FESE 50th Anniversary Celebration Programme

Rosa Armesto is Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the trade association of exchanges in Europe since July 2024. She is also a member of the
ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group and lecturer in financial market infrastructures at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management (BE).

Before her appointment as Director General of FESE, she was Deputy Director General for 6 years. Prior to that, she spent 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of
Public Affairs and Communications of Insurance Europe, the trade association of the European insurance sector. In her earlier career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs of FESE and held different responsibilities prior to re-joining FESE. She started her professional career in Eurostat (the Statistical office of the European Commission) in Luxembourg.

Rosa has almost 20 years of professional experience in EU affairs for financial services. Her expertise includes a variety of relevant financial regulatory dossiers, including MiFID/MiFIR,
Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. She is also familiar with Solvency II, PRIIPs, IDD and other insurance related files. Rosa is also the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Community at the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE).

She holds a MSc in Economics (major in Econometrics) from the University of Zaragoza (ES) & University of Groningen (NL), a BSc in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (ES), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (ES). She speaks English, French and Spanish.

Verena Ross is the Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). She took up the role on 1 November 2021 and is responsible for representing the Authority as well as preparing the work of and chairing its Board of Supervisors and Management Board.

Between 2011 and 2021 Verena Ross served as ESMA’s first Executive Director, when she was responsible for building up the organisation and overseeing its day to day running.

Prior to this, Verena held a number of senior posts in the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) and was a member of the FSA’s Executive Committee. Verena joined the FSA in 1998 to run the Executive Chairman’s office during the regulator’s start-up phase and was briefly a seconded advisor to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 2000. She held various positions in the FSA’s Markets Division and was Director of Strategy & Risk Division before becoming Director of the International Division.

Verena is a German national. Following studies in Sinology and Economics in Hamburg, Taipei and London (SOAS) she began her career at the Bank of England in 1994, where she worked as an economist and banking supervisor.

Julie Becker has been at the helm of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) since April 2021. She joined LuxSE in 2013 and was appointed to its Executive Committee in 2015, before being named Deputy CEO in 2019, and CEO two years later.

Her career in the financial sector in Luxembourg spans over two decades and includes positions at the Central Bank of Luxembourg and Dexia.

In 2016, Julie Becker founded the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities. A recognised expert in the field of sustainable finance, Julie Becker has represented LuxSE and LGX at numerous, international expert forums and conferences over the past years, including the EU High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance from 2017 to 2019 and the United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development in 2023.

Julie Becker is a member of the board of directors of several Luxembourg-based financial industry associations and the Chair of LuxCMA, a capital markets industry association established in 2019. She was named the “Most Influential Economic Decision Maker in Luxembourg” in the 2022 edition of the Paperjam Top 100. In 2024, Julie Becker was awarded Commander of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy by HRH the Grand Duke of Luxembourg for her contribution to Luxembourg’s financial sector and sustainable finance

Julie Becker played a crucial role in the founding of the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter. She is a member of the Luxembourg Gender Finance Task Force, launched in 2023, and the EIB’s Women Climate Leaders Network, launched in 2024. She was also appointed as a member of the University of Luxembourg’s Board of Governors in 2023.

Julie Becker specialises in regulatory and legal matters linked to capital markets. She holds a Master’s Degree in European & Corporate Law and a Master’s Degree (DEA) in Private Law from the University of Nancy II, France. She is also an alumna of the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Thomas Book is a member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG, responsible for Trading & Clearing. A pioneer in electronic trading, he joined Deutsche Börse Group in 1995 as a member of the team that rolled out Deutsche Terminbörse’s remote membership concept across Europe and the US, gaining deep insights into the impact of innovation and technology in the exchange industry.  Book was also a member of the project team that built Eurex, the first cross-border exchange merger of its kind. In 2001, he rounded off his profound industry knowledge with his Ph. D. thesis Electronic Exchange Trading and Global Markets”. As a member of the Executive Board of Eurex and Eurex Clearing, Book subsequently shaped Deutsche Börse’s trading and clearing business for many years.

From 2007 to 2016, he was responsible for the clearing business of Eurex, expanding the value proposition following the 2008 financial crisis. In 2016, he took responsibility for trading at Eurex as its CEO, before being appointed to the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse in 2018. He is responsible for the Trading & Clearing division, which includes Cash Market, Financial Derivatives, FX & Digital Assets, Commodities and Market Data.

Stéphane Boujnah is CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext, the pan-European market infrastructure operating regulated markets in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan, Oslo and Paris. Euronext also operates post-trade infrastructures in Copenhagen, Milan, Oslo and Porto, as well as a pan-European electricity trading platform, Nord Pool, and a FX trading platform operating from New York London and Singapore. In addition, Euronext operates commercial and technology platforms in Bergen, Berlin, Espoo, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Munich, Rotterdam, Stockholm, Tallinn and Vilnius.

Stéphane Boujnah became CEO of Euronext in November 2015 when the company had revenues below EUR 500m and a market capitalisation below EUR 2bn. As of October 2024, Euronext generates revenues close to EUR 1.5bn and has a market capitalisation of around €10bn. Stéphane Boujnah led the acquisitions of the Irish Stock Exchange in 2018, Oslo Børs in 2019, VP Securities in Copenhagen and Nord Pool in Oslo in 2020, and Borsa Italiana Group in 2021.

