Qontigo Leadership Team

Executive Committee

Sebastian Ceria

Chief Executive Officer

Sebastian Ceria

Chief Executive Officer

Sebastian Ceria is Chief Executive Officer of Qontigo. He previously served as the CEO of Axioma, which he founded and led since 1998. Before that, Sebastian was an Associate Professor of Decision, Risk and Operations at Columbia Business School. He has worked extensively in robust optimization and its application to portfolio management, authoring many articles in industry and academic publications. He is a recipient of the Career Award for Operations Research from the National Science Foundation and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Sebastian holds a PhD in Operations Research from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, and a degree in Applied Math from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Deborah DeVerna

Chief Human Resources Officer

Deborah DeVerna

Chief Human Resources Officer

Deborah DeVerna leads Qontigo’s People team where she is responsible for all aspects of Human Resources including strategy and implementation of people-first policies and programs. Deborah brings over 20 years of global talent and organizational development experience focused on building high impact teams and engaged employees. Prior to joining Qontigo, Deborah was the Chief People Officer at Fundtech and held numerous roles at Thomson Reuters including the Global Head of Talent and Organizational Development for their financial and media divisions.

Brian McArthur-Muscroft

Chief Financial Officer

Brian McArthur-Muscroft

Chief Financial Officer

Brian McArthur-Muscroft joined Qontigo in July 2021 as Chief Financial Officer. Previously, he served as the Group Chief Financial Officer for Micro Focus International plc, a FTSE100 global infrastructure software company, where he was also a member of the Board of Directors.

Prior to this, he was Chief Financial Officer at Paysafe Group plc. and led the business to a FTSE 250 listing on the London Stock Exchange Main Market in December 2016. In 2017 Paysafe was then acquired by CVC and Blackstone for $4.8 billion. As part of the transaction, he raised $2.6bn in debt financing. Prior to joining Paysafe, McArthur-Muscroft was Group Finance Director at Telecity Group plc where he led the IPO of the business in 2007. The business was subsequently sold to Equinix for over $3bn.

McArthur-Muscroft was chosen as Business Week’s Finance Director of the Year in 2017 and 2013 and ICAEW/CBI FTSE 250 Finance Director of the Year in 2012. Also, a restructuring specialist, he was the Interim Chief Financial Officer on the successful turnaround of MCI Worldcom EMEA.

McArthur-Muscroft holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Manchester and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, having qualified with PwC in London.

Neal Pawar

Chief Operating Officer

Neal Pawar

Chief Operating Officer

As Chief Operating Officer, Neal Pawar is responsible for Qontigo’s technology & engineering, operations and project management areas. Over the course of his career, Neal has worked for a diverse set of leading firms in multiple segments of the finance industry, consistent with Qontigo’s expanding footprint in the marketplace today. Prior to joining Qontigo, he most recently served as Group Chief Information Officer at Deutsche Bank and, before that, as a partner and Chief Technology Officer at AQR Capital. Earlier, Neal was Chief Information Officer with UBS Wealth Management in Zurich and a partner at the D.E. Shaw Group for 11 years, where he held a number of positions, including Global Head of Back-Office Technology (later spun off as Arcesium). Neal holds a degree in computer science from Brown University.

Brian Rosenberg

Chief Revenue Officer

Brian Rosenberg

Chief Revenue Officer

Brian Rosenberg leads Qontigo’s sales, marketing, applied-research and customer-experience teams across its global index and analytics business. Rosenberg was previously a Managing Director at FTSE Russell since 2015, where his responsibilities included America’s index sales, global strategic accounts, exchange-traded products, derivatives, asset-owner and consultant relationship management, and both yield-book analytics and data-solutions sales. He also served as Head of North America for the Information Services Division.

Holger Wohlenberg

Chief Strategy Officer

Holger Wohlenberg

Chief Strategy Officer

Dr. Holger Wohlenberg is Chief Strategy Officer of Qontigo since September 2019. He joined from Deutsche Börse Group, the major shareholder of the company. Holger became part of Deutsche Börse Group in 2004 as a Managing Director where he built out the Group’s Market Data and Index businesses. Prior to Deutsche Börse Group, Holger led the Technology Investment Banking function at Deutsche Bank. He began his career at McKinsey & Company where he was focused on advising technology, network and media clients. He was elected Partner in 1997. Dr. Wohlenberg received a PhD degree in Business Administration (Dr. oec. publ,) with a major in Information and Communication Economics, from the University of Munich.

