< The 2016 Trading Technology 40
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R. Cromwell Coulson
President and Chief Executive Officer
OTC Markets Group
Last year: 37
Over-the-counter trading is for stocks too small or otherwise unready for exchange listing. OTC Markets Group offers these companies a systematic and economical way upstream, operating three platforms that are progressively more disciplined and less “exchange lite,” says CEO R. Cromwell Coulson. With 10,000 securities, including a growing cadre of community banks and international companies’ American depositary receipts, on his firm’s systems, he’s like a proud parent. Running the company and continually upgrading its technology since 1997, Coulson over the past five years has seen nearly 400 companies, including 60 in 2015, graduate from his platforms to “main boards” operated by Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. Comparable figures from two peer markets, Canada’s TSX Venture Exchange and London Stock Exchange Group’s AIM, were each in single digits. An equally significant point of pride for a corner of the securities markets historically snubbed as substandard: “We had 100 percent core system reliability last year,” says Coulson, 49, who’s more than happy to be in the too-big-to-fail league, even if his company is below the most elite tier. The CEO sees New York–based OTC Markets filling a void for entrepreneurs left behind by Nasdaq’s upgrade to exchange status in 2006. The firm’s objectives center on the transparency of data and the connectivity of market participants. “There are risks in this market,” Coulson explains. “We drive transparency so risk is appropriately priced. Our platform makes it easier for dealers to build clout around the liquidity they offer.” For young companies OTC Markets offers “a place to go when you’re trying to figure it out.” Among those launched last year on the top-level OTCQX platform: Bitcoin Investment Trust. “We are an open market where entrepreneurs like Barry Silbert [CEO of the trust’s sponsor, Grayscale Investments] are welcome without a lot of pain, cost and complexity,” Coulson says.
2016 Trading Technology 40Click below to view profiles
1. Raymond Tierney III 2. Richard Prager 3. Chris Isaacson 4. Jonathan Ross 5. Bradley Peterson |
6. Brad Levy 7. Dan Keegan 8. Ronald DePoalo 9. Raj Mahajan 10. Ari Studnitzer |
11. Mayur Kapani 12. Gerald O’Connell 13. Nicholas Themelis 14. Gil Mandelzis 15. Bill Chow and Richard Leung |
16. Rob Park 17. Philip Weisberg 18. John Mackay (Mack) Gill 19. Robert Cornish 20. Paul Hamill |
21. Eric Noll 22. Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky 23. Rishi Nangalia 24. Veronica Augustsson 25. Alasdair Haynes |
26. Manoj Narang 27. Gaurav Suri 28. Robert Sloan 29. Anton Katz and Stephen Mock 30. Stu Taylor |
31. D. Keith Ross Jr. 32. Donal Byrne 33. Alfred Eskandar 34. R. Cromwell Coulson 35. Masayuki Hosaka |
36. Peter Maragos and David Karat 37. Amar Kuchinad 38. Jennifer Nayar 39. Dave Snowdon 40. Dan Raju |
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