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The 2016 Trading Technology 40: Anton Katz and Stephen Mock

The 2016 Trading Technology 40: No. 29


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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

1. Raymond Tierney III
Bloomberg
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

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