< The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge

For 11 years after he founded Markit in 2003, Lance Uggla reveled in the independence of private ownership — even if his big-bank stakeholders could at times be tough bosses. But he doesn’t regret taking the IPO plunge in June 2014, raising $1.3 billion. (A year later London-based, Nasdaq–listed Markit closed a secondary offering, and its valuation was $4.6 billion.) “There’s a lot more transparency as a public company, and it’s been exciting to respond to the new benchmarks,” says Uggla, 53. “Going public gives you additional tools to work with and currency and confidence in your value proposition. It also allows you to be more attractive to potential acquisition targets.” So it has been full speed ahead, via both organic and acquired growth, for the financial data and technology services company that started out valuing credit derivatives with financing from TD Securities, where Uggla used to work. Revenue rose 12 percent last year, to $1.07 billion. In June, Markit moved to bolster its $300 million Solutions segment with an agreement to acquire corporate actions and posttrade processing company Information Mosaic. Building on its July 2014 purchase of Compliance Technologies International, Markit has launched a joint venture know-your-customer registry with business-process specialist Genpact. Markit Collaboration Services, an instant messaging alternative to Bloomberg unveiled in 2013, merged last December into the Goldman Sachs Group–led Symphony Communication Services, and Uggla remains a believer: “We’re betting on Symphony as a place to leverage our products through. We think open source is very important for the industry.”

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The 2015 Tech 50

1. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange 2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. Infrastructure Debt Positioned Well for the Year Ahead Sponsored by IFM Investors June 16, 2025 3. Phupinder Gill CME Group 4. Lance Uggla Markit 5. Robert Goldstein BlackRock

6. Shawn Edwards & Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg 7. R. Martin Chavez Goldman Sachs Group 8. Deborah Hopkins Citi Ventures 9. Stephen Neff Fidelity Investments 10. Adena Friedman Nasdaq OMX Group

11. David Craig Thomson Reuters 12. Daniel Coleman KCG Holdings 13. Michael Spencer ICAP 14. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. 15. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

16. Chris Concannon BATS Global Markets 17. Christopher Perretta State Street Corp. 18. Antoine Shagoury London Stock Exchange Group 19. Kevin Rhein Wells Fargo & Co. 20. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw & Co.

21. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets 22. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings 23. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings 24. Robert Alexander Capital One Financial Corp. 25. Frank Bisignano First Data Corp.

26. John Marcante Vanguard Group 27. Joseph Squeri Citadel 28. Lou Eccleston TMX Group 29. Claude Honegger Credit Suisse 30. Chris Corrado MSCI

31. David Gledhill DBS Bank 32. John Bates Software AG 33. Michael Cooper BT Radianz 34. Gary Scholten Principal Financial Group 35. Sunil Hirani trueEX Group

36. Hauke Stars Deutsche BÖrse 37. Brian Conlon First Derivatives 38. Jim Minnick eVestment 39. Lars Seier Christensen & Kim Fournais 40. Tyler Kim MaplesFS

41. Jim McGuire Charles Schwab Corp. 42. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix 43. Sebastián Ceria Axioma 44. Yasuki Okai NRI Holdings America 45. Stephane Dubois Xignite

46. Mazy Dar OpenFin 47. Brian Sentance Xenomorph Software 48. Mas Nakachi OpenGamma 49. John Lehner BNY Mellon Technology Solutions Group 50. Jock Percy Perseus