TXSE pulls Jane Street talent

The Texas Stock Exchange on May 18 named a 12-member board of directors and appointed Jaime Gow as chief financial officer of parent company TXSE Group as the Dallas-based startup exchange moves toward a summer trading launch. The new board includes Andrew Upward, a market structure strategist at Jane Street, Darren Mulholland, head of business development at Hudson River Trading, and Rebecca Rettig, chief operating officer and chief legal officer at blockchain infrastructure company Jito Labs. TXSE said the board will provide independent oversight of the exchange’s strategy, growth and commitments to issuers and investors. James H. Lee, TXSE’s founder and chief executive, said the additions bring “expertise and governance” as the company tries to expand competition in U.S. public markets. ### Who exactly did TXSE add? TXSE’s May 18 announcement listed directors drawn from trading firms, brokerages, a public pension fund, a crypto infrastructure company and Dallas business circles. Alongside Upward, Mulholland and Rettig, the board includes Anna Kurzrok of Jefferies, Jeff Starr of Charles Schwab, Jaime Llano of Teacher Retirement System of Texas, Laura Morrison, formerly of Cboe Global Markets and the New York Stock Exchange, Ken Hersh of HFI Capital Management, former SEC commissioner Rick Roberts, Genuine Parts chairman Paul Donahue, and Lee himself. (txse.com) Andrew Upward’s role at Jane Street is market structure strategist within the firm’s institutional sales and trading team, according to TXSE’s board page. TXSE’s release said Rebecca Rettig serves as chief operating officer and chief legal officer at Jito Labs, and Darren Mulholland leads business development at Hudson River Trading. ### Why is the Jane Street name notable here? (txse.com) Jane Street is represented on the board through Upward, whose work focuses on market structure and trading developments for institutional clients, according to TXSE’s board biography. That places a senior figure from a major quantitative trading firm inside the governance structure of a new national exchange that is still building out its platform and listings business. (txse.com) Bloomberg separately reported on May 18 that TXSE’s board includes executives from Jane Street Group and Hudson River Trading as the company prepares to begin offering exchange-traded products this summer. Dallas News reported the same day that the board also reaches into blockchain and Dallas-Fort Worth business networks. (txse.com) ### What does the Jito Labs appointment add? Rebecca Rettig brings a digital-asset infrastructure background to the board through Jito Labs, a blockchain trading infrastructure startup identified in Dallas News and TXSE’s release. Her appointment puts a crypto-market operator alongside executives from traditional market-making, brokerage and exchange businesses on the same governing body. (bloomberg.com) Mathew Verghese, listed on TXSE’s leadership page as head of TXSE Digital and firmwide strategy, is already part of the exchange’s management team. That existing digital-markets role, combined with Rettig’s board seat, shows TXSE staffing both operating and governance ranks with people tied to newer market infrastructure. ### Who is the new finance chief? Jaime Gow will serve as chief financial officer of TXSE Group, the company said May 18. (finance.yahoo.com) TXSE said Gow most recently was executive vice president and CFO of Sagent, a fintech company backed by Warburg Pincus, and previously held the same titles at Mr. Cooper Group. (txse.com) Dallas News said Gow also held leadership roles at Capital Bank, First Horizon National Corporation and Terremark Worldwide. TXSE said his background includes public-company finance, accounting and capital markets work, including helping guide a company through an initial public offering. (txse.com) ### What happens next for TXSE? TXSE said in its announcement that the board will oversee the exchange’s long-term strategy as the company moves toward launch. Dallas News reported that the leadership changes come as TXSE prepares to begin trading this summer, while Bloomberg said the company plans to start by offering exchange-traded products. (finance.yahoo.com) The exchange has also published its Form 1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to TXSE’s governance and board pages. Dallas News reported that TXSE has already secured a primary listing commitment from a new exchange-traded fund by a Dallas investment management firm, and said the company is establishing a permanent headquarters at Bank of America Tower at Parkside in Uptown Dallas. (txse.com 1) (txse.com 2)