(Bloomberg) — NYSE Group Inc. promoted Paul Adcock, who helped pioneer electronic equity trading in the 1990s, to oversee day-to-day operations of its U.S. stock exchanges, according to people familiar with the matter.
Adcock joined NYSE in 2006 when it bought Archipelago Holdings Inc., which was later turned into one of the companys three equity markets, NYSE Arca. In the new position, hell oversee venues handling about 20 percent of U.S. stock trading, including the 222-year-old New York Stock Exchange.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. has reshaped the NYSE since buying the company in November, jettisoning employees and its European equities division while planning technology upgrades. Besides Adcock, recent management changes include Steve Crutchfield, the head of U.S. options, gaining oversight over exchange-traded funds and bonds, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked to not be named because the information hasnt been made public. Also, Elizabeth King is the new general counsel at NYSE, the person said.
Sara Rich, an NYSE spokeswoman, declined to comment on the promotions.
The moves are the latest executive changes following the takeover. The chief executive officer who sold NYSE to ICE, Duncan Niederauer, is leaving this week. Other departures include Chief Operating Officer Larry Leibowitz, head of U.S. equities Joe Mecane and Lou Pastina, who oversaw the New York Stock Exchange. ICE CEO Jeff Sprecher tapped one of his top deputies, Tom Farley, to run NYSE Group.
Other Promotions
Adcock, Crutchfield and King will report to Farley, as will Stacey Cunningham, NYSEs new head of sales, a position she once held at Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter. Other promotions include Tom Greene to vice president of building operations and Mary Brienza to CEO of NYSE Regulation Inc., the person said.
NYSE employees should take more risks, adopting an approach that made ICE one of the worlds biggest exchange operators just over a decade after its founding, Sprecher said in November.
I hope I can convince the NYSE employees to embrace that style of business and accept a certain amount of failure, he said during a phone interview on Nov. 12. Any more mature company has a hard time with that, but I really think that in todays era companies need to move quickly.
Adcock — who previously oversaw NYSE Arca — was one of the original employees of Archipelago, a Chicago-based market where traders could come together electronically, challenging the older business model at the NYSE where humans gathered on a trading floor. With Island ECN, Archipelago helped transform how U.S. stocks trade. NYSE later bought Archipelago, while Nasdaq purchased Island.
Technology Upgrade
Under ICEs ownership, NYSE has changed more than just its management. ICE purchased Algo Technologies Ltd. with the goal of using its technology to replace NYSEs core trading software, Bloomberg News reported in April, citing people familiar with the matter. ICE considered the existing NYSE system outdated and slow, one of the people said.
There may be more to come. In an earnings call earlier this month, ICE Chief Financial Officer Scott Hill said the firm has identified an additional $50 million of expense synergy as part of the acquisition of NYSE Euronext.
This includes the technology platform rationalization we discussed last quarter, as well as efficiency gains across other areas of the business, Hill said, according to Bloomberg transcript of the call.
Last week, NYSE cut fewer than 10 employees from its corporate listings business, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. No senior executives were removed, the person said.
