The 2016 Trading Technology 40: Anton Katz and Stephen Mock

The 2016 Trading Technology 40: No. 29

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< The 2016 Trading Technology 40

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Anton Katz and Stephen Mock
Head of Trading Systems Technology and Head of Trade Execution Technology
AQR Capital Management
PNR

Information technology doesn’t just serve or support the portfolio strategies of AQR Capital Management. It’s integral to the quantitative investment firm’s processes and is even part of the performance equation reported to clients. “AQR doesn’t have silos like many quantitative firms do,” says Stephen Mock, who as head of trade execution technology manages algorithmic trading systems. IT and investing ideas are routinely linked in internal conversations. “We are very transparent with investors about our technology — it is part of a holistic view of how they are benefiting,” explains Anton Katz, head of trading systems technology. Although Greenwich, Connecticut–based AQR, which was formed in 1998 and has $141 billion under management, may have been a trendsetter in its embrace of IT, Katz and Mock represent a new generation of approaches that could radically redefine the alternative-investment technology niche. Like any financial institution, AQR weighs “build versus buy” decisions, and old proprietary biases are giving way to openness and collaboration. Katz, 35, who joined AQR in 2015 after six years with Broadway Technology (see Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky, No. 22), says “a lot of proprietary-built software” goes into the trade-order management platforms that he oversees. “But the vendor space is interesting, and we look at what we may be able to do in a collaborative way.” Mock, 36, who has a low-latency trading background and left Macquarie Capital for AQR in 2012, says the firm keeps on the cutting edge with a “culture of experimentation that is mindful of the marketplace.” Katz’s vendor experience complements Mock’s in investment management (Magnetar Capital, BMO Capital Markets and BNP Paribas’ CooperNeff Advisors) as they scan a five- to ten-year strategic horizon. Trends like cloud and virtualization “cannot be ignored,” Katz says. “In a few years it may not make sense to run your own data center.”


2016 Trading Technology 40

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1. Raymond Tierney III
Bloomberg

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2. Richard Prager
BlackRock

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3. Chris Isaacson
BATS Global Markets

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4. Jonathan Ross
KCG Holdings

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5. Bradley Peterson
Nasdaq

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6. Brad Levy
Markit

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7. Dan Keegan
Citi

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8. Ronald DePoalo
Fidelity Institutional

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9. Raj Mahajan
Goldman Sachs Group

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10. Ari Studnitzer
CME Group

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11. Mayur Kapani
Intercontinental Exchange

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12. Gerald O’Connell
CBOE Holdings

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13. Nicholas Themelis
MarketAxess Holdings

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14. Gil Mandelzis
EBS BrokerTec (ICAP)

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15. Bill Chow and Richard Leung
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

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16. Rob Park
IEX Group

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17. Philip Weisberg
Thomson Reuters

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18. John Mackay (Mack) Gill
MillenniumIT

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19. Robert Cornish
International Securities Exchange

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20. Paul Hamill
Citadel Securities

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21. Eric Noll
Convergex

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22. Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky
Broadway Technology

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23. Rishi Nangalia
REDI Holdings

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24. Veronica Augustsson
Cinnober Financial Technology

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25. Alasdair Haynes
Aquis Exchange

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26. Manoj Narang
Mana Partners

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27. Gaurav Suri
Arcesium

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28. Robert Sloan
S3 Partners

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29. Anton Katz and Stephen Mock
AQR Capital Mgmt

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30. Stu Taylor
Algomi

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31. D. Keith Ross Jr.
PDQ Enterprises

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32. Donal Byrne
Corvil

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33. Alfred Eskandar
Portware

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34. R. Cromwell Coulson
OTC Markets Group

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35. Masayuki Hosaka
Rakuten

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36. Peter Maragos and David Karat
Dash Financial

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37. Amar Kuchinad
Electronifie

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38. Jennifer Nayar
SR Labs

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39. Dave Snowdon
Metamako

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40. Dan Raju
Tradier


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