< The 2017 Tech 40

35. Sebastián Ceria
Chief Executive Officer
Axioma
Last year: 35

In the 19 years since Sebastián Ceria founded Axioma, a software company focused on the buy side, changes in financial markets and information technology have accelerated. Ceria has built the New York–based business to keep pace as risk and portfolio management decisions increasingly require on-demand analytics that can't be pushed back till the end of the day or overnight. Axioma, which started out as a consulting firm in mathematical modeling and began selling portfolio optimization software in 2001, entered the risk systems business in 2006. By 2013 it was touting its multi-asset class, enterprise-wide Axioma Risk as "a quantum leap forward," combining simulation- and factor-based approaches for portfolio and risk managers on a common platform for the first time. Stressing innovation processes that invite customer collaboration, along with agile systems development and a heavy reliance on the capacity and flexibility of cloud computing, Axioma has grown to more than 240 employees and about 200 asset management, pension fund, and hedge fund clients worldwide. "We could not have accomplished what we did without the cloud," says Ceria, 52, who completed a Ph.D. in operations at Carnegie Mellon University and earned an undergraduate degree in applied math at the University of Buenos Aires.

 
The 2017 Tech 40

1. Adena Friedman NASDAQ 2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. 3. Robert Goldstein BlackRock 4. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange Finding, Applying for, and Winning Grant Funding: Tips for Nonprofits Sponsored by Fidelity Investments April 29, 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