< The 2017 Tech 40

29. Peter Cherecwich
President, Corporate & Institutional Services
Northern Trust Corp.
Last year: PNR

Lots of words have been expended on blockchain predictions and punditry, but none quite like those in a recent commentary by Peter Cherecwich, "A Dream of the '90s Lives On: What GSTPA Teaches Us About Blockchain." Northern Trust Corp.'s president of corporate and institutional services (C&IS) concedes that "you have to be over 50" to have any recall of the Global Straight Through Processing Association, which attempted to standardize communications among fund managers, brokerages, and custodians. Cherecwich, 52, thinks GSTPA set a useful precedent. Although the group disbanded in 2002, unable to overcome political and economic obstacles, "there is an unmistakable correlation between the GSTPA's central matching engine concept and the current focus on building common and instantaneous shared transaction records," Cherecwich wrote in the article, posted in May at Pensions & Investments online. Promoted to his current position in January after two years as president of C&IS Americas and seven years heading Global Fund Services, Cherecwich is actively involved in blockchain strategy as an outgrowth of the technology-driven nature of his business. Northern Trust, which has $7.1 trillion in assets under custody and $1 trillion in assets under management, "is a relationship company that operates in a technological environment," says Cherecwich, who joined the Chicago-based organization in 2007 from State Street Corp.

 
The 2017 Tech 40

1. Adena Friedman NASDAQ 2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. 3. Robert Goldstein BlackRock 4. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange What History Reveals About U.S. Debt Downgrades Sponsored by CME Group July 7, 2025 5. Lance Uggla IHS Markit

6. Shawn Edwards & Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg 7. David Craig Thomson Reuters 8. Michael Spencer NEX Group 9. Don Callahan Citigroup 10. Elisha Wiesel Goldman Sachs Group

11. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. 12. Terrence Duffy CME Group 13. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing 14. Sean Belka Fidelity Investments 15. Chris Concannon CBOE Holdings

16. Guy Chiarello First Data Corp. 17. Steven Lieblich Citadel 18. David Rutter R3CEV 19. Blythe Masters Digital Asset Holdings 20. Alfred Spector Two Sigma Investments

21. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw Group 22. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets 23. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings 24. David Gledhill DBS Bank 25. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings

26. Antoine Shagoury State Street Corp. 27. Peter Brown & Robert Mercer Renaissance Technologies 28. Lou Eccleston TMX Group 29. Peter Cherecwich Northern Trust Corp. 30. Mike Chinn S&P Global Market Intelligence

31. Chris Corrado London Stock Exchange Group 32. Neal Pawar AQR Capital Management 33. Gary Norcross Fidelity National Information Services 34. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix 35. Sebastián Ceria Axioma

36. Brian Conlon First Derivatives and Kx Systems 37. Tyler Kim MaplesFS 38. Michael Cooper BT Radianz 39. Robert Schifellite Broadridge Financial Solutions 40. Jim Minnick eVestment