Management Team

Melissa R. Brown, CFA

Applied Research

Melissa R. Brown, CFA

Applied Research

Melissa’s perspectives help both clients and prospects to better understand and adapt to the constantly changing risk environment. As an author of Qontigo Insight: Quarterly Risk Review, Melissa reports on the state of risk in publicly traded equity markets around the globe. In addition, she produces periodic special reports on a broad range of topics of interest to investors and asset owners, is a frequent speaker on the subject of market risk and is often quoted by the financial media. Prior to joining Axioma in 2011, Brown was Managing Director and head of the institutional business at Wintrust Capital Management. Before that she spent 10 years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, most recently as a Partner in the Quantitative Investment Strategies (QIS) Group. At Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Brown worked closely with clients as the senior portfolio manager for GSAM’s US Equity Strategy, before becoming co-head of Client Portfolio Management in the QIS Group. She was previously Director of Quantitative Research at Prudential Securities, where among other things she popularized the idea of the “cockroach theory” of earnings surprise and appeared on Institutional Investor’s “All-Star” list for 10 straight years. Brown is a Chartered Financial Analyst. She holds a BS in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA in finance from New York University.

Chris Canova

Customer Experience

Chris Canova

Customer Experience

Chris is responsible for leading the Customer Experience team at Axioma (now part of Qontigo). Chris’ team is organized to enhancements to existing products to help solve many challenges for the company’s growing client base.

Marc Dorfman

Sales & Client Coverage

Marc Dorfman

Sales & Client Coverage

Marc Dorfman is responsible for overseeing worldwide sales and client coverage at Qontigo. Previously, Dorfman was Managing Director – Head of Americas Sales, Information Services at FTSE Russell, where he led a team responsible for index sales, analytics and data solutions for the Americas. Before that, he served as FTSE Russell’s Managing Director – Head of Americas Index Sales since 2018, and Head of US & Latin America Index Sales since 2015. Prior to FTSE Russell, Dorfman served as Executive Director at MSCI, as Head of Equity Index Sales – Mid Atlantic, Southeast and Canada since 2010. Dorfman also served as Director of Sales at RiskMetrics and as an Account Executive at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which MSCI acquired in 2006. Dorfman earned a Masters of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and a degree in Communications from The Pennsylvania State University.

Michael Hyzik

Risk & Compliance

Michael Hyzik

Risk & Compliance

Michael Hyzik leads the Governance, Risk and Compliance team at Qontigo. Michael was previously CFO, as well as Head of Legal and Regulations at STOXX. Prior to that, he was Legal Advisor to the University Hospital Zurich. Michael earned his Doctorate in Law, as well as his CAS Financial Regulation from the University of Zurich.

Nico Kicillof

Technology

Nico Kicillof

Technology

As Qontigo’s Chief Technology Officer, Nico Kicillof heads the Engineering Division that handles software development, analytics, and information technology. In this role, Nico focuses on ensuring delivery, consistency, and scalability across all technology and design efforts. Nico was previously Head of Software Development Lifecycle at Two Sigma, the technology-driven institutional investor, since 2015. Before that, he was with Microsoft Corporation for nearly eight years, where he held a number of engineering positions, most recently Principal Program Manager Lead, Operating Systems Group. For six years before that, he was a professor of computer science at the University of Buenos Aires, where he also served as Deputy to the Computer Science Department Chair, and entrepreneur. He holds an MS in computer science and an undergraduate degree from the University of Buenos Aires. He also studied at ESLAI (Escuela Superior Latino-Americana de Informática).

Axel Lomholt

Indices & Benchmarks

Axel Lomholt

Indices & Benchmarks

As Qontigo’s Chief Product Officer, Indices & Benchmarks, Axel Lomholt is responsible for the STOXX and DAX index portfolio. Prior to joining Qontigo, Axel served as Head of Product and Program Management for Asia, where he led a number of large-scale business initiatives across the region. Earlier at Vanguard, he served as Interim Chief Executive Officer, Asia. Prior to joining Vanguard’s Asia business, Lomholt served in two global roles; namely, Head of Product for International and then Head of ETFs for Vanguard outside of the US. Prior to Vanguard, Axel spent three years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), followed by three with BlackRock, which acquired BGI in 2010, holding key leadership roles in the iShares business in EMEA and APAC. Before that, Lomholt served in portfolio management leadership roles with Gulf International Bank Ltd. and HSBC Global Asset Management. Axel holds a BSc Finance from Bayes Business School, an MSc Finance from Reading University, and completed the Global Leadership Executive Programme at Harvard Business School.

