Speakers

Dr. Reena Aggarwal

Robert E. McDonough Professor of Finance and Director, Georgetown Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy, Georgetown University

Dr Reena Aggarwal

Robert E. McDonough Professor of Finance, Georgetown University

Dr. Aggarwal specializes in domestic and global financial markets; market regulation, short term funding markets; equity and corporate bond markets; small business financing; capital raising; ETFs; corporate governance including proxy voting, executive compensation, and director elections; role of institutional investors; FinTech and financial inclusion; and ESG attributes of firms.

She combines rigorous data-driven scholarship with deep knowledge of the institutional workings and regulation of financial markets. She is a renowned scholar, her work is very well-cited, and has served on the editorial boards of several finance journals. Her research has received numerous awards.

Selected Appointments/Roles: Until recently, Dr. Aggarwal was the Vice Provost for Faculty at Georgetown University, responsible for building a diverse and world-class faculty. She managed all aspects of faculty affairs for 2000+ faculty. This included hiring, merit and compensation, promotion and tenure, faculty development, and fiscal planning. She deeply cares about diversity and inequity, and played a leading role on the Presidential Task Force on Gender Equity.

As the Interim Dean of the business school, she was responsible for the school’s strategy, fund raising, programs, budget, operations, and stakeholder engagement including faculty, staff, students, leadership of the university, board, alumni, and donors.

She has served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Financing and Capital; Fulbright Scholar to Brazil; Distinguished Scholar at the Reserve Bank of India’s CAFRAL; Senior Research Scholar at the SEC; Visiting Scholar at the IMF; and Visiting Professor of Finance at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

Corporate Boards: Cohen & Steers (NYSE:CNS); New York Life Investment Management IndexIQ; Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending. These board positions at asset management firms give her real-time insights into the functioning of the markets in the areas of real assets, infrastructure, fixed income, equity, and ETFs.

Awards: Named among "Outstanding Faculty" in the Business Week Guide to the Best Business Schools, and voted an outstanding professor by students. Honored with the Allan N. Nash Distinguished Doctoral Graduate Award by University of Maryland, and the Distinguished Alumni Award, BITS Pilani, India.

Ph.D. in Finance, University of Maryland, 1985

M.M.S. (Master of Management Studies, 5-year) BITS Pilani, India, 1979

Khalid Abdullah Al-Hussan

Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Tadawul Group, & Vice-Chairman, The World Federation of Exchanges

Eng. Khalid Abdullah Alhussan is a Board member and the Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Tadawul Group. He also serves as the Chairman of the Saudi Exchange, the Securities Depository Center Company (Edaa), the Securities Clearing Center Company (Muqassa), Wamid, an applied technology services business and the innovation arm of Saudi Tadawul Group. Additionally, Al Hussan is a board member in the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) and Tadawul Real Estate Company, and E-Finance for Digital and Financial Investments (S.A.E).

Alhussan has more than 16 years of capital market and financial sector experience and possesses a wide range of expertise from business development and corporate planning to strategy and operations. Preceding his appointment as CEO of the Group, Eng. Khalid was the CEO of The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) - now known as the Saudi Exchange - for more than 5 years.

Throughout his tenure at the Exchange, Khalid has overseen the introduction and implementation of several key development programs, including the Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) framework, the inclusion of Tadawul in the emerging markets’ indices, the launch of Nomu and the derivative markets, the development of the fixed income market and the record-setting IPO of Saudi Aramco. Notably and most recently, led the transformation into the Saudi Tadawul Group.

Prior to joining the Exchange, Eng. Khalid worked in the insurance sector, managing areas of business product development and strategy.

Khalid is an engineer and holds an MBA from the University of Colorado, where he is also a certified entrepreneur.

Memberships in Board Committees: Member of the Investment Committee, Member of the Governance, Risk and Compliance Committee.

Jorge Alegria

Chief Executive Officer, Bolsa Mexicana de Valores

He has held various positions of high responsibility in the financial and markets sector, including Senior Director of CME Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), representative in Mexico and in charge of the development of markets, clients and derivative products for Latin America.

Previously he served as Managing Director of MexDer (Mexican Derivatives Market) and as Deputy Managing Director of the Mexican Stock Exchange, in charge of Market Operations and Data Services of the BMV Group. Prior to that, he was CEO of ABN AMRO Securities (Mexico) and Deputy Managing Director of Scotia-bank Inverlat México.

