Leonteq AG (SIX: LEON) today announced that its Board of Directors has named Manish Patnaik new Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Executive Committee as of 1 March 2014. Manish Patnaik is currently Chief Information Officer reporting to COO Michael Hölzle who has decided to leave the company to pursue personal interests.
Manish Patnaik joined Leonteq in 2011 as Head of Front Office IT and was promoted to Chief Information Officer in 2012. A German national, Manish Patnaik previously worked at Commerzbank where he led an IT team focusing on the areas of equity derivatives, cash equity and research, and has over 16 years of industry experience overall.
Manish Patnaik will take over his new function as Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Executive Committee as of 1 March 2014. Michael Hölzle, who has been with Leonteq since 2007 and has acted as COO and Executive Committee member since 2012, has decided to leave Leonteq to pursue personal interests.
Jan Schoch, CEO of Leonteq: “We regret the departure of Michael Hölzle who has been instrumental in the development of the company since its foundation. We owe him considerable thanks for his contributions and wish him all the best for the future. With Manish Patnaik, we have an excellent internal successor in place who is deeply familiar with the firm and its operations. Also, the availability of strong specific IT skills in our Executive Committee is in line with our focus on technology. We congratulate Manish on his new position and look forward to working even more closely with him in the future.”