ICE Announces Senior Leadership Changes

Rhea-AI Summary

Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) has announced a series of senior leadership changes aimed at fostering growth and innovation. CEO Jeff Sprecher highlighted the company's $70 billion market cap and strategic shifts in response to evolving market demands. Key appointments include Sharon Bowen as Chair of the NYSE and Lynn Martin as its President. The restructuring reflects ICE's commitment to enhance transparency and operational efficiency across its diverse business segments, including fixed income and mortgage technology. These adjustments are seen as pivotal in navigating a changing market landscape.

Positive

• Leadership changes draw from internal talent, potentially fostering innovation.
• Market capitalization exceeds $70 billion, indicating strong business positioning.
• Strategic focus on enhancing transparency in fixed income markets and ESG data.

Negative

• Concerns about continuity with the departure of Stacey Cunningham, former NYSE President.
• Potential experience gaps in the new leadership roles amid significant organizational changes.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure, today announced a series of senior leadership changes across the company under Chief Executive Officer Jeff Sprecher that reflect the firm’s expansion in recent years and position it for continued growth in its third decade. The leadership changes, designed to continue delivering value for ICE customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders, draw entirely from deep and diverse talent within the organization, providing these leaders an opportunity to help grow the business in new ways and expand their management roles.

“When a handful of colleagues and I founded ICE over twenty years ago, our simple idea was to make trading more automated and transparent, and that purpose anchored our original leaders as we grew exponentially, and their duties grew along with the firm,” said Jeff Sprecher, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange. “Now with a market capitalization of over $70 billion, and a substantially transformed company from our origins, it’s more important than ever to challenge our leaders to take on new tasks and acquire new skills as we serve a new and ever evolving marketplace.”

Below is a letter that Sprecher shared with the company’s nearly 10,000 employees today.

To my ICE colleagues:

All around us, the world is changing. The market environment in 2021 is vastly different than when we began our journey in 2000.

• At COP26, which concluded in Glasgow last month, the private sector pledged $130 trillion in finance commitments to address climate change, which provides great opportunity in many areas of our exchanges segment.

• Investors are seeking increased transparency in the fixed income markets, punctuated by a demand for more ESG data to guide investing in the $128 trillion bond market, an opportunity that’s still in the early innings for our fixed income and data segment.

• The increasing cost of originating mortgages and changing regulatory framework are driving demand for increased efficiency and transparency in this space, trends that will continue to benefit our mortgage technology segment.

I mention these factors that affect each of our businesses because at no point in our history have global trends and macroeconomic factors aligned so favorably with the strategic decisions that our management team have made over the past few years to prepare for them. ICE’s ability to plan for such events has allowed it to thrive amid dramatic moments of change.

And as times change, ICE is changing along with it. As I said in our third quarter earnings call a few weeks ago, our broad product and service platform positions us well to benefit from not only near-term cyclical events, but also longer-term secular growth trends. In the same way, the increasing expertise, experience, and diversity of our management team position us to innovate more rapidly, manage risk more efficiently, and grow more sustainably.

As organizations everywhere adjust to a world transformed by the pandemic, our management team is evolving along with the market environment. I’m not going anywhere, but for many years, we’ve been working to develop the next generation of ICE leaders who’ll bring energy and experience to drive our success in the future. Challenging this group of global leaders with new or expanded roles is fundamental to good governance and stewardship of our firm.

Here are some of the noteworthy changes you’ll see as we head into the new year:

• At the New York Stock Exchange, Sharon Bowen, an ICE and NYSE Board Member, one of the nation’s leading finance and securities lawyers, and formerly a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will become the next Chair of the NYSE. In addition, Lynn Martin, currently President, ICE Fixed Income and Data Services, has been appointed the next President of the NYSE, succeeding Stacey Cunningham, who is beginning a new chapter in her career and will join the Board of Directors of the NYSE. I’ll share more thoughts on Stacey at the end of this note.

• Lynn will lead the NYSE with a knowledgeable, collaborative, and outstanding team of executives, including Michael Blaugrund, the Exchange’s Chief Operating Officer, and John Tuttle, its Vice Chairman and Chief Commercial Officer. In addition, Hope Jarkowski, formerly the Co-head of Government Relations at ICE and currently the NYSE’s Head of Equities, will become its General Counsel, replacing Elizabeth King who, you’ll note below, is taking on additional ICE-wide responsibilities.

• While Lynn assumes her new role at 11 Wall Street, she will continue to serve as Chair of ICE Fixed Income and Data Services to help guide that business as Amanda Hindlian, currently the Global Head of Capital Markets at the NYSE, becomes its new President. The global business that Amanda will now lead includes our evaluated pricing business, which prices nearly 3 million securities daily, and our rapidly growing index business. As this business continues to expand, Mark Heckert, the Chief Product Officer of ICE Fixed Income and Data Services, will add leadership of the index and desktop areas of the segment as he broadens his duties.

