Tom Gros joins OpenLink from Reuters, where he served as Executive Vice President and Global Head of various Sales and Trading divisions, including Institutional Equities, Commodities and Energy and New Markets. His time at Reuters capped nearly two decadeâs experience in global markets, including trading roles in British Petroleum, Chemical Bank (now JPMorgan Chase) and Enron.
âI am honored to have the opportunity to lead the firm that leads the world in trading, risk and operations solutions. My mission is clear: scale the entrepreneurial culture that Coleman and his team have built over the last 15 years, extending our capabilities to every major asset class and every major financial center around the globe.â Commenting on the state of global markets, Gros adds, âI donât think my timing could be better. Look at the examples in the markets from just the last few weeks: Asian equities, European currencies, global crude oilâwe can now see clearly that these markets are intrinsically linked, and the affects they exert on one another occur with virtually no lag. Our clients need solutions that allow them to prosper in this convoluted web in real time and with no errors. Nobody does this better than OpenLink.â
OpenLinkâs COO/CFO, Kevin Hesselbirg, adds: âGiven our impressive growth in the last few years, the current management team has done an unbelievable job managing it without compromising our core attributes: exceptional product investment/development for the fast-changing markets, high customer satisfaction, and responsive client services. Tomâs âtrade floorâ credibility and leadership skills, provides OpenLink with an infusion of business expertise to bring our company to a new level. Tom will bring us into new markets, and accelerate the deployment of industry leading and transforming trading and risk management software solutions worldwide. I look forward to working with Tom on these exciting opportunities.â
Coleman Fung comments, âItâs amazing that Tom and I have so much in common â we were trained as engineers, worked as traders, and developed our strong moral compass under challenging environments: Salomon Brothers of the 80âs for me and Enron of the 90âs for Tom. Yet, we have much to complement each other: Tom is an undisputed industry visionary with a strong focus on client needs while Iâm the geek daydreaming about the possibilities. Combining our respective expertise and skills, we will transform OpenLink to become the industry-changing vendor.â
âThereâs a little bit of nostalgia in this for me as well,â said Gros. âI grew up on Long Island, in a little town called Massapequa, and I spent the first years of my career as an aerospace engineer with Grumman right here. Maybe our news release should be titled âlocal boy finds his way home,â â said the new CEO, with a smile.