. He is responsible for the day to day running of the exchange’s trading and clearing operation and the development of NASDAQ Dubai’s equity derivative market.
Prior to joining NASDAQ Dubai Dean worked for 12 years at EDX London, the London Stock Exchange’s equity derivative business, most recently as Head of Business Development, responsible for product development and account management for trading participants.
At EDX London, Dean worked on a number of major initiatives including the launch of its Russian equity derivatives market based on the London Stock Exchange’s listed Russian GDRs.

Kevin Swann

Head of Market Data, Mubasher/DirectFN

Kevin Swann manages Mubasher / Direct FN's Market Data business globally. Prior to joining Mubasher/Direct FN, Kevin worked for Tradeweb Europe managing their market data business. Kevin has many years experience in the industry having worked at Bloomberg from 1992 to 2003 where his responsibilities included content acquisition, development of analytical applications for different markets and managing the specialist sales teams for EMEA. Prior to joining Bloomberg Kevin worked in the fixed income markets. He has a degree from Leeds University in the UK and is a resident of Dubai.

Stephen Wilson

Global Head, Exchange Traded Instruments, Thomson Reuters

Stephen Wilson is Thomson Reuters Global Head of Exchange Traded Instruments, based in London. He is responsible for overseeing the content, transaction and analytical capabilities that power equities and derivative customers successful trading operations. The Exchange Traded Instruments business sits within Thomson Reuters Sales & Trading division which delivers the pre-trade, trading and post-trade processing solutions necessary to drive global markets.

Stephen Wilson joined Reuters in January 2002. Prior to his appointment as Global Head of Exchange Traded Instruments, Stephen was responsible for Reuters transactions products for equities and exchange traded derivatives as part of the Next Generation Transactions strategy. Stephen has been involved in the financial services industry for over 25 years having started his career at Arthur Andersen and Co. in their Management Consulting arm and having worked in a number of Trading and Investment firms. He also spent 5 years in senior management positions at the London Stock Exchange being responsible for new markets development. In 1995, Stephen was one of the founders of Tradepoint, backed by a consortium of investment banks and investment firms, which became the first fully electronic, centrally cleared stock exchange to trade equities across Europe.