Before joining Euronext, from 2010 to 2015, Stéphane Boujnah was part of the team in charge of developing the Banco Santander business across Europe. First, he was Head of Santander Global Banking and Markets for France and Benelux where he developed significantly the advisory business. He was then appointed Head of Santander Global Banking and Markets for Continental Europe.

From 2005 to 2010, he was Managing Director at Deutsche Bank responsible for the development of the investment banking operations in France.

Previously he founded and developed KM5 Capital, an advisory company specialised in equity raising and M&A advice for venture capital funds and innovative technology companies.

From 2000 to 2002, he was Director of the European M&A team of Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group in Palo Alto (California) and London. From 1997 to 1999, Stéphane Boujnah was adviser to the French Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He was responsible for innovation policies, privatisations in the technology sector, international investments projects in France and the development of the New Economy.

He started his career in 1991 as a business lawyer at Freshfields, focusing on M&A, privatisations and international investments in Eastern Europe and Cuba. He graduated from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. Stéphane Boujnah holds a Master degree and a DEA in Law from La Sorbonne Paris, a LLM in Law from the University of Kent in Canterbury and a MBA from Insead. Stéphane Boujnah was a member of the Commission pour la Libération de la Croissance Française established by President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. He is founder and Vice President of the French think tank En Temps Réel, where he published “L’inoxydable modèle suédois” in 2003, a book on the Swedish government and economic model. He is President of the Board of directors of Accentus and Insula Orchestra. He is Vice-President of the Board of Prométhée Education, a non-profit organisation focusing on the support to underprivileged teenagers to boost ambition, access to higher education and preparation to life changing job opportunities. In 2008, he was made Knight in the Order of the Polar Star by the King of Sweden. In 2013, he was made Chevalier in the Order of the Legion d’Honneur by President François Hollande.

Roland Chai is EVP and, as of Jan 2024, President European Market Services, Nasdaq. Roland also serves as Chair of the Nasdaq Clearing Board since end 2023, and as a board member of the ISSA Board since 2023 and the OCC Board since 2024. Prior to his current role as President European Market Services, Roland led Nasdaq’s Marketplace Technology business from 2022-2023.

He has also served as Nasdaq’s Global Chief Risk Officer from 2020-2022, responsible for developing and managing Nasdaq’s global risk program while overseeing financial risk functions of Nasdaq Clearing and Nasdaq Fixed Income. Before Roland joined Nasdaq in year 2020, he served as Group Risk officer and Head of Post Trade at the Hong Kong Exchange, where he oversaw clearing and risk management functions across HKEX four CCPs and equities CSD as well as the exchange’s market surveillance. Roland also served on the Board of LME Clear until 2020.

Prior to joining the Hong Kong Exchange, Roland served as Head of Equities at LCH. Clearnet Ltd covering pan-European Equities and Equity Derivatives clearing. Roland has also served as Product Development Manager at the Australian Securities Exchange.

Bjørn Sibbern has been Global Head Exchanges and Member of the Executive Board of SIX since January 2024. He is responsible for both the Swiss and Spanish Exchanges, as well as the digital exchange SDX. Bjørn Sibbern has experience managing large teams in the fields of trading, funds, post-trade, listings, IPOs, data, index business, and technology. Before joining SIX, he served as Executive Vice President and President of European Markets at Nasdaq. In this role, he led the Nasdaq markets and exchanges across the Nordic and Baltic regions. He was also responsible for trading, listing, clearing, settlement, and the data business in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and the Baltic nations.

Prior to this, Bjørn was Executive Vice President and responsible for Nasdaq global data, data & analytics and index business working out of Nasdaq headquarter in New York. Before joining Nasdaq, Bjørn Sibbern was CEO at E*TRADE Bank Denmark from 2006 to 2008 and held key roles at OMX and Stocknet Norway. The Danish citizen holds an Executive Master in Business Administration, a Graduate Diploma in Finance, and a Master in Business Administration and Commercial Law from Copenhagen Business School

Rosa Armesto is Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the trade association of exchanges in Europe since July 2024. She is also a member of the
ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group and lecturer in financial market infrastructures at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management (BE).

Before her appointment as Director General of FESE, she was Deputy Director General for 6 years. Prior to that, she spent 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of
Public Affairs and Communications of Insurance Europe, the trade association of the European insurance sector. In her earlier career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs of FESE and held different responsibilities prior to re-joining FESE. She started her professional career in Eurostat (the Statistical office of the European Commission) in Luxembourg.

Rosa has almost 20 years of professional experience in EU affairs for financial services. Her expertise includes a variety of relevant financial regulatory dossiers, including MiFID/MiFIR,
Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. She is also familiar with Solvency II, PRIIPs, IDD and other insurance related files. Rosa is also the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Community at the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE).

She holds a MSc in Economics (major in Econometrics) from the University of Zaragoza (ES) & University of Groningen (NL), a BSc in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (ES), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (ES). She speaks English, French and Spanish.