Market structure specialist David Weisberger has departed IHS Markit to start his own consultancy firm, ExQuam LLC. Weisberger, a market veteran with 33 years of experience, spent the last year-and-a-half at IHS writing market structure articles and was a Managing Director and head of Quantitative Research.  Weisberger, in speaking with Traders Magazine, said he wanted to focus on opportunities arising from the “evolution of investment management towards more quantitative and systematic methodologies.” Prior to that, he has worked at RegOne Solutions, Two Sigma Securities, Lava Trading, Citigroup and  started his career on Wall Street in 1984 at Morgan Stanley.

Chicago-based R.J. O’Brien & Associates (RJO) promoted Thomas Texier to the new role of Managing Director of its London-based affiliate, R.J. O’Brien Limited (RJO Limited). Texier, who has served as Chief Operating Officer of RJO Limited since the Chicago-based parent firm acquired The Kyte Group Limited in March 2015, has more than 20 years of management experience in the industry, including 13 years at Kyte and five at Societe Generale. Reporting to Texier will be the following RJO Limited executives: Mark Trafeli, General Counsel; Stefan Giemza, Director of Compliance; Adam Solomons, Executive Director and Chief Customer Officer; Adrian Marrocco, Chief Financial Officer; John Martin, Director of Operations; and Devinder Harry, Chief Information Officer.

If you have a new job or promotion to report, let me know at jdantona@marketsmedia.com

Kevin Turner, who joined Citadel Securities as chief executive officer after a career that led from Wal-Mart cashier to a top job at Microsoft, left the Wall Street market making firm that accounts for nearly 33% of US equity trading volume. Replacing Turner is Peng Zhao, who previously was the firm’s global head of market making, according to company spokesman Zia Ahmed. Zhao has spent the last several months as Chief Scientist, a role created specifically for him. Zhao has been with the firm for 11 years.

CFTC’s Acting Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo announced that Amir Zaidi has been named the new Director of the Division of Market Oversight (DMO). In this role, Zaidi will head the division that oversees trade execution facilities and data repositories, conducts market surveillance, reviews new exchange applications and examines existing exchanges to ensure compliance with applicable core principles.

Also at the regulator, Vincent McGonagle was appointed as the Acting Director for the Division of Enforcement (DOE). McGonagle has served at the CFTC for nearly 20 years in various management capacities in the DOE, and will assume his new role effective immediately. Since March 2002, he has served as the Senior Deputy Director of the Division of Enforcement, responsible for day-to-day operation and oversight of DOE, which is charged with enforcement of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission Regulations.

Mizuho Americas announced the expansion of its US equity research platform, hiring Paul Fremont as an equity analyst covering the utilities sector. Fremont joins Mizuho from Nexus Asset Management, where he served as an electric utilities analyst covering thirteen electric utilities companies and independent power producers (IPPs). Prior to that, he spent fifteen years as a Managing Director covering nineteen domestic U.S. utilities with Jefferies equity research team collecting several StarMine, Wall Street Journal and Institutional Investor top stock picker awards. Based in New York, Fremont will report to Sheryl Skolnick, Managing Director and Director of US Equity Research at Mizuho Americas.

Apex Clearing Corporation, an independent clearing firm has hired Ron Fiske as Head of Retail. Fiske brings to Apex more than 30 years of financial experience, with an expertise in custody, and will play a pivotal role in deepening the company’s digital investment solutions. Prior to joining Apex, Fiske was Managing Director at Envestnet, a leading provider of integrated portfolio, practice management, and reporting solutions. He has also held managerial positions at Fidelity Investments and Pershing LLC.

Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has reported that Ann Shuman, DTCC Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel, has been appointed to the role of General Counsel. Shuman assumes the General Counsel position from Larry Thompson, who is stepping down to serve full-time as Vice Chairman of DTCC. As General Counsel, Shuman will be responsible for advising senior management and the DTCC Board of Directors on legal and regulatory matters. In addition, she will join the firm’s Management Committee and continue to oversee its global legal team. She has been with DTCC since January 2014. Prior to DTCC, Ms. Shuman served as Managing Director & Deputy General Counsel of CME Group Inc.  Before joining CME in 2000, she was an attorney at Sidley & Austin in Chicago.

Standard Life Investments, a global investment manager, has added Mark Clacy-Jones as Fund Strategist. This is a new role within the company. Clacy-Jones, who has over 10 years of experience in the industry, joined the company in January from Knight Frank where he held the role of Head of Data & Analytics, commercial research. Prior to this he was Vice President, Head of Applied Research at MSCI Real Estate and Head of Indices at IPD. He reports to David Hedalen.

ITG announced that Robert Ferstenberg has joined the firm full-time in the new position of Global Head of Quantitative Research and Execution Analytics. He started February 1st, after serving as an advisor to ITG for the past few months. He re-joins ITG after 17 years. He first joined ITG in 1992 as part of the newly formed transactions research group. From 1995 to early 2000, he helped found and then managed the firm’s financial engineering group. From 2000 to 2011, Ferstenberg worked at Morgan Stanley and was instrumental in its build-out of a global electronic trading business. He also oversaw the division’s financial engineering effort and a quantitative proprietary trading business.

Finra’s former chief executive officer Richard Ketchum has joined the board of directors at MarketAxess. Ketchum, with over 30 years experience in the financial industry, served 12 years as president at Nasdaq and 14 years as director of market regulation at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He will join and help the board navigate advancing changes that strengthen the efficiency and liquidity of global credit markets.