FESE 50th Anniversary Celebration

Rosa Armesto is Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the trade association of exchanges in Europe since July 2024. She is also a member of the
ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group and lecturer in financial market infrastructures at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management (BE).

Before her appointment as Director General of FESE, she was Deputy Director General for 6 years. Prior to that, she spent 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of
Public Affairs and Communications of Insurance Europe, the trade association of the European insurance sector. In her earlier career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs of FESE and held different responsibilities prior to re-joining FESE. She started her professional career in Eurostat (the Statistical office of the European Commission) in Luxembourg.

Rosa has almost 20 years of professional experience in EU affairs for financial services. Her expertise includes a variety of relevant financial regulatory dossiers, including MiFID/MiFIR,
Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. She is also familiar with Solvency II, PRIIPs, IDD and other insurance related files. Rosa is also the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Community at the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE).

She holds a MSc in Economics (major in Econometrics) from the University of Zaragoza (ES) & University of Groningen (NL), a BSc in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (ES), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (ES). She speaks English, French and Spanish.

Verena Ross is the Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). She took up the role on 1 November 2021 and is responsible for representing the Authority as well as preparing the work of and chairing its Board of Supervisors and Management Board.

Between 2011 and 2021 Verena Ross served as ESMA’s first Executive Director, when she was responsible for building up the organisation and overseeing its day to day running.

Prior to this, Verena held a number of senior posts in the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) and was a member of the FSA’s Executive Committee. Verena joined the FSA in 1998 to run the Executive Chairman’s office during the regulator’s start-up phase and was briefly a seconded advisor to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 2000. She held various positions in the FSA’s Markets Division and was Director of Strategy & Risk Division before becoming Director of the International Division.

Verena is a German national. Following studies in Sinology and Economics in Hamburg, Taipei and London (SOAS) she began her career at the Bank of England in 1994, where she worked as an economist and banking supervisor.

Thomas Book is a member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG, responsible for Trading & Clearing. A pioneer in electronic trading, he joined Deutsche Börse Group in 1995 as a member of the team that rolled out Deutsche Terminbörse’s remote membership concept across Europe and the US, gaining deep insights into the impact of innovation and technology in the exchange industry.  Book was also a member of the project team that built Eurex, the first cross-border exchange merger of its kind. In 2001, he rounded off his profound industry knowledge with his Ph. D. thesis Electronic Exchange Trading and Global Markets”. As a member of the Executive Board of Eurex and Eurex Clearing, Book subsequently shaped Deutsche Börse’s trading and clearing business for many years.

From 2007 to 2016, he was responsible for the clearing business of Eurex, expanding the value proposition following the 2008 financial crisis. In 2016, he took responsibility for trading at Eurex as its CEO, before being appointed to the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse in 2018. He is responsible for the Trading & Clearing division, which includes Cash Market, Financial Derivatives, FX & Digital Assets, Commodities and Market Data.

Roland Chai is EVP and, as of Jan 2024, President European Market Services, Nasdaq. Roland also serves as Chair of the Nasdaq Clearing Board since end 2023, and as a board member of the ISSA Board since 2023 and the OCC Board since 2024. Prior to his current role as President European Market Services, Roland led Nasdaq’s Marketplace Technology business from 2022-2023.

He has also served as Nasdaq’s Global Chief Risk Officer from 2020-2022, responsible for developing and managing Nasdaq’s global risk program while overseeing financial risk functions of Nasdaq Clearing and Nasdaq Fixed Income. Before Roland joined Nasdaq in year 2020, he served as Group Risk officer and Head of Post Trade at the Hong Kong Exchange, where he oversaw clearing and risk management functions across HKEX four CCPs and equities CSD as well as the exchange’s market surveillance. Roland also served on the Board of LME Clear until 2020.

Prior to joining the Hong Kong Exchange, Roland served as Head of Equities at LCH. Clearnet Ltd covering pan-European Equities and Equity Derivatives clearing. Roland has also served as Product Development Manager at the Australian Securities Exchange.

Bjørn Sibbern has been Global Head Exchanges and Member of the Executive Board of SIX since January 2024. He is responsible for both the Swiss and Spanish Exchanges, as well as the digital exchange SDX. Bjørn Sibbern has experience managing large teams in the fields of trading, funds, post-trade, listings, IPOs, data, index business, and technology. Before joining SIX, he served as Executive Vice President and President of European Markets at Nasdaq. In this role, he led the Nasdaq markets and exchanges across the Nordic and Baltic regions. He was also responsible for trading, listing, clearing, settlement, and the data business in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and the Baltic nations.

Prior to this, Bjørn was Executive Vice President and responsible for Nasdaq global data, data & analytics and index business working out of Nasdaq headquarter in New York. Before joining Nasdaq, Bjørn Sibbern was CEO at E*TRADE Bank Denmark from 2006 to 2008 and held key roles at OMX and Stocknet Norway. The Danish citizen holds an Executive Master in Business Administration, a Graduate Diploma in Finance, and a Master in Business Administration and Commercial Law from Copenhagen Business School

Rosa Armesto is Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the trade association of exchanges in Europe since July 2024. She is also a member of the
ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group and lecturer in financial market infrastructures at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management (BE).

Before her appointment as Director General of FESE, she was Deputy Director General for 6 years. Prior to that, she spent 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of
Public Affairs and Communications of Insurance Europe, the trade association of the European insurance sector. In her earlier career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs of FESE and held different responsibilities prior to re-joining FESE. She started her professional career in Eurostat (the Statistical office of the European Commission) in Luxembourg.

Rosa has almost 20 years of professional experience in EU affairs for financial services. Her expertise includes a variety of relevant financial regulatory dossiers, including MiFID/MiFIR,
Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. She is also familiar with Solvency II, PRIIPs, IDD and other insurance related files. Rosa is also the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Community at the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE).

She holds a MSc in Economics (major in Econometrics) from the University of Zaragoza (ES) & University of Groningen (NL), a BSc in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (ES), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (ES). She speaks English, French and Spanish.

Rosa Armesto is Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the trade association of exchanges in Europe since July 2024. She is also a member of the
ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group and lecturer in financial market infrastructures at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management (BE).

Before her appointment as Director General of FESE, she was Deputy Director General for 6 years. Prior to that, she spent 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of
Public Affairs and Communications of Insurance Europe, the trade association of the European insurance sector. In her earlier career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs of FESE and held different responsibilities prior to re-joining FESE. She started her professional career in Eurostat (the Statistical office of the European Commission) in Luxembourg.

Rosa has almost 20 years of professional experience in EU affairs for financial services. Her expertise includes a variety of relevant financial regulatory dossiers, including MiFID/MiFIR,
Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. She is also familiar with Solvency II, PRIIPs, IDD and other insurance related files. Rosa is also the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Community at the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE).

She holds a MSc in Economics (major in Econometrics) from the University of Zaragoza (ES) & University of Groningen (NL), a BSc in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (ES), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (ES). She speaks English, French and Spanish.