He chaired the International Options Markets Association (IOMA) abroad for three years. Mr. Alegría graduated as a Public Accountant specialized in Finance from ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México), where he has also been a part-time professor teaching the topic of Derivatives Markets in Mexico. He has taken and taught various advanced courses and seminars in Mexico and abroad, specialized in capital markets, FINTECH and financial derivatives.

Julie Becker

Chief Executive Officer, Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE)

Julie Becker has been at the helm of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) since April 2021. She joined LuxSE in 2013 and was appointed to its Executive Committee in 2015, before being named Deputy CEO in 2019, and CEO two years later.

Her career in the financial sector in Luxembourg spans over two decades and includes positions at the Central Bank of Luxembourg and Dexia.

In 2016, Julie Becker founded the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities. A recognised expert in the field of sustainable finance, Julie Becker has represented LuxSE and LGX at numerous, international expert forums and conferences over the past years, including the EU High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance from 2017 to 2019 and the United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development in 2023.

Julie Becker is a member of the board of directors of several Luxembourg-based financial industry associations and the Chairwoman of LuxCMA, a capital markets industry association established in 2019. She was awarded "The inventor" by Global Landscape as part of their campaign "16 Women Restoring the Earth" in 2019 and was named the "Most Influential Economic Decision Maker in Luxembourg" in the 2022 edition of the Paperjam Top 100.

Julie Becker played a crucial role in the founding of the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter. She is a member of the Luxembourg Gender Finance Task Force, launched in 2023, and the EIB’s Women Climate Leaders Network, launched in 2024. She was appointed as a member of the University of Luxembourg’s Board of Governors in 2023, and as a Bloomberg EU Women in Finance ambassador in 2024.

Julie Becker specialises in regulatory and legal matters linked to capital markets.

She holds a Master’s Degree in European & Comparative Law and a Master’s Degree (DEA) in Private Law from the University of Nancy II, France. She is also an alumna of the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Thomas Book

Member of the Executive Board, Deutsche Börse AG

Thomas Book is a member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG, responsible for Trading & Clearing. A pioneer in electronic trading, he joined Deutsche Börse Group in 1995 as a member of the team that rolled out Deutsche Terminbörse’s remote membership concept across Europe and the US, gaining deep insights into the impact of innovation and technology in the exchange industry. Book was also a member of the project team that built Eurex, the first cross-border exchange merger of its kind. In 2001, he rounded off his profound industry knowledge with his Ph. D. thesis Electronic Exchange Trading and Global Markets”. As a member of the Executive Board of Eurex and Eurex Clearing, Book subsequently shaped Deutsche Börse’s trading and clearing business for many years. From 2007 to 2016, he was responsible for the clearing business of Eurex, expanding the value proposition following the 2008 financial crisis. In 2016, he took responsibility for trading at Eurex as its CEO, before being appointed to the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse in 2018. He is responsible for the Trading & Clearing division, which includes Cash Market, Financial Derivatives, FX & Digital Assets, Commodities and Market Data.

Ashishkumar Chauhan

Managing Director & CEO, National Stock Exchange of India

Shri Ashishkumar Chauhan is the MD & CEO of the National Stock Exchange of In-dia (NSE). A technocrat from IIT Bombay and IIM Calcutta, he was part of the found-ing team at NSE. He is credited with setting up first screen-based trading in India, mobile trading, mutual fund distribution through exchanges, markets for SME shares, satellite telecom, the NIFTY index, derivatives trading and many other modern developments in the Indian stock markets. He is considered as the father of modern financial derivatives in India.

Ashish has been fulfilling NSE’s mandate of being a frontline regulator that ex-tends well beyond any comparable exchange in the world. NSE, today, is the larg-est exchange in the world in terms of the number of orders and trades per day. He has been instrumental in the success of NSE IFSC and in bringing SGX NIFTY to GIFT IFSC which is a pivotal moment in Indian Financial Markets in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modiji’s vision for Amrit Kaal. He has also played a significant role in the establishment of the Social Stock Exchange.

Prior to joining NSE back in 2022, he was the MD and CEO of the Bombay Stock Ex-change for 10 years. He is a member of the University Grants Commission and the Chancellor of the University of Allahabad. He is on the board of IIM Calcutta, ONDC and other institutions of repute. He is a faculty at Nottingham University, UK and Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada. He has also worked in the Reliance group and as the CEO of Mumbai Indians IPL cricket team in its formative years.

