CHICAGO, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of
Directors of CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse
derivatives marketplace, today announced that Craig Donohue, the company's Chief Executive
Officer since 2004, has informed them he will step down when his
contract expires in December 2012. As
part of the company's succession plan, the Board has appointed
Terrence Duffy, who is currently
Executive Chairman, to the expanded role of Executive Chairman and
President and current President Phupinder
Gill to Chief Executive Officer when Donohue's contract
expires. Additionally, the Board extended Duffy's and Gill's
contract agreements. Donohue, Duffy and Gill, who have worked
together in the Office of the CEO for the last eight years, will
work together over the next several months, to effectuate an
orderly leadership transition.
Upon implementation of the company succession plan, Duffy will
continue to take a hands-on approach in the key external-facing
functions of Government Relations, Corporate Marketing and
Communications, formalizing oversight of the areas in which he
already is significantly involved. Gill, who will report to
Duffy, will be responsible for all other aspects of running the
company, including Clearing, Technology & Enterprise Computing,
Global Operations, Enterprise Solutions, Products & Services,
Legal & Market Regulation, Research & Product Development,
Finance & Corporate Development, Product Marketing, and Human
Resources. The current Management Team also will remain in
place. Duffy and Gill will continue to work together to set
the organization's vision and strategic direction, while expanding
CME Group's core businesses, developing new growth opportunities,
and further strengthening the operations of the company.
"Under Craig's guidance, CME Group has grown into the preeminent
global derivatives exchange company," said Duffy. "He has
performed an enormous service to CME as CEO and in numerous other
roles over the years as our exchange and the industry have
evolved. His many contributions have helped CME transition
from a membership-owned organization into a for-profit, public
company that has expanded into every major asset class with the
acquisitions of the Chicago Board
of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange and has also extended
its reach globally. We thank Craig and wish him well as he
moves on to new challenges."
"Going forward, technology, clearing and operational excellence
will continue to be an important facet of how we deliver value to
our customers and drive growth for shareholders – all of the areas
in which Gill is extremely experienced, making him the right person
to serve as our future CEO," said Duffy. "The Board of
Directors and I believe that Gill's decades of experience in all
aspects of our business, coupled with his extensive experience in
Asia, position him to lead us
forward with the successful execution of our global growth
strategy," Duffy added.
"I am honored that the Board has placed its confidence in me to
step into the role of Chief Executive Officer," said Gill. "I
am thankful for the guidance provided to me by Craig over these
past eight years. As a company we are well positioned for the
future, and I look forward to working more closely with Terry, the
Management Team and the rest of the organization to further expand
the influence of our markets and exploit new growth opportunities
globally and in the OTC arena. I also look forward to being
able to help guide the development of our already strong employee
base who will ensure CME Group continues to meet the challenges
ahead."
"After 23 years at CME Group, including eight years as CEO, this
is a bittersweet decision for me but I am ready to explore new
challenges," said Donohue. "Working with Terry, Gill and our
world-class Management Team, we have transformed our company,
accomplished impressive growth, and created substantial value for
our shareholders. Our accomplishments as a team include more
than $20 billion in acquisitions,
$1 billion in strategic global
investments and successful extensions into OTC clearing, index
services, and technology and co-location services. During my term
as CEO, we also achieved average annual revenue growth of 26
percent, average annual net income growth of 32 percent, average
annual earnings per share and free cash flow per share growth of 21
percent, total average annual shareholder returns of 20 percent,
and an increase in market capitalization of 662% since 2004.
I thank our Board, Terry, Gill, our management and employees for
their many contributions to these achievements and wish them well
as they work together to further advance CME Group."
CME Group will hold a conference call to discuss leadership
transition plans at 3 p.m. Eastern
Time today. To join, please dial 877-856-1961
domestic; or 719-325-4869 international. A live audio Webcast
of the call will be available on the Investor Relations section of
CME Group's Web site at www.cmegroup.com. An archived
recording will be available for up to two months after the
call.
About Terry Duffy
Duffy, a 31-year veteran of the futures industry, has served as
Executive Chairman of CME Group since July 2007. Prior to
that, he was Chairman of the Board of CME and CME Holdings since
April 2002 and Executive Chairman
since October 2006. Duffy was Vice Chairman of the Board of
CME Holdings from its formation in 1998 to April 2002. He was
President of TDA Trading, Inc. from 1981