Anna Ewing
No. 3
Chief Information Officer
Nasdaq OMX Group
Technologically speaking, Nasdaq OMX Group’s transformation from domestic cash equity market to international multi-asset-class exchange colossus is the doing of executive vice president and CIO Anna Ewing. An 11-year Nasdaq veteran who was previously CIBC World Markets’ head of global applications services, Ewing oversees an infrastructure serving 24 markets around the world. They include the bourses run by Sweden-based OMX, which New York’s Nasdaq Stock Market acquired in 1998, and the Boston and Philadelphia exchanges, purchased in 2008 and integrated on Ewing’s watch. She also manages the market technology business, which supplies million-message-per-second core trading technology to more than 70 exchanges and other market entities and accounted for 11 percent of the $1.27 billion in total group revenue for the first nine months of 2011. “Common themes in my portfolio,” says the 51-year-old, are “client-focused technology, innovative technology and in some cases disruptive technology.” Two 2010 acquisitions — FTEN in the U.S. and Smarts Group in Australia — have bolstered Nasdaq OMX as a market surveillance, risk and compliance technology provider. New regulatory challenges “are great opportunities for us,” asserts Ewing. “Our customers need to reduce costs. We are trying to provide them with more services so they can streamline their cost structures.”