Molly McGregor

Marketing & Communications

Molly McGregor

Marketing & Communications

Molly McGregor leads Marketing and Communications at Qontigo. She is responsible for the firm’s global brand identity and market positioning, corporate communications, media and advertising presence, and conference/event execution. Molly has extensive experience in the fintech space, including most recently serving as Chief Marketing Officer for Hanweck, a provider of real-time risk analytics for the global derivatives markets. Prior to joining Hanweck, Molly was Senior Vice President of Communications, Marketing and Government Relations with the International Securities Exchange, the first all-electronic options market in the U.S. She has also served as a Policy Advisor on global regulatory issues for the Institute of International Finance, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association for global financial services firms, and began her career on the mergers and acquisitions teams of Credit Suisse First Boston and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Molly is a graduate of the London School of Economics with a master’s degree in International Political Economy, and of Washington and Lee University, with a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Economics.

Jay Panzarella

General Counsel

Jay Panzarella

General Counsel

Jay Panzarella is the General Counsel at Qontigo. He joined the company in 2015 and is overseeing all legal and compliance-related initiatives. Jay was previously an of counsel at Blank Rome LLP and served as General Counsel at the Carnegie Innovations. Jay earned his JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and his BA (Economics and Political Science) from the Muskingum University.

Courtney Scharff

Strategic Partnerships

Courtney Scharff

Strategic Partnerships

Courtney Scharff oversees Qontigo’s strategic partnerships across index and analytics. She is responsible for strategic growth by cultivating relationships with Qontigo’s distribution network of industry partners. Prior to Qontigo, Scharff served as Global Head of Index Data Management Solutions at Bloomberg and, subsequently, Global Equity Index Product Manager. Before Bloomberg, Scharff was Head of North American Client Services at FTSE Russell.

Chris Sturhahn

Analytics Products

Chris Sturhahn

Analytics Products

Chris Sturhahn oversees Qontigo’s portfolio of Axioma Analytics solutions. In this role, he is responsible for product strategy, architecture and development across our suite of portfolio construction, risk model and enterprise risk solutions. Previously, Chris had worked in the Analytics and Quantitative Solutions group inside Aladdin at BlackRock. Prior to that, he held development, research, and sales positions at Bloomberg, Barclays, and Lehman Brothers on the POINT (PORT) product. He is a co-author of three chapters of Frank Fabozzi’s “Handbook of Fixed Income Securities, Eighth Edition”. Chris has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the NYU Stern School of Business. He is a CFA Charterholder.

Mohan Verma

Business Development

Mohan Verma

Business Development

Mohan Verma joined Qontigo in August 2021 as Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Business Development. In this role, Verma oversees relationships with strategic accounts, which include many of Qontigo’s largest and most sophisticated clients, as well as certain other strategic growth initiatives. Verma most recently served as Managing Director, Global Head of Partnerships at MSCI, Inc., where he held a number of senior positions over the last 11 years. Before that he was with RiskMetrics Group, which was acquired by MSCI in 2010.

Prior to his most recent roles as Global Head of Partnerships and Head of Services and Solutions, he led Analytics Client Coverage in the Americas for MSCI and RiskMetrics Group.

Verma holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Pace University.

Joachim Weber

Finance & Tax

Joachim Weber

Finance & Tax

Joachim Weber leads the Finance and Tax teams at Qontigo since September 2019. He joined from Deutsche Börse Group where he headed Business Strategy + Intelligence for the Market Data + Services segment. Prior to joining Deutsche Börse Group in 2016, he was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, advising financial services clients. Joachim received a PhD degree in Behavioral Finance (Dr. rer. pol.) from Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main and a diploma in business administration from the University of Mannheim.

Eamonn White

Data and Operations

Eamonn White

Data and Operations

Eamonn White is a Senior Managing Director, Data and Operations at Qontigo. In this role, he oversees data strategy definition and execution for the company’s analytics and index products. Before joining Qontigo, Eamonn served as Head of Transformation and Business Development for Global Markets at Avaloq, and prior to that worked with UBS for over 20 years in a variety of Technology and Operations leadership roles.

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