Jeff Ward took over as the Chief Executive Officer at FXSpotStream, an FX electronic liquidity distribution provider, on 1 January 2024. His appointment for the apex role was announced last August as the permanent replacement of the company’s Co-Founder Alan Schwarz, who stepped down last year.
New CEO at FXSpotStream
After Schwarz's departure, Tom San Pietro, FXSpotStream’s Chief Technology Officer, temporarily assumed the role of CEO. Ward confirmed his appointment through a LinkedIn post as he officially took over from Pietro.
“Following an extensive and rigorous search, the Board is highly confident that Jeff’s exceptional leadership skills, strategic insights, and deep industry knowledge make him the ideal choice to drive the company’s continued growth, as well as strengthen its partnerships and build key new relationships,” said Mark Meredith, the Chairman of the Board at LiquidityMatch, the parent of FXSpotStream.
FXSpotStream is a bank-owned consortium established in 2011. Along with its services in the institutional spot forex market, the platform has extended services in the derivatives market. In addition, it launched the much-anticipated support for FX Algos and allocations over its API, thus expanding its services.
An Experienced FX Executive
Ward is an industry veteran and brought three decades of experience to his new role at FXSpotStream. Before his role at FXSpotStream, he was an executive at the CME Group. He became a part of the CME after it acquired NEX Markets (formerly EBS). For the last five years, he has held the position of Global Head of EBS at CME Group, stationed in London.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Ward started his professional career in 1993 at Citibank. He later joined ABN AMRO Bank and worked as the Executive Director for Client Services in its San Francisco, Amsterdam, and New York divisions. Additionally, he spent six years at ICAP (now TP ICAP), first as the SVP and Regional General Manager of Asia and Oceania and then as the Global Head of FX Sales.