About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Robert Pickel Appointed Chief Executive Officer of International Swaps and Derivatives Association – Conrad Voldstad to Serve as Special Advisor to the Board

Subscribe to our newsletter

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, (ISDA) today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Robert Pickel as Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2012. Mr Pickel, who is one of the derivatives markets’ most experienced and accomplished executives, returns to the post after serving as the Association’s Executive Vice Chairman for the past two years.

Conrad Voldstad, ISDA CEO since November 2009, will continue to work with ISDA as a Special Advisor at the request of the board.  Mr Voldstad, who has been a leader in the swaps and capital markets for three decades, will assist on strategic initiatives.

“Connie Voldstad is an industry pioneer, and the board and I are grateful for his tremendous contributions to ISDA and the OTC derivatives markets,” said Stephen O’Connor, ISDA Chairman and Managing Director, Morgan Stanley. “The board looks forward to working with Bob Pickel as ISDA’s CEO. Bob’s appointment, together with George Handjinicolaou’s recent selection as Head of Europe and Deputy CEO, and Connie’s role as Special Advisor, provide ISDA with a very strong management team. ISDA is well positioned to navigate the challenges of the next few years as we work to foster safe and efficient derivatives markets for all users of derivative products and move forward through a period of unprecedented regulatory reform,” he said.

“ISDA has a terrific history of working on behalf of the OTC derivatives markets and its contributions are unequalled among trade associations globally,” said Mr Voldstad. “I have been delighted to partner with Bob Pickel to address the key issues facing our markets. We have clearly made important strides and I am certain that Bob is the right person to lead the Association forward as it makes further progress toward its key goals.”

“Connie has been an ideal leader of ISDA. I have enjoyed working with him and I look forward to his continued contributions,” said Mr Pickel. “ISDA faces a number of opportunities and challenges ahead. Our focus is on addressing these issues and fulfilling our mandate by supporting derivatives markets across asset classes, geographies, and trading and clearing environments. To do this, we will continue to reach out to all types of market participants around the world.”

Robert Pickel: Summary Biography
Robert G Pickel was appointed Executive Vice Chairman of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association in November 2009. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer from 2001, and as General Counsel from 1997.

Mr Pickel has been a highly visible figure in the ongoing regulatory discussions regarding OTC derivatives, participating in US congressional testimony and spearheading discussions with European and Asian regulatory bodies.
In his time with ISDA, Mr Pickel has brought the organization to several important milestones. He was instrumental in the development of the protocol mechanism which is ISDA’s means of amending multilateral derivative agreements. This was followed by the Novation Protocol, which created a uniform process for obtaining consent to transfer interests in credit and interest rate derivative transactions. He has been a key player in the growth and structure of credit derivatives, and the adoption of worldwide best practices on their use. In 2009, he announced the successful completion of the “Big Bang” Protocol, which details the incorporation of auction settlement terms into standard CDS documentation.

Prior to joining ISDA, Mr Pickel was assistant general counsel in the Legal Department of Amerada Hess Corporation, an international oil and gas company, from 1991 to 1997. He has also worked at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and London, where he represented ISDA in a variety of matters. Mr Pickel graduated from Williams College and received his law degree from New York University.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Optimising analytics – the role of data quality and data governance

Analytics are key to business decisions, revenue generation, optimal performance, risk mitigation, and more in capital markets – yet they are only as good as the data on which they are based, and that is not always very good. This webinar will consider how firms can build data quality and strong data governance as the...

BLOG

Stephan Wolf Steps Down from Role of GLEIF CEO in June 2024

Stephan Wolf, CEO of the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), will step down from the role on 24 June 2024 after a decade of leading the foundation from its start-up phase to the growing organisation it is today. In a post on LinkedIn, Wolf writes: “After a decade of incredible experiences and achievements, I...

EVENT

RegTech Summit London

Now in its 8th year, the RegTech Summit in London will bring together the RegTech ecosystem to explore how the European capital markets financial industry can leverage technology to drive innovation, cut costs and support regulatory change.

GUIDE

FATCA – The Time to Act is Now

The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – aka FATCA – raised eyebrows when its final regulations requiring foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to report US accounts to US tax authorities were published last year. But with the exception of a few modifications, the legislation remains in place and starts to comes into force in earnest...