Ongoing courtship between FinTech and America’s big exchanges: ICE senior executive Zohar Hod prepares to support startups

Further testimony to the technological prowess of North America’s exchange technology providers and derivatives venues has emerged today as FinTech organizations which provide the basis for the thought leaders in financial technology to develop their new innovations continue to attract top talent from within the senior executive levels of the established institutions.

The relationship between the encouragement of new FinTech development and America’s burgeoning startup scene has become very close, and this week, Zohar Hod, who spent almost 8 years at ICE Data Services, which is the division of Chicago’s IntercontinentalExchange that provides quote and data services including real-time and delayed quotes, end-of-day pricing data, third-party market data, market commentary, and news, has taken his experience into the world of startups by becoming part of a FinTech accelerator, from his base in New York.

Mr. Hod joined IntercontinentalExchange in August 2008 from IBM, and for almost 8 years has been Global Head of Sales & Support at ICE Data Services.

At IBM, where he spent 3 years between 2005 and 2008, Mr. Hod was Head of IBM’s Trading Solutions Group within which he founded the management consulting division that focuses on derivatives system implementation and strategy, working alongside tier 1 banks and buyside firms.

Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Hod was a Partner at Hedg-X Strategies, which is a Dutch offshore hedge fund, where he set up the STP links to facilitate the fund’s global execution and clearing, which involved relationships with prime brokerages and securitization of the fund’s assets and fund management services.

Like many very senior technologists, Mr. Hod spent a number of years in Israel’s military, in a civilian position. Between 1993 and 1997, Mr. Hod was a Senior Military Defence Program Buyer for the Government of the State of Israel, where he conducted procurement activities, analyzed risk of companies to determine financial stability, and was responsible for an annual budget of $100 million, with one of his major projects being buyer in charge for the Arrow Missile Defence Program.

Mr. Hod is multilingual, speaking fluent Hebrew, English, French and Spanish, and has 8 publications on various subjects ranginng from algorithmic trading to risk management and technology to his name, largely published during his tenure at IBM.

Educated at New York University’s Leonard Stern Business School, Mr. Hod has an MBA in Finance and Computer Information Services which he obtained in 2000, and a BBA in Finance and Investment from City University of New York’s Baruch College from which he graduated in 1996.

Image courtesy of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency