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The 2016 Trading Technology 40: Anton Katz and Stephen Mock
The 2016 Trading Technology 40: No. 29



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.”
![]() 2. Richard Prager BlackRock ![]() 3. Chris Isaacson BATS Global Markets ![]() 4. Jonathan Ross KCG Holdings ![]() 5. Bradley Peterson Nasdaq |
![]() 6. Brad Levy Markit ![]() 7. Dan Keegan Citi ![]() 8. Ronald DePoalo Fidelity Institutional ![]() 9. Raj Mahajan Goldman Sachs Group ![]() 10. Ari Studnitzer CME Group |
![]() 11. Mayur Kapani Intercontinental Exchange ![]() 12. Gerald O’Connell CBOE Holdings ![]() 13. Nicholas Themelis MarketAxess Holdings ![]() 14. Gil Mandelzis EBS BrokerTec (ICAP) ![]() 15. Bill Chow and Richard Leung Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing |
![]() 16. Rob Park IEX Group ![]() 17. Philip Weisberg Thomson Reuters ![]() 18. John Mackay (Mack) Gill MillenniumIT ![]() 19. Robert Cornish International Securities Exchange ![]() 20. Paul Hamill Citadel Securities |
![]() 21. Eric Noll Convergex ![]() 22. Tyler Moeller and Joshua Walsky Broadway Technology ![]() 23. Rishi Nangalia REDI Holdings ![]() 24. Veronica Augustsson Cinnober Financial Technology ![]() 25. Alasdair Haynes Aquis Exchange |
![]() 26. Manoj Narang Mana Partners ![]() 27. Gaurav Suri Arcesium ![]() 28. Robert Sloan S3 Partners ![]() 29. Anton Katz and Stephen Mock AQR Capital Mgmt ![]() 30. Stu Taylor Algomi |
![]() 31. D. Keith Ross Jr. PDQ Enterprises ![]() 32. Donal Byrne Corvil ![]() 33. Alfred Eskandar Portware ![]() 34. R. Cromwell Coulson OTC Markets Group ![]() 35. Masayuki Hosaka Rakuten |
![]() 36. Peter Maragos and David Karat Dash Financial ![]() 37. Amar Kuchinad Electronifie ![]() 38. Jennifer Nayar SR Labs ![]() 39. Dave Snowdon Metamako ![]() 40. Dan Raju Tradier |