• Turning to ICE as a whole, Mark Wassersug, ICE’s Chief Operating Officer, will transition to a new role as the company’s Chief Information Officer, overseeing our industry leading technology implementations across our growing business and working closely with Mayur Kapani, ICE’s Chief Technology Officer. As Mark moves into this position, Stuart Williams will succeed him as Chief Operating Officer of ICE, reporting to ICE President Ben Jackson. Stuart, who is currently President of ICE Futures Europe, will remain in that post until a successor is identified and in place.

• As part of this transition of Stuart into a new role, Trabue Bland, currently President of ICE Futures U.S., will oversee all of ICE’s Futures Exchanges, which will continue to report to Ben. Adding to Trabue’s team, Jennifer Ilkiw, now the head of ICE Asia Pacific, will relocate to New York to serve as President of ICE Futures U.S.

• Rounding out the organizational changes, Elizabeth King, ICE’s Chief Regulatory Officer, who will report to me, will add responsibilities for ICE ESG, our burgeoning product initiative around sustainable investing. Elizabeth will also oversee the NYSE’s Board Advisory Council, which works with the CEOs of NYSE-listed firms to identify diverse candidates for boards of directors of venture-funded and newly public companies. In addition, Chris Edmonds, who also reports to me and has been leading our clearing businesses, will see his role expanding as Chief Development Officer for ICE, adding oversight of ICE’s marketing and communications, in addition to his other duties.

Nine years ago this month, ICE announced its $8.2 billion acquisition of NYSE Euronext, a move that put our relatively obscure company on the map. One week before that news broke, Stacey Cunningham joined the NYSE. She was new to our team, but not new to the building, having spent the early years of her career on the NYSE Trading Floor. Stacey embraced the challenge as ICE set out to reinvent a global icon. As the NYSE’s Chief Operating Officer and, since 2018, its 67^th President, Stacey oversaw a complete technology overhaul of the Exchange, delivered innovations in our capital markets with the advent of the NYSE Direct Listing, and expanded ESG efforts across NYSE and its broader community, all while continuously advocating for investors. Stacey led the NYSE through an extraordinary era that saw its technology prove resilient and its trading systems thrive in even the most turbulent times. She begins a new chapter with the Exchange better and stronger for her tireless efforts, and with our deepest thanks.

As we look to the future, it’s worth recalling we launched ICE with $1,000 and a focus on energy trading. Two decades later, we’re a mission-critical provider of technology and data services across global commodity markets, interest rates, equities, fixed income, and mortgages. The ICE that our customers know today is a company with a broad mix that, together, delivered net revenues of $1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2021, our best third quarter in history. Our performance so far in 2021 is a testament to everyone who has helped build ICE into an all-weather performer for our customers and shareholders over the years.

We’re mindful that this sets a high bar for our management team in the new or expanded roles we’re announcing today. Our Board of Directors and I have total confidence this group of seasoned professionals will take ICE to new heights, leading our team all over the world, collaborating across businesses, and innovating continuously to unlock additional growth opportunities in the months and years ahead.

Thank you for all that you’re doing, every day, to help our customers make the connection between people and opportunity.

Jeff

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds and operates digital networks to connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes that offer our customers access to mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and operational efficiencies. We operate exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, and clearing houses that help people invest, raise capital and manage risk across multiple asset classes. Our comprehensive fixed income data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers capitalize on opportunities and operate more efficiently. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming and digitizing the U.S. residential mortgage process, from consumer engagement through loan registration. Together, we transform, streamline and automate industries to connect our customers to opportunity.

Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located here. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading “Key Information Documents (KIDS).”

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the SEC on February 4, 2021.

ICE- CORP

Source: Intercontinental Exchange

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211206005271/en/

ICE Media Contact:

Josh King

josh.king@ice.com

(212) 656-2490

media@ice.com

ICE Investor Contact:

Mary Caroline O’Neal

marycaroline.oneal@ice.com

(770) 738-2151

investors@ice.com

Source: Intercontinental Exchange

FAQ

What are the recent leadership changes at Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)?

ICE announced significant leadership changes, including Sharon Bowen as Chair of the NYSE and Lynn Martin as its President, reflecting the company's growth strategy.

What is the reason for the leadership restructuring at ICE?

The restructuring aims to position ICE for continued growth and innovation in response to evolving market demands.

How will the leadership changes impact ICE shareholders?

The changes are designed to enhance operational efficiency and transparency, potentially benefiting shareholders through improved company performance.

Who is the new Chair of the NYSE after the leadership changes at ICE?

Sharon Bowen has been appointed as the new Chair of the NYSE.

What challenges could ICE face with the new leadership appointments?

Transitioning leadership may bring challenges related to continuity and experience gaps, especially with the departure of key figures.