FESE Annual Convention “Empowering Europe’s Financial Future: The Savings and Investments Union”

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

Before becoming Director General of FESE, she served as Deputy Director General for 6 years. She also worked at Insurance Europe for 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of Public Affairs and Communications. Earlier in her career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs at FESE and had various roles before rejoining FESE. She began her professional career at Eurostat, the Statistical office of the European Commission, in Luxembourg.

Rosa has nearly 20 years of experience in EU financial services. She specialises in financial regulations like MiFID/MiFIR, Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. Additionally, she is knowledgeable about 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 Master of Science in Economics with a major in Econometrics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and the University of Groningen (Netherlands), a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (Spain). She is proficient in English, French, and Spanish.

Niels Brab is Deutsche Börse Group’s Chief of Staff and Head of Group Corporate and Regulatory Strategy. In his role he works in symbiosis with the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Board on the daily management of the company and is responsible for the Group-wide strategy. As part of his responsibilities, Niels supports DBG’s businesses and their senior executives, acting as a catalyst to drive growth and resilience. He is also in charge of Deutsche Börse Group’s regulatory strategy and represents the Group in various industry associations and key public fora, enhancing critical thought-leadership.

Niels is the President of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) and serves as a Co-Chair of the European Association of CCP Clearing Houses (EACH). He is also a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) CCP Policy Committee and a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Consultative Committee.

Before his appointment as Chief of Staff, Niels served as Deutsche Börse Group’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Head of Government Relations and Head of the Brussels Representative Office.

Prior to joining Deutsche Börse Group in 2014, he held roles at leading consultancies, such as FTI Consulting and Fleishman-Hillard. He also founded his own firm, EURObjective. Niels holds an LLM in European Law and an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development from the University of Maastricht.

Alexandra Jour-Schroeder is Deputy Director General at the European Commission´s Directorate-General for Financial Services, Financial Market and Capital Markets Union since March 2021. Prior to that she was Acting Deputy Director General for Justice and consumers and Director for Criminal Justice. Ms Jour-Schroeder joined the European Commission in 1996 and held different positions inter alia in competition, industry, justice and consumer policies. Between 1997 and 2007 she was a member of Cabinet of several European Commissioners and of Vice-President Verheugen.

Before joining the European Commission, Alexandra Jour-Schroder worked for the German Ministry of Economic Affairs. She has a graduate in law.

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 President of European Market Services, responsible for Nasdaq’s multi-asset trading, clearing, listings, and market services businesses across Europe, including Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania stock exchanges.

Prior to leading European Market Services, Roland was the head of Nasdaq’s Marketplace Technology business, which comprises purpose-built products to meet the technology needs of marketplace infrastructure clients. He also previously served as Nasdaq’s first Global Chief Risk Officer, responsible for developing, reviewing and maintaining Nasdaq’s global risk program while overseeing risk functions of Nasdaq Clearing and Nasdaq Fixed Income.

Before joining Nasdaq, Roland served as Head of Post-Trade at the Hong Kong Exchange, where he oversaw clearing and risk management functions across equities and fixed income, currencies and commodities, as well as the exchange’s market surveillance. He previously served as Group Risk Officer at Hong Kong Exchange. During his tenure, Roland re-established risk frameworks across Exchange, Listings, Mainland Commodities, Trading, and Clearing departments. Roland also served on the Board of LME Clear. Prior to joining the Hong Kong Exchange, Roland served as Head of Equities at LCH.Clearnet Ltd and as Product Development Manager at Australian Securities Exchange.

Jurand Drop is Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Finance in charge of the Departments of Public Debt, Financial Market Development, Value for Money and Accounting as well as the Legal Department. He supervises the Public Finance Discipline Office, the Accounting Standards Committee and the Polish Agency for Audit Oversight. In the past, he has held many leadership positions, including Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Administration and Digitization.

He has extensive experience in European affairs. In Brussels, he worked as a counsellor at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union, and in Directorates-General of the European Commission in positions responsible for policies related to economic reforms of the Member States and information and communication technologies. He participated, among other projects, in the drafting of the i2010 digital development policy, the Lisbon Strategy, cohesion policy programs and, more recently, in the negotiations of the National Recovery Plan or the European Semester procedure.