A Book titled ‘Sthithpragya: The Process of Maintaining an Equilibrium’ addresses his life’s journey. He has been awarded many awards in India and abroad including the Most Influential CEO Award by CEO Monthly in 2024, lifetime achievement award from Global Custodian at Singapore in 2023, Lifetime Achievement award in the field of Information Technology by CTO Magazine, Istanbul, Top 50 CIOs in the world by Information Week, US, Digital Icon of the Year, Asian Banker of the Year and many more.

Samara Cohen

Managing Director and Head of iShares Global Markets, BlackRock

Samara Cohen is Managing Director and Head of iShares Global Markets at BlackRock. This team seeks to protect and grow trading in iShares funds by actively monitoring and improving the ETF ecosystem, which encompasses investors, broker-dealers, market-makers, trading venues and technology providers.

Ms. Cohen also leads the firm's efforts globally on EII (ETF and Index Investments) public policy and regulation. In this role, she works closely with BlackRock's Global Public Policy Group in addressing a wide range of issues related to indexing and ETFs with policy makers worldwide.

Samara originally joined BlackRock in 1993 as an analyst in the Institutional Client Business group. Prior to rejoining BlackRock, Ms. Cohen was a Managing Director in the Securities Division of Goldman Sachs. She served as Chief Operating Officer of FICC (Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities) Americas Sales and led the Global Market Transition team which developed and delivered solutions to clients in the evolving market structure and regulatory environment. Previously, Samara worked in Interest Rate Products where she was responsible for developing strategies in interest rate and derivative markets for a broad range of institutional clients, including banks, insurance companies, asset managers and hedge funds. Samara also represented Goldman Sachs on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Global Markets Advisory Committee.

Samara earned a BS Econ in Finance from the Wharton School and a BA in Theatre Arts from the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania. She earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Edward Knight

Executive Vice Chairman, Nasdaq

As Executive Vice Chairman, Edward Knight manages global government relations and serves as a senior advisor on public policy and litigation.

During his tenure as Nasdaq’s General Counsel from 2001 to 2019, Knight championed many causes for investors and public companies: proxy reform; corporate governance modernization, including the JOBS ACT passage in 2012; regulatory re-form; immigration reform; and enhancing the self-regulatory organization model. He has worked tirelessly to ensure Nasdaq’s U.S. equity market maintains its position as the premier global marketplace for capital formation.

Knight currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is a member of the District of Columbia, Texas and Supreme Court Bars. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on its Committee on Corporate Affairs. Knight is Vice Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Chair of the U.S.-India Business Council. He is also chair of TechNet's Executive Council. He is a member of the Nasdaq Dubai Board and the Board of the World Federation of Exchanges. He is based in Nasdaq’s Washington, D.C., office.

Before serving as FINRA’s General Counsel from 1999-2001 and then NASDAQ’s General Counsel, Knight served as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury from September 1994 to June 1999 — the longest tenure since the position was created in 1934. Upon his departure, he received the Alexander Hamilton Award, the Department's highest honor. He also received the Honor Award from the Secret Service. Before being named Treasury General Counsel, Knight served as Executive Secretary and Senior Advisor to Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen. He also served as a member of the Obama Transition Team at the U.S. Treasury Department in 2008-2009.

Prior, he was a partner with the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld in Washington, D.C. A Texas native, Knight received his Bachelor of Arts, with honors, in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas School of Law.

Boon Chye Loh

Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Exchange Group

Mr Loh Boon Chye joined SGX as CEO on 14 July 2015. He is also an Executive and Non-Independent Director on the SGX Board. As CEO, he drives SGX’s growth strategy, with the aim of transforming SGX into a world-class multi-asset exchange.

Over the years, Mr Loh has played a key role in the development of Southeast Asia’s capital markets, having held a number of senior advisory positions. Apart from his directorship on the SGX Board from 2003 to 2012, he has been on the Boards of GIC Pte Ltd since November 2012, Economic Development Board Singapore since February 2017 and the World Federation of Exchanges since September 2017. He is also Chairman of the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics Advisory Board and Co-Chair of the Council for Board Diversity.

With a career in the financial industry that spans three decades, Mr Loh was most recently Deputy President and Head of Asia Pacific Global Markets at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch from December 2012 to May 2015. He was also the bank’s Country Executive for Singapore and Southeast Asia and a member of its Asia Pacific Executive Committee. From 1995 to 2012, Mr Loh was with Deutsche Bank AG, where he held various leadership roles including Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for Asia Pacific and Head of Global Markets for Asia.

Mr Loh is a council member and Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Banking & Finance Singapore and a council member at the Singapore Business Federation. He was also previously Chairman of the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee, as well as Deputy President of ACI Singapore.

