Former Goldman Sachs Executive and Market Structure Veteran to Lead Award-Winning Voice Workspace Firm to Next Level
CHICAGO and LONDON, March 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Green Key Technologies, creator of an award-winning voice workspace designed for financial market voice collaboration, announced today the appointment of Paul Christensen, 44, as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. One of the industry's leading experts on global market structure issues, Christensen most recently served as Managing Director and Global Co-head of Goldman Sachs' Principal Strategic Investments team. He has been responsible for conceiving and executing a series of the industry's leading ventures.
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Anthony Tassone, Green Key Co-founder and CEO since the firm's inception, will assume the new role of Chief Product Officer, responsible for product innovation and development.
Said Tassone: "Paul is world class. He will take what we have created at Green Key and propel the firm to the next level. His accomplishments to date are incredible, and he has demonstrated a keen understanding of the voice workspace we've built and its potential to have a profound impact on the financial services industry."
Christensen said: "I couldn't be more enthusiastic about leading this firm into the future and working with Anthony and Green Key's unrivaled Advisory Board to build on what he and the team started. Green Key will transform the way people communicate. Every phone in the financial markets (and frankly beyond) should instead be a Green Key app; I believe it's that powerful. The terrific functionality that we all take for granted on our smartphones has just not been available in the corporate setting until now. At the global investment banks where I worked, I couldn't one-touch video conference my colleagues or address multiple counter-parties by tapping a button on a tablet. Through clever technology and a robust, reliable back end, Green Key makes this possible, along with unique offerings in transcription and voice-driven workflows to harness the power of big data. It's a game changer in the way we communicate. It will make the markets smarter, safer and cheaper for everyone."
David Rutter, Green Key Advisory Board member and CEO of financial technology innovation firm R3 CEV, said: "Paul is a leading market structure practitioner, and we're thrilled to have him lead the Green Key team. I've known him for over a decade and have been continually impressed. He has spent his career building solutions for the markets – since he started at Volbroker. He and Anthony have complementary skills, and they'll make a great team for a great company."
Green Key's Advisory Board also includes: Neal Shear, Chairman of the Board and interim CEO of Cheniere Energy and long-time executive at Morgan Stanley; Jill Sommers, former Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2007 to 2013; Don Wilson, CEO and founder of DRW Trading and founder of the FIA Principal Traders Group; and James Falvey, formerly General Counsel of R.J. O'Brien & Associates and Intercontinental Exchange.
Christensen will operate out of the growing Green Key office in London, a strategically important time zone and customer hub, while managing the expansion of the firm's offices in Chicago, New York and Singapore.
Christensen has played an active role in many of the leading market structure initiatives throughout the last 15 years, including Markit, TradeWeb, SwapClear, SwapsWire, the London Clearing House and Volbroker. He also served as Goldman's Co-Chief Operating Officer of its Global Market Structure Group.
After joining Goldman Sachs as an executive director in 2006, Christensen was promoted to managing director in 2009. He led the firm's market structure-related strategy and investment opportunities, managing the market's leading global team and a large, successful portfolio.
Prior to joining Goldman, Christensen served as Global Head of Strategic Investments for Deutsche Bank. He was Co-COO at Volbroker, one of the first multi-dealer electronic trading platforms, from 2000 to 2002. He began his career as a corporate attorney in London and Sydney.
Christensen has been a frequent guest lecturer on corporate venturing, entrepreneurship and market structure matters at the London Business School and Oxford University. He has served on the boards of directors of Tradeweb Markets LLC, Source ETF Ltd., NYSE Liffe US, Markit Ltd., OTC Deriv Ltd., International Index Company Ltd. and Celoxica Ltd.
Christensen earned an MBA from the London Business School in 2007, after earlier receiving a Master of Laws degree from the London School of Economics and Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of Queensland.
In 2000 and 2012, Christensen was International Federation Attaché for the modern pentathlon for the Olympic Games. He represented Australia in the sport at a world championship level. Paul has twice been winner of a noted ultra-endurance Quadrathlon race in the Highlands of Scotland.
Christensen and his wife, Emily, have two children and live in Primrose Hill, London.
About Green Key Technologies
Headquartered in Chicago with offices in New York, London and Singapore, Green Key Technologies provides the most comprehensive, advanced voice workspace environment for firms involved in the financial markets. The firm's patented software turret functionality, encrypted global Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network and searchable text files combine to make voice communication significantly simpler, smarter and more cost-effective. Green Key's VoIP network now includes more than 250 of the world's largest banks, brokerage firms and trading firms. In 2015, Green Key won Waters Technology's Most Promising Sell-Side Start Up Award and received an Innovator Award from FIA, the leading trade organization for the futures, options and cleared swaps markets worldwide. For more information, please visit www.greenkeytech.com.
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