Leonteq AG (SIX: LEON), the independent technology and service provider for investment solutions, today announced that its board of directors has appointed Justin Arbuckle, Steven Downey and Jochen Kühn as new members of the executive committee, subject to FINMA approval. These appointments, which will significantly strengthen Leonteq’s management team, have been made in the context of the ongoing organizational and strategic review, which was announced with Leonteq’s half year results and details of which will be presented at the Investor Day on 16 November 2016.
Jan Schoch, CEO of Leonteq: “The addition of these three accomplished professionals to our executive committee underlines Leonteq’s position as a leading expert for structured investment and pension products, and I’m very much looking forward to working closely with our new colleagues in the future. With their appointment, we will broaden our skillsets in the area of software architecture and research & development in order to further scale our platform, as well as expanding our insurance services and equity market expertise as integral parts of our business.”
Justin Arbuckle (1971) has been appointed to the new role of Chief Technology Officer as of 1 December 2016, with the goal of further developing Leonteq’s leading IT platform. He is currently Vice President Worldwide Transformation & Chief Enterprise Architect at Chef Software in London, a leading infrastructure and application development tools company with customers such as GE, Facebook, Yahoo, Etsy and Bloomberg. From 2008 until 2014, he held various senior technology roles at GE Capital, most recently as Executive Chief Architect & Chief Technology Officer EMEA. Before that, he worked at Barclays in Singapore, at IBM in the UK and at Standard Bank and IBM in South Africa. Justin Arbuckle is a British and South African national and holds a BA in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Natal, South Africa, as well as an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School. His core skills are in large system, organization transformation and IT architecture. In particular, he is an expert in bank application and infrastructure modernization and agile and lean software product development. He has coached IT executives from some of the world’s largest companies in digital transformation and is a sought after speaker on this topic.
Justin Arbuckle will take over Leonteq’s software architecture and research & development functions, including the recently launched Teqlabs in Singapore, from Manish Patnaik, who will continue in his role as Chief Operating Officer and member of the executive committee.
Steven Downey (1972) will join Leonteq as of 14 November 2016 as Head of Market Engine, where he will be responsible for the firm’s trading, quantitative analytics and treasury functions. Steven has over 20 years of experience in equity and equity derivatives markets, in-depth knowledge across the entire equities product range and a track record in risk management and building businesses for renowned international investment houses. A British national, he was most recently a Managing Director at Trium Capital Managers where he ran a systematic volatility strategy. Prior to this, he worked at Nomura between 2011 and 2014 where he held roles including Head of Equity Trading, Head of Equity Derivatives EMEA and subsequently Head of Equities EMEA. He started his career in 1995 at UBS, where he worked for 16 years. His last position held was Head of Equity Derivatives Trading EMEA. Steven Downey holds a BSc in Computer Science from Queen’s University, Belfast, and a MSc in Mathematical Trading and Finance from the City University London.
Jochen Kühn (1977) will run Leonteq’s insurance business as Head of Pension Solutions as of 9 January 2017, which includes the acquisition, onboarding and management of the firm’s insurance platform partners. He is currently a Partner at McKinsey & Company in Zurich, which he joined in 2006 and where he is responsible for client acquisition and client projects focusing on life insurance and pension fund topics across the value chain. He has vast experience in consulting insurance companies with both national and international foot prints and is a leader of McKinsey´s European insurance risk practice. Jochen Kühn is a German national and holds a PhD in Finance from the University of Zurich, and an MBA from the University of Tübingen.
Sandro Dorigo, current Head of Pension Solutions, will take over a new position as Head of Business Development, thus returning closer to his original role as a founding partner, where he was material in designing and shaping the firm’s direction and business operations during the start-up phase. In his new function, he will work closely with the CEO to further develop and implement Leonteq’s strategy. He will remain a member of the group’s executive committee as well as Chairman of the board of Leonteq’s Asian entities. Sandro Dorigo: “Over the last few years my team and I have established our pension solutions franchise as a completely new business in the structured products field. The focus is now on extending the respective client base, and I’m extremely happy to have found a successor in this role with an excellent global network in the insurance sector. As Head of Business Development, I look forward to again devoting my time together with Jan to more overarching strategic topics, and it goes without saying that I remain fully committed both as a member of the leadership team and as a shareholder of Leonteq.”
Pierin Vincenz, Chairman of the board of directors Leonteq: “With the upgrading of our technology and trading functions to standalone executive committee roles, a new internationally experienced insurance specialist taking over pension solutions, and with Sandro as a founding partner supporting our business development, we are very well placed for future growth.”