Mr Loh holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the National University of Singapore.

John McKenzie

Chief Executive Officer, TMX Group, & Chair, The World Federation of Exchanges

John McKenzie is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TMX Group.

Mr. McKenzie is a member of the TMX Group Board of Directors and also a member of the Board of Directors of several TMX Group subsidiaries.

Mr. McKenzie has worked for TMX for over 25 years. Prior to his appointment as CEO on August 17, 2020, he served as Chief Financial Officer and was responsible for corporate strategy, corporate development, investor relations and the financial management of the company as well as for the administrative oversight of TMX Group’s Capital Formation business. He has led various TMX acquisitions, including the Maple transaction, and the acquisitions of Montréal Exchange and Trayport.

From July 2015 to August 2016, Mr. McKenzie served as President of CDS, Canada’s equity and fixed income clearing house and a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMX Group. Prior to that he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and CFO of CDS.

Mr. McKenzie is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (FCPA, FCMA) and has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, HeriotWatt University and an Honours BA from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has served on a number of boards, and is currently the Chair of the World Federation of Exchanges, and a Board Member and Treasurer for the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation.

Joseph Portelli

Executive Chairman, Malta Stock Exchange

Joseph Portelli has over 38 years of experience employed in various capacities within the financial industry in the U.S and in Malta. He has experience as a portfolio manager, currency, and futures trader, and has worked with Bank of America, Nomura Securities, Goldman Sachs, Millburn Ridgefield, and Liongate Capital Management. He was also chief investment officer and managing director of FMG Funds, an emerging markets specialist.

He is currently the Executive Chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange and sits on its Audit Committee. Between April 2013 and April 2015 he sat on its board and chaired its Risk Management Committee. In 2015 he was named executive chair of the Malta Stock Exchange PLC and has founded and chairs various MSE-owned subsidiaries such as the Malta Stock Exchange Institute amongst others. He also offers risk management consulting, and sits on the boards and investment committees of numerous asset management and financial service companies domiciled in Malta. Joseph also sits on the Malta Financial Services Advisory Council a board, constituted by the Finance Ministry of Malta and is chairman of the World Federation of Exchanges, Governance and Nominations Committee.

Joseph was also a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta and has taught courses at the Malta Institute of Accounting, and other institutions. He was a regular contributor to the Times of Malta, writing about investor education. Joseph graduated with a BA from Baruch College, City University of New York.

Valdene Reddy

Group Chief Executive Officer, Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Valdene’s career spans over two decades in financial markets. She joined JSE in 2015 as Head of Equity and Equity Derivatives and was promoted to Director of Capital Markets at JSE in 2020. Before joining the JSE in 2015, Valdene worked at two international investment banks in equity and equity derivatives sales and trading, covering local and foreign institutional clients.

During her 10-year tenor at the JSE, she has been responsible for all capital raise and trading activity on the exchange across all markets. This includes the sourcing of new listings across equity, debt and structured products, as well as the development and management of all secondary market trading in cash and derivative markets.

A large part of Valdene’s role focusses on mobilizing capital flow and investment into South Africa by targeting aligned intent and execution between public and private sector. This is a high imperative for showcasing the country, the capital markets and driving investment into SA.

In addition, Valdene has extended the development of new markets in South Africa, including the launch of JSE Private Placements and JSE Ventures Voluntary Carbon Market. She is also responsible for JSE Investor Services which is a transfer secretary and share plans business, acquired by the JSE in 2021.

Valdene holds a Bachelor of Business Science, Actuarial Science degree from the University of Cape Town; is a Certified Director with the Institute of Directors South Africa and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Bjørn Sibbern

Chief Executive Officer, SIX Group

Bjørn Sibbern has been the CEO of SIX since January 2025. Previously, since joining SIX in January 2024, he led the stock exchange business as Global Head Exchanges and a Member of the Executive Board. Bjørn Sibbern has experience managing large teams in the fields of trading, funds, post-trade, listings, IPOs, data, index business, and technology. Before joining SIX, he served as Executive Vice President and President of European Markets at Nasdaq. In this role, he led the Nasdaq markets and exchanges across the Nordic and Baltic regions. He was also responsible for trading, listing, clearing, settlement, and the data business in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and the Baltic nations. Prior to this, Bjørn was Executive Vice President and responsible for Nasdaq global data, data & analytics and index business working out of Nasdaq headquarter in New York. Before joining Nasdaq, Bjørn Sibbern was CEO at E*TRADE Bank Denmark from 2006 to 2008 and held key roles at OMX and Stocknet Norway. The Danish citizen holds an Executive Master in Business Administration, a Graduate Diploma in Finance, and a Master in Business Administration and Commercial Law from Copenhagen Business School.