Jurand Drop is a graduate of International Economic Relations at the Academy of Economics (now University of Economics) in Cracow. In the past, he taught macroeconomics, mathematical economics and European monetary union at public and private universities.

Markus Ferber, born in 1965 in Augsburg and an engineer by profession, has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1994. During his time in office, he has served in multiple high-profile roles, such as Chairman of the CSU delegation in the European Parliament and Co-Chairman of CDU/CSU delegation in the EPP Group.

Currently, he serves as the Coordinator of the European Peoples Party (EPP) in the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON). As rapporteur for the recast of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) he has been the European Parliament’s lead negotiator for one of the key pieces of post-crisis financial markets regulation.

Markus Ferber takes a keen interest in financial services as well as banking and insurance legislation. On 1 January 2020, Ferber became Chairman of the Hanns-Seidel Foundation, a political foundation associated with the CSU. In July 2021, he was elected Vice-President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF).

Alexandra Jour-Schroeder is Deputy Director General at the European Commission´s Directorate-General for Financial Services, Financial Market and Capital Markets Union since March 2021. Prior to that she was Acting Deputy Director General for Justice and consumers and Director for Criminal Justice. Ms Jour-Schroeder joined the European Commission in 1996 and held different positions inter alia in competition, industry, justice and consumer policies. Between 1997 and 2007 she was a member of Cabinet of several European Commissioners and of Vice-President Verheugen.

Before joining the European Commission, Alexandra Jour-Schroder worked for the German Ministry of Economic Affairs. She has a graduate in law.

Mr Jean-Paul Servais is the Chairman of the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA). After three mandates as Vice Chair of the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), he became IOSCO Chair in October 2022 and was reappointed in May 2024. IOSCO is the global standard setter for financial markets regulation. The organization’s membership regulates more than 95% of the world’s securities markets in about 130 jurisdictions.  Mr Servais is also the Chair of the IOSCO European Regional Committee. Previously, he served as co-Chair of the Audit Monitoring Group and as Chair of the IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board.

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

Before becoming Director General of FESE, she served as Deputy Director General for 6 years. She also worked at Insurance Europe for 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of Public Affairs and Communications. Earlier in her career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs at FESE and had various roles before rejoining FESE. She began her professional career at Eurostat, the Statistical office of the European Commission, in Luxembourg.

Rosa has nearly 20 years of experience in EU financial services. She specialises in financial regulations like MiFID/MiFIR, Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. Additionally, she is knowledgeable about 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 Master of Science in Economics with a major in Econometrics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and the University of Groningen (Netherlands), a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (Spain). She is proficient in English, French, and Spanish.

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin MEP is a member of the Renew Europe Group and of the French political party Besoin d’Europe. She is member and Renew coordinator for the Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee and substitute on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee. She is also Vice-President of the Fisheries (PECH) Committee.

Stéphanie is rapporteur on the Retail Investment Strategy. She was also shadow rapporteur for the Renew Europe group on the review of the Solvency II rules for the insurance market.

Her main commitments at European level are the establishment of fair competition rules that are favourable to innovation and business development, as well as the protection of the consumers in the digital world. She was rapporteur on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) for the ECON Committee.

Stéphanie is a former lawyer, admitted to the Paris Bar in 2004. Specialised in competition law, she worked in international law firms. Before that, she worked as a jurist for the European Commission. Between 2007 and 2011, she worked for the French Competition Authority as an international affairs adviser to president Bruno Lasserre.

She is a regional councillor in Normandy and was mayor of Saint-Contest in Calvados until 2019.

Stephen Berger is a Managing Director and Global Head of Government & Regulatory Policy at Citadel.  He leads the firm’s engagement on legislative and regulatory initiatives impacting the financial markets globally, including in the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr. Berger has testified before the House Agriculture Committee on the impact of the G-20 clearing and trade execution requirements, presented before CFTC advisory committee meetings on issues including package transactions and position limits, participated in workshops at the New York Fed and Chicago Fed on CCP recovery and resolution, and spoken on panels at MFA, FIA, Eurofi and ASIFMA conferences on topics ranging from cross-border harmonization to US Treasury market structure modernization.

