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Ted Myerson, Founder & CEO
Ted Myerson is the Founder and CEO of FTEN, Inc. As CEO, Ted manages all strategic and operational functions from global business development to industry/regulatory relations to client services.
Ted began his career at Kaufman, Rossin, & Co. as an auditor for hedge fund clients. After learning what it took to manage a successful fund from the inside out, Ted set out to start his own hedge fund, Sterling Securities. As a Partner at Sterling, Ted was responsible for developing the firm's technology infrastructure. With his foresight and vision, Ted positioned Sterling as one of the earliest adopters of Direct Market Access (DMA) technology.
After Sterling, Ted Co-Founded ECN Access Europe, a first-to-market technology company in Europe that provided a robust Direct Market Access (DMA) platform for access to liquidity markets around the globe. As President, Ted's leadership drove the company to capitalize on the growing demand for electronic trading and international market access prompting many of Europe's banks to adopt their innovative trading technology.
Taking his deep experience in hedge fund management, DMA technology and global market access, Ted founded FTEN in 2001 with a focus on innovation, agility and client relationships. As a testament to FTEN's impact on the securities market under Ted's leadership, FTEN technology currently process millions of transactions globally, including over 20% of the entire US equities daily volume and over $100 billion in intra-day risk calculations.
Ted Myerson received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with double majors in Accounting and Finance from the University of Miami. As a widely recognized expert in low latency, high volume order routing systems and risk management technology, Ted is a frequently featured speaker at leading financial industry conferences worldwide.
He resides in New York City with his wife and daughter.
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Doug Kittelsen, Chief Technology/Product Officer
Doug Kittelsen is Chief Technology Officer of FTEN. As CTO, Doug helps FTEN's partners and clients optimize their profitability by applying the latest technology and business processes tailored to their specific needs. He is responsible for managing the full life-cycle for FTEN's solutions including the design, development, deployment and evolution. He is also co-author of several pending patents in the area of risk management and market data processing.
Doug's role at FTEN extends beyond the technical. As part of the executive team, Doug is major driver of corporate development and culture. By fostering an agile and dynamic work environment, the FTEN team is driven to seek the most creative and innovative solutions for all aspects of company and its products.
Prior to joining FTEN, Doug was Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Firewater.com, an application service provider that supported Fortune 500 companies with the tools to create dynamic web content. As CEO, Doug managed the strategic and operational functions to align with market and customer needs. During this time he was also named a ComputerWorld/Smithsonian Laureate for Technology Innovation. After Firewater was acquired by MediaMap, a Warburg Pincus Equity Partners company, Doug served as CTO.
Prior to Firewater, Doug was a Senior Principal with American Management Systems, an international systems consulting company, where he ran an agile object technology development team across the U.S. and Europe. As a consultant, Doug worked with clients to solve business challenges through software design and development.
Doug has a Bachelor of Science in Management from Binghamton University's School of Management.
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Gary LaFever, Chief Corporate Development Officer
As Chief Corporate Development Officer, Gary is responsible for evaluating and executing FTEN's key strategic initiatives to secure FTEN's long-term growth, success, and sustainability.
Gary joined FTEN at its inception in 2001. During this time he led the company's preliminary fundraising efforts and negotiated rights to the intellectual property underlying FTEN's initial software offerings.
Over the last few years Gary's role has evolved into leading FTEN's corporate development efforts including corporate financings, expansion into Europe and Asia, securing strategic partnerships, providing regulatory thought leadership and guidance, and managing investor relations.
Prior to joining FTEN, Gary held various C-Level positions with international venture-backed technology companies, where he established strategic partnerships and facilitated investment financings, global expansion, mergers and acquisitions.
Gary was also a Partner at Hogan & Hartson, the top-rated international law firm founded in Washington, DC. At Hogan & Hartson, he managed clients' corporate, securities, and intellectual property matters; coordinated complex venture capital transactions and financings; and negotiated mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to Hogan & Hartson, Gary was a Management Consultant at Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. At Accenture, Gary advised clients on complex technology needs and requirements.
Gary received his Juris Doctor from the American University Washington College of Law, with an emphasis in computer law. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from James Madison University, with a dual major in Marketing and Management Information Systems.
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Lee Cole, Managing Director, Research & Development
Lee Cole is the Director of Development at FTEN, Inc. Lee brings over 20 years of experience in Research and Development management. Prior to joining FTEN, Lee headed the Research Lab for Quark, the industry leader in commercial digital media and desktop publishing. Before that Lee was: Vice-President of Engineering of Spatial Technology (making the engine beneath AutoCAD), Director of Development for eoTek (a mortgage banking unit of Bank of America), and Vice-President of Research and Development at UNISYS CAD/CAM. Prior to that Lee served a Program Manager leading research and new development efforts for Honeywell and the US Department of Energy. During an academic career he served on the Physics faculties of Tulane, Dartmouth, and Iowa State.
Mr. Cole received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Theoretical Physics from Dartmouth.
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Valerie Bannert-Thurner, Ph.D., European Executive Director
Valerie is Executive Director of FTEN's European operations. Valerie is responsible for adapting FTEN's business model to the European trading community, establishing strategic business and technology partnering arrangements, identifying and championing new requirements into product development, and increasing FTEN's leadership and quality of service across Europe.
Prior to joining FTEN, Valerie served as European Managing Director for Skyler Inc. While at Skyler, she was in charge of developing the business model, strategic partnerships, technology licensing, product positioning, and marketing, including public relations, where she established Skyler as an industry thought leader. Prior to Skyler, Valerie authored articles on finance and technology, published a book on strategic acquisition management, lectured at Cambridge University and the University of California, and spoke at several Industry conferences worldwide.
Valerie brings entrepreneurial and leadership skills along with vast experience in strategic alliances to deliver innovative, jointly developed, solutions to market. She has worked across many continents and cultures.
She has a B.S.M.E., M.S. and Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich.
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Brian Crowley, Managing Director, Global Client Services
Brian is Managing Director of FTEN's Client Services Division. He is chartered to establish a global support organization that will include the expansion of the FTEN European office and the establishment of an Asian presence. His team is responsible for client enablement, service and support for FTEN's high frequency execution platforms, real-time pre-trade risk controls, trade surveillance and regulatory reporting services.
Brian is most recently from JP Morgan where he served as Executive Director, Broker Dealer Services Electronic Trading Product Development. Previously he served as Managing Director in the Global Equities division of Bear Stearns and has held various positions in the Treasury function at the IBM Retirement Fund. He brings a wealth of knowledge in high-frequency electronic trading and client implementation to FTEN.
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Andrew Evans, Managing Director, Finance and Operations
Andrew provides overall direction and guidance to the operational activities of the organization with the objective of maximizing growth and profitability. He is responsible for all financial and fiscal management aspects of company operations and provides leadership and coordination in the administrative, business planning, accounting and budgeting efforts of the company.
Andrew brings a broad range of industry experience from venture-backed companies. He has raised over $110 million in equity and debt from venture, strategic and corporate investors for companies at various stages of development from seed through private placement.
Andrew has over 15 years of experience in the high-tech sector, growing companies and managing their finance, legal, human resources and administration functions. He sold his last company, Umbria, to JD Power and then headed up sales and business development for J.D. Power's Web Intelligence division. Before joining Umbria, he was the Chief Financial Officer at InPhase Technologies and Zight Corporation. Prior to that, he managed international investments for US West and spent eight years with KPMG in both the London and Sydney offices.
Andrew received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Birmingham University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
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