< Wall Street's Nerds: The World's Most Powerful Trading Executives

5. Dan Keegan
Co-head of Global Equities
Citi
Last year: 7

Dan Keegan's career is distinguished by mastery of modern trading systems: He built JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s electronic execution services business and was head of institutional equities at Automated Trading Desk, a high-tech platform that Citigroup acquired in 2007. Keegan went to Citi in that $680 million deal and has since climbed a few management rungs, but there is no "technology" in his job title — not in literal terms, anyway. Promoted in May 2016 to co-head of global equities after three years as head of equities, Americas, Keegan says the business and the technology on which it runs are not really separable. "I spend more time focusing on technology now as a global head," says the 48-year-old, whose co-leader, Murray Roos, joined Citi from Deutsche Bank in 2015. "In governance and prioritization of tech spending, all decisions by definition have to be taken at a global level," Keegan adds.

He regards the bank's global reach and steady commitment to trading as advantages that could pay off handsomely as some capital-constrained rivals pull back or place bets elsewhere. One fundamental decision that Citi has made is to no longer participate in the algorithmic-strategy arms race. Rather, Citi is relying on machine learning and big data to provide the optimal path for clients to achieve their objectives. "More real-time intelligence is being built into all of our intellectual property," Keegan says, while underscoring an enduring fundamental: "There is much to be done under the banner of automation, but what can never be automated is the relationship and how we as service providers stay close to our clients and build upon the trust created over many years."

 
The 2017 Trading Tech 40

1. Richard Prager BlackRock 2. Chris Isaacson Bats Global Markets Advisors and Their Clients Call for New Asset Classes in Model Portfolios Sponsored by BlackRock May 6, 2025 3. Bradley Peterson Nasdaq 4. Brad Levy MarkitSERV 5. Dan Keegan Citi

6. Glenn Lesko Bloomberg Tradebook 7. Bryan Durkin CME Group 8. Mayur Kapani Intercontinental Exchange 9. Mike Blum KCG Holdings 10. Raj Mahajan Goldman Sachs Group

11. Ronald DePoalo Fidelity Institutional 12. Nick Themelis MarketAxess Holdings 13. Jenny Knott NEX Optimisation 14. Billy Hult Tradeweb Markets 15. Rob Park IEX Group

16. Bill Chow & Richard Leung Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing 17. John Mackay (Mack) Gill MillenniumIT 18. Paul Hamill Citadel Securities 19. Eric Noll Convergex 20. Veronica Augustsson Cinnober Financial Technology

21. Tyler Moeller & Joshua Walsky Broadway Technology 22. Alasdair Haynes Aquis Exchange 23. Gaurav Suri Arcesium 24. Manoj Narang Mana Partners 25. Michael Chin & Neill Penney Thomson Reuters

26. Robert Sloan S3 Partners 27. Anton Katz & Stephen Mock AQR Capital Management 28. Donal Byrne Corvil 29. Stu Taylor Algomi 30. Alfred Eskandar Portware

31. Steven Randich Financial Industry Regulatory Authority 32. R. Cromwell Coulson OTC Markets Group 33. Peter Maragos Dash Financial 34. John Fawcett Quantopian 35. Donald Ross III PDQ Enterprises

36. Jennifer Nayar Vela Trading Technologies 37. Dan Raju Tradier 38. Susan Estes OpenDoor Trading 39. David Mercer LMAX Exchange 40. Oki Matsumoto Monex Group