Mr. Berger is a member of the CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee and the NFA’s CPO/CTA Advisory Committee.  He serves on the Board of Directors of the Program on International Financial Systems.  He has served as Chair of the Managed Funds Association’s Derivatives and Swaps Committee and is an active participant in a number of MFA, AIMA, SIFMA AMG, FIA and ISDA committees.

Prior to joining Citadel, Mr. Berger was an Executive Director at UBS Investment Bank, where he led UBS’s US financial regulatory reform team.

Mr. Berger received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.

Philippe Guillot began his career in finance in 1987 at DKL James Capel (now HSBC), where he held various positions in the markets. In 1991 he joined Enskilda Securities as a market maker, first in Paris then in London. In 1998 he moved to Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux in Paris, taking over as head of Facilitation, before being appointed Group Trading Director in 2006, first in Paris then in London. During this time Philippe played an active part in numerous working groups and market bodies dealing with MiFID issues in Paris. He was a member of the Securities Trading Committee of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME). He joined the AMF in March 2012. Mr Guillot holds a degree in private law from Paris XI University.

Aleksandra Mączyńska is Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, the public interest non-governmental organisation defending the interests of citizens as financial services users at European level. Aleksandra leads BF’s research and advocacy activities.

Before joining BETTER FINANCE Aleksandra worked for the Polish consumer and competition watchdog (UOKiK). She studied at the Faculty of Management at the Poznan University of Economics and at the Warsaw School of Economics. She worked at the Division for World Bank International Monetary Fund, Debt Issues and International Finance Structure at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Aleksandra was an expert at EU Council’s Working Party on Financial Services. She is member of the Consumer Policy Advisory Group (CPAG) of the DG JUST, and ESMA’s Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group as well as the Vice Chair of EIOPA’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group (OPSG).

Lutz Meyer is head Market Structure at SIX, as part of the Public Affairs function, and has been at SIX for 18 years. In his role he is leading the market structure team which covers all policy initiatives impacting the FMI industry in the whole transaction lifecycle. He is actively engaged with all domestic regulatory and policy bodies across SIXs business divisions in Switzerland and Spain.

Since February 2025 Lutz Meyer is Member of the Board of FESE.

Patricia Rodríguez has a rich and diverse background related to the securities market, investment products and investor protection environment in the private sector as in the supervisor.

Currently acting as an adviser for financial topics at Spanish Banking Association, previous stage of her career as a member of Spanish Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores. Rodríguez always enjoyed looking for a balanced frame for investor protection, in solid and profit markets.

Tanya Panova is the Head of the Securities Markets Unit in DG FISMA. Previously, she has been developing the capital markets strategy as the Head of the Capital Markets Union Unit and served in the private office of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis where she was responsible for Capital Markets Union, securities markets, asset management, insurance, free movement of capital and competition. In her previous job, Tanya worked on aviation antitrust cases in DG COMP. Tanya is a trained economist with specialisation in financial services.

Gelsomina Vigliotti is an accomplished Italian economist and public servant, currently serving as Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) since October 2021. With a distinguished career in international finance and public policy, she has held key positions at Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, including Director General for International Financial Relations (2016–2021) and Director of various strategic offices focused on EU economic governance and international relations.

Florence Bindelle leads the Brussels team with strategic and operational know-how from her work at the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA), where she was
responsible for the management of relations with the European Commission and other European institutions and organisations, as well as media communication and the organisation of events.

Previously, she worked in the Brussels office of Mapfre Re on the liability portfolio management and treaty analysis. She holds a degree in law, an executive MBA from Louvain School of Management and a post-graduate degree in law and economics from ULB as well as a certificate in risk management and a Director Effectiveness certificate from Guberna.

She is also past president of ESAE (European Society of Association Executives) and Vice president of the FAIB (Federation of International Associations in Belgium) and speaks fluent French, Spanish and English and good Dutch.

