Lots of words have been expended on blockchain predictions and punditry, but none quite like those in a recent commentary by Peter Cherecwich, "A Dream of the '90s Lives On: What GSTPA Teaches Us About Blockchain." Northern Trust Corp.'s president of corporate and institutional services (C&IS) concedes that "you have to be over 50" to have any recall of the Global Straight Through Processing Association, which attempted to standardize communications among fund managers, brokerages, and custodians. Cherecwich, 52, thinks GSTPA set a useful precedent. Although the group disbanded in 2002, unable to overcome political and economic obstacles, "there is an unmistakable correlation between the GSTPA's central matching engine concept and the current focus on building common and instantaneous shared transaction records," Cherecwich wrote in the article, posted in May at Pensions & Investments online. Promoted to his current position in January after two years as president of C&IS Americas and seven years heading Global Fund Services, Cherecwich is actively involved in blockchain strategy as an outgrowth of the technology-driven nature of his business. Northern Trust, which has $7.1 trillion in assets under custody and $1 trillion in assets under management, "is a relationship company that operates in a technological environment," says Cherecwich, who joined the Chicago-based organization in 2007 from State Street Corp.
 1. Adena Friedman NASDAQ  2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp.  3. Robert Goldstein BlackRock  4. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange  5. Lance Uggla IHS Markit |
 6. Shawn Edwards & Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg  7. David Craig Thomson Reuters  8. Michael Spencer NEX Group  9. Don Callahan Citigroup  10. Elisha Wiesel Goldman Sachs Group |
 11. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.  12. Terrence Duffy CME Group  13. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing  14. Sean Belka Fidelity Investments  15. Chris Concannon CBOE Holdings |
 16. Guy Chiarello First Data Corp.  17. Steven Lieblich Citadel  18. David Rutter R3CEV  19. Blythe Masters Digital Asset Holdings  20. Alfred Spector Two Sigma Investments |
 21. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw Group  22. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets  23. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings  24. David Gledhill DBS Bank  25. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings |
 26. Antoine Shagoury State Street Corp.  27. Peter Brown & Robert Mercer Renaissance Technologies  28. Lou Eccleston TMX Group  29. Peter Cherecwich Northern Trust Corp.  30. Mike Chinn S&P Global Market Intelligence |
 31. Chris Corrado London Stock Exchange Group  32. Neal Pawar AQR Capital Management  33. Gary Norcross Fidelity National Information Services  34. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix  35. Sebastián Ceria Axioma |
 36. Brian Conlon First Derivatives and Kx Systems  37. Tyler Kim MaplesFS  38. Michael Cooper BT Radianz  39. Robert Schifellite Broadridge Financial Solutions  40. Jim Minnick eVestment |