Liquidnet President Brian Conroy is to take on the role of CEO as the company accelerates the launch of several new initiatives including its new data and analytics business.In his continuing role as Executive Chairman of the Board, current CEO and Founder Seth Merrin says he will focus on Liquidnet’s mid to long-term strategic planning, while Conroy will continue to lead the execution of all three Liquidnet business verticals: Equities, Fixed Income, and the newly created Investment Analytics.
“Brian came on board a year ago as part of our plan to deliver the capabilities that clients will need to compete in a market that’s undergoing yet another technology-driven transformation. He’s played an important role in the core investments we’ve made—and will continue to make—in technology that helps our clients identify and access market opportunities rapidly and efficiently in this new market environment. In 2020, we will focus on launching new technology solutions across Equities, Fixed income and our new Investment Analytics businesses that address our customer’s largest challenges,” says Merrin. “Over six months ago, Brian took on the responsibility of managing all our businesses globally, with all units reporting to him, and Brian reporting to me. I couldn’t be happier with our progress and the strong partnership that Brian and I have developed. Now is the right time for me to formally recognise his role and responsibilities with the title of CEO.”
A 30-year veteran of the financial services industry, Conroy joined Liquidnet in February 2019 after a career at Fidelity Investments. He was the President of Fidelity International in London, after serving as President for Fidelity Capital Markets and Global Head of Equity Trading in Boston for FMR. He has also held senior roles at JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, ABN AMRO and SAC LLC.
“Seth’s vision and commitment to innovation have created a significant opportunity for us in the years ahead,” says Conroy. “As CEO, my priority is to simultaneously grow our established businesses and capitalise on the investments we’ve made in solutions and services that help clients compete in this era of automation and data-driven investing.”
Earlier this year, Conroy appointed Vicky Sanders to oversee the Investment Analytics business. Built on Liquidnet’s 2019 acquisitions of Prattle and RSRCHXchange and the 2017 acquisition of OTAS Technologies, Investment Analytics combines a range of powerful AI-driven analytics, machine-learning, and natural language processing technologies. The new offering will enable institutional investment teams to analyse, filter, and organise data and pinpoint only the information needed to support information discovery and decision-making. The Investment Analytics app is currently in pilot with portfolio managers and analysts at Member firms in both the US and Europe and will launch later this year.
To bolster the US and Canadian equities team, Conroy has also brought in Matt Johnson to become Liquidnet’s Head of Americas Equities. Johnson brings twenty-five years of experience at top-tier investment banks as a senior trader and manager across multiple equity divisions. Before joining Liquidnet, Johnson was the Senior Managing Director at Guggenheim Securities responsible for Equities. Johnson will join Liquidnet’s Global Management Committee and report to Mark Pumfrey, Global Head of Equities.
In Boston, Conroy has appointed Jerry Garvey as the new head of the region and Steve Berte in sales and business development. Garvey brings over two decades of experience in equities sales and trading operations. He joins Liquidnet from Stifel Nicolaus where he managed the Boston Trading Desk and was an Equity Sales Trader for over ten years. Prior to that, he held similar roles at Merrill Lynch and Wachovia Capital Markets in Boston. Berte joins Liquidnet from Aberdeen Standard Investments. During his 10+ years at Aberdeen, he held several senior roles including Head of Investments Execution across all asset classes in the Americas and Global Head of Equity Trading based out of Scotland.
Conroy will continue to be based in New York at Liquidnet’s global headquarters.
