IEX today announced that John Schwall, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer will retire from the company by the end of 2019. His responsibilities which include overseeing market operations, information security, and quality assurance will be assumed by IEX’s existing leadership team, including Ronan Ryan, Co-Founder and President; Rob Park, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer; and Sara Furber, Chief Financial Officer.
The son of a fourth-generation fireman, Mr. Schwall’s retirement caps a long and distinguished Wall Street career spanning more than 20 years at institutions, including RBC Capital Markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Grant Thornton, and Pershing LLC. Since co-founding IEX in 2012, he has played an instrumental role in building the company, scaling internal operations, and researching inequalities and structural market inefficiencies that have allowed IEX to evolve into a successful and established national stock exchange.
“The entire team at IEX is grateful for John’s contributions and dedication to the company. They reflect his commitment and passion for innovating, advocating for the ordinary investor, and bringing forward a new standard for fairness and transparency to stock exchanges and equity trading overall,” said Brad Katsuyama, Co-Founder and CEO of IEX. “His leadership and tireless pursuit of excellence is ingrained in the company, and I especially appreciate his personal friendship and partnership over the past decade.”
“Our entire management team has worked hard to develop and assemble the best leadership for IEX as we continue our mission of building fairer markets,” said Schwall. “We have the right people in place and significant recent momentum that gives me the confidence that now is the right time for me to pass the baton and spend more time with my family while pursuing other personal passions of mine. IEX represents the pursuit of better performance, fairness, and transparency for investors and pension funds and whether I work at IEX, or as a private citizen, I will continue to support the mission with all of my heart. I will miss my colleagues at IEX and have greatly enjoyed my time building this company and team, and it is because of the breadth and depth of our team that I leave IEX with complete confidence in the company’s future. I am proud of what we have accomplished and can’t wait to see what the team does next.”