With a distinguished career spanning over three decades, Merete Clausen has held key leadership positions within the European Commission, contributing significantly to EU investment and economic policy, and legal affairs. From 2022 onwards, she served as Director for Investment at the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs (DG GROW), overseeing strategic investment initiatives.

Prior to this, Merete Clausen played a pivotal role in economic and financial policymaking, holding various Head of Unit positions in DG ECFIN, where she managed initiatives focusing on financing for innovation, competitiveness, and collaboration with international financial institutions. Earlier in her career, she was a member of the European Commission’s Legal Service, specialising in budgetary, taxation, and customs matters.

Before joining the European Commission, Merete Clausen built a strong legal foundation as a lawyerlinguist at the European Court of Justice and practiced EU and competition law in a leading law firm in Denmark. She began her legal career as an assistant attorney-at-law at Kammeradvokaten, the Legal Adviser to the Danish Government. She has a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of Aarhus.

Ivana Gažić holds a Finance degree from the University of Zagreb (1997) and an Executive MBA from the International Executive Development Center in Slovenia – Bled (2001).

She is a licensed investment advisor and certified court expert in finance.  Ivana began her career at Pliva in 1998 and held leadership roles at Lura and Société Générale – Splitska banka before joining Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank as Executive Director of Investment Banking.

Since 2010, she has been President of the Zagreb Stock Exchange, where she led the acquisition of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange and spearheaded regional trade integration.

She also serves on the Supervisory Boards of SEE LINK, Ljubljana Stock Exchange, Pan Pek and the Macedonian Stock Exchange and is a member of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency Council.

Agnès Le Thiec is Deputy Head of Unit in the Securities Markets unit of DG FISMA since September 2024, after working as Deputy in the unit in charge of the Capital Markets Union initiative. Before joining DG FISMA in 2015, Agnes notably worked as economist in DG ECFIN as well as corporate banker in the United States. She studied business and finance.

Paula Redondo Pereira leads the Listing and Regulatory Affairs department at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE), bringing extensive legal expertise and a deep understanding of capital markets regulation. Since 2019, she has been at the helm of LuxSE’s Regulatory Affairs team, and in 2023, she also assumed leadership of the International Primary Markets team, a key pillar of LuxSE’s business.

Niels Brab is Deutsche Börse Group’s Chief of Staff and Head of Group Corporate and Regulatory Strategy. In his role he works in symbiosis with the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Board on the daily management of the company and is responsible for the Group-wide strategy. As part of his responsibilities, Niels supports DBG’s businesses and their senior executives, acting as a catalyst to drive growth and resilience. He is also in charge of Deutsche Börse Group’s regulatory strategy and represents the Group in various industry associations and key public fora, enhancing critical thought-leadership.

Niels is the President of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) and serves as a Co-Chair of the European Association of CCP Clearing Houses (EACH). He is also a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) CCP Policy Committee and a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Consultative Committee.

Before his appointment as Chief of Staff, Niels served as Deutsche Börse Group’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Head of Government Relations and Head of the Brussels Representative Office.

Prior to joining Deutsche Börse Group in 2014, he held roles at leading consultancies, such as FTI Consulting and Fleishman-Hillard. He also founded his own firm, EURObjective. Niels holds an LLM in European Law and an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development from the University of Maastricht.

Maria Luís Albuquerque is currently the European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union. She is a highly experienced Portuguese economist and politician, best known for her role as Minister of Finance in Portugal from 2013 to 2015.

During her tenure, she played a critical role in managing the country’s financial crisis. Prior to her position as finance minister, Albuquerque held various key positions in the public sector, including Head of Issuing and Markets at the Portuguese Treasury and Debt Management Agency.

After leaving politics, she continued her career in the private sector, contributing her expertise in finance and economic policy to international organizations and advisory roles.

Her professional experience reflects a deep understanding of fiscal management, economic reform, and European financial systems.

Delphine d’Amarzit has led Euronext Paris as CEO and is a Managing Board member of Euronext N.V. since March 2021.

In the previous stage of her career, she held key roles in the French Treasury and Prime Minister’s Office, contributing to shape European financial regulation, before joining Orange in 2016 to develop their financial services.