After seven years as CEO of Plato Partnership, Mike Bellaro will be stepping down following a short transition period, according to a press statement. He was a founding member of Plato, representing Deutsche Bank in the Partnership’s earliest days. He later took on the role of CEO in 2018, guiding the organisation through a period of growth and increasing influence. Under Bellaro’s leadership, Plato has expanded its membership, strengthened industry collaboration, and delivered initiatives that have had a lasting impact on the European equities marketplace. Mark Wilcox, who joined as Chief Operating Officer in 2018, will also step down at the end of the transition period. The Advisory Committee – made up of representatives from each member firm – will lead a member-driven review to refine Plato’s strategy. While that work is underway, an interim leadership team of Buy-Side Chair Simon Steward, Sell-Side Chair Salvador Rodriguez and Head of Marketing & Communications Jack Benda will keep day-to-day operations.
MetLife Investment Management has named Geert Henckens global head of Private Fixed Income. Henckens succeeds Funk, who became president of MIM in June 2025, according to a press release. Henckens was appointed global head of Investment Grade Private Credit in 2023. He joined MIM’s EMEA Corporate Private Placement team in 2014 and led the group from 2020 to 2023. Prior to MIM, he was responsible for arranging and underwriting syndicated loans at KBC Bank in London.
Commissioner Kristin Johnson will step down from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an independent federal agency that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, including futures, options, and swaps, on September 3, 2025. She shared in her public statement that her term of service ended in April of 2025. Commissioner Johnson was sworn in as a CFTC Commissioner on March 30, 2022. Prior to joining the Commission, she held endowed professorships and taught courses in the regulation of securities and derivatives markets, financial institutions, including courses on fintech, the development of blockchain technologies and artificial intelligence, as well as corporations and ethical leadership.
BestEx Research Group, a provider of high-performance algorithmic execution and measurement solutions for equities and global futures, has appointed Charlie Whitlock as Managing Director of Business Development, based out of Boston. According to a press release, Whitlock joins BestEx Research with more than 20 years of experience in electronic and algorithmic trading. Most recently, he served as Head of Americas Distribution at XTX Markets, where he developed institutional and retail trading strategies for the U.S. market. Prior to that, he led electronic trading sales for the Americas at Credit Suisse, overseeing client relationships that generated significant revenue for the bank’s Advanced Execution Services (AES) platform.
ETF.com has appointed Dave Nadig as President and Director of Research, according to a press statement. With over 30 years of experience across ETFs and market structure, Nadig brings both deep expertise and a proven track record of industry innovation. Most recently, he served as Financial Futurist at VettaFi (formerly ETF Trends & ETF Database).
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