Jonathan Healey, Head of Global Markets eCommerce, BBVA

Jonathan Healey has over 30 years of experience in Global Financial Markets, leading projects and business,  initially in Corporate Treasury and subsequently at major banks.   Jon has held senior positions in eCommerce at HSBC, Lloyds and BBVA in FX and eCommerce where he led the creation of end to end digital platforms for FX and other asset classes from inception.   Jon is currently responsible for eCommerce globally across the asset classes at BBVA.

Global Head of Trade Automation & Analytics, Bloomberg

Rudolf Siebel, Managing Director, German Investment Funds Association (BVI)

Rudolf Siebel is Managing Director at BVI, the German Investment Funds Association. He represents the German investment fund and asset management industry views on law and regulation, value chain standardisation and market research issues.

Vernita Exum, CFA, Principal, Head of Equity Index, Europe, Vanguard

Vernita oversees the portfolio management of Vanguard’s European domiciled equity index funds, and equity execution in the European, African and the Middle Eastern markets. She began her career at Vanguard as a senior portfolio manager on the US equity trading desk in 2016.

Before joining Vanguard, Vernita was an Equity Market Specialist for Bloomberg L.P., and broadly engaged the client base through markets related training and thought leadership events.  Prior to Bloomberg, she was a Director, Senior Trader on Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Equity Portfolio Trading Desk, specializing in developed and emerging Americas.  Her responsibilities included marketing the firm’s program trading platform and execution consultation services, as well as basket trading and risk facilitation.

Vernita received an M.B.A. in Finance from The Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Accounting from Norfolk State University. She also holds the CFA ® designation.

Linda Middleditch, Chief of Product Strategy and Engineering, Itiviti

Linda is the Chief of Product Strategy and Engineering of Itiviti. She joined Itiviti in 2019 and she is responsible for defining and executing the product vision and strategy.

Prior to joining Itiviti, Linda held different executive positions at Bloomberg LP, where she was responsible for defining and implementing the strategy of their sell-side equity O/EMS and Tradebook Futures solutions.

Linda’s solid industry and multi asset class product expertise also builds on the senior leadership positions she held at top-tier investment banks, UBS, Citi and Morgan Stanley. During her 20+ years in the City, she worked with every asset class across the entire trade lifecycle within various functional departments including trading, operations, technology, and product management.

Linda demonstrates deep industry expertise and strategic thinking that have seen her play an instrumental role in the development and implementation of fintech solutions, and successfully drives innovation and change in both fintech and banking organizations.

She holds a bachelor’s degree, with honours, in Economics with Accounting from Manchester University. She is a keen advocate for Women in Fintech and holds a non-executive advisory role on the board of Macrobond.

Natalie Westerbarkey, Director and Head of EU Public Policy, Fidelity International

Natalie Westerbarkey is Director and Head of EU Public Policy at Fidelity International based in Luxembourg. She joined Fidelity in November 2017 and has over 15 years of professional experience. In August 2018 she was appointed as Board Director of FIL (Luxembourg) S.A., is a Deutsche Börse certified Board Director and Luxembourg ILA Independent Director member. Her responsibilities cover public policies relevant for the asset management industry impacting Fidelity, its clients and engaging with policy makers as well as industry, especially EFAMA where she has been appointed as Vice-Chair of the Investor Education Platform. Thematic focus in her current role is ESG, sustainable finance, pensions and research.

Ms Westerbarkey joined Fidelity from ADIA, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and was based in the Middle East for 3 years. She had responsibilities across regulatory risk, compliance and public policy activities. She lead a project assessing the impact of climate change on investments across asset classes chaired by the CIO. Prior she was Director at Citigroup in London for almost 9 years covering various roles including Government Affairs, Client & Sales Management and the Investor Business; before she worked for Clifford Chance in London as a lawyer, at the European Commission in Brussels and as a lawyer in Germany.

Ms Westerbarkey qualified as a judge in Germany. She completed an Executive MBA with focus on asset management and Asian markets with distinction from Cass Business School in London in 2011, as well as an LLM Master Degree in International Investment, Banking and Trade Law with an award as best student from Oxford Brookes University in 2005. She completed trainings held by Yale School of Management/EDHEC on investment and risk, Harvard Business School, INSEAD Business School and an International Compliance Officer Certificate. She was born and raised in Latin America.

Merlin Rajah, Head: Electronic Sales Trading, Absa

Merlin Rajah is Absa’s Head of Electronic Sales Trading and has been with the Absa team since May 2020 responsible for all electronic new business and client relationships. Prior to Absa, Merlin spent almost a decade at the JSE as their Business Development Manager for Electronic Trading. At the JSE he headed up the Colocation Sales, global International Liquidity Provider relationships, Shared Infrastructure Provider and Software Vendor businesses. Merlin sits on the FIX Next Gen committee and joins with a wealth of knowledge and experience in terms of exchange trading systems, algorithmic and quantitative trading, market data, colocation and an international network of client relationships.

Paul Clarke, Head of FX Venues, Refinitiv

Rostin Behnam was nominated by President Trump as a Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on July 13, 2017, was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on August 3, 2017, and was sworn in to serve as a Commissioner on September 6, 2017 for term expiring in June 2021.

Prior to joining the CFTC, Mr. Behnam served as senior counsel to U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Ranking Member of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee. Mr. Behnam served as counsel to Senator Stabenow from 2011 through his 2017 appointment, focusing on policy and legislation related to the CFTC and the Department of Agriculture.

Prior to serving Senator Stabenow, Mr. Behnam practiced law in New York City and worked at the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Mr. Behnam is a graduate of Georgetown University and earned a J.D. from the Syracuse University College of Law.