Other Activities and Mandates

Chairman, Bolsas y Mercados Españoles SA (BME), Madrid

Chairman or Board Member of various SIX Group Ltd companies

Chairman of the Board of Directors Aquis Exchange Ltd., London

Nandini Sukumar

Chief Executive Officer, The World Federation of Exchanges

Nandini Sukumar is the Chief Executive Officer of the World Federation of Exchanges, the global association for exchanges and CCPs. The WFE represents more than 250 exchanges and clearing houses globally, educating stakeholders on the vital role played by market infrastructures in the real economy and as a standard setter, finding the consensus on issues among the global membership. Of our members, 37% are in Asia-Pacific, 43% in EMEA and 20% in the Americas. WFE’s 87 member CCPs and clearing services collectively ensure that risk takers post some $1.1 trillion (equivalent) of resources to back their positions, in the form of initial margin and default fund requirements. WFE exchanges, together with other exchanges feeding into our database, are home to over 49,054 listed companies, and the market capitalisation of these entities is $116.58 trillion; around $155 trillion (EOB) in trading annually passes through WFE members (at end 2024). Ms. Sukumar is Vice Chair of IOSCO’s Affiliate Members Consultative Committee and Chair of the AMCC’s Sustainability Taskforce.

Carlson Tong

Chairman, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited, & Working Committee Chair, The World Federation of Exchanges

Mr Carlson Tong is Chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited.  

Mr Tong is also an Independent Non-Executive Director of MTR Corporation Limited, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited and the Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited; and a director of the World Federation of Exchanges. He is also a member of the International Advisory Council of National Financial Regulatory Administration.

He was Chairman of KPMG China and Hong Kong from 2007 to 2011 and was Chairman of the Asia-Pacific region and a member of KPMG’s global board from 2009 to 2011. He was also an independent non-executive director of Standard Chartered PLC from 2019 to 2024.

Mr Tong has been actively involved in capital markets throughout his career, with deep expertise in corporate governance and regulatory compliance. He served as a member of the Main Board and Growth Enterprise Market Listing Committee of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited from 2002 to 2006, before becoming the chair from 2006 to 2008. 

Mr Tong was appointed Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission from 2012 to 2018. He oversaw the launch of several major policy initiatives during his term, including the introduction of the landmark Stock Connect programme and the mutual recognition of funds between Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Mr Tong has also been devoting his time to the local community, and was very active in Hong Kong’s education and youth sectors. He was Chairman of the English Schools Foundation, the Hong Kong Sports Institute and the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong.

Mr Tong is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He received the 2022 ICAEW Outstanding Achievement Award, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Business Administration by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, an honorary Doctor of Social Science by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as an honorary Doctor of Social Sciences by the Education University of Hong Kong. 

Mr Tong was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star and the Gold Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in 2014 and 2019, respectively.

Kendal Vroman

Chief Transformation Officer, CME Group

Kendal (Ken) Vroman serves as CME Group’s Chief Transformation Officer. He is re-sponsible for overseeing the company’s migration process as part of its 10-year partnership with Google Cloud to transform global derivatives markets through cloud adoption. He also leads the planning and execution function across the or-ganization.

Prior to assuming his current role, he most recently served as Senior Managing Di-rector, International and Optimization Services.

Since joining the company in 2001, Vroman has held a variety of senior leadership roles including Managing Director of Planning and Execution, Global Head of Commodity Products and OTC Solutions, and Managing Director and Chief Corporate Development Officer. Vroman played a key leadership role in integration planning associated with the NEX acquisition in 2018, the CME/CBOT merger in 2007, the historic CME/CBOT clearing agreement in 2003-2004 and the company's initial public offering in 2002.

Before joining the company, he worked as Vice President, Corporate Operations/Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive Officer for marchFIRST Inc. from 1999-2001. At marchFIRST, he handled a variety of executive level project management tasks, including integrating staff and operations during the 2000 merger of US-Web/CKS and Whittman-Hart. Prior to the merger, Vroman served as Principal for Whittman-Hart’s

Collaborative Technologies Group from 1995-99. He also worked as a Senior Consultant for Andersen Consulting LLP’s Americas Information Systems Division.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in applied computer science from Illinois State University and a master’s of management degree, with an emphasis in finance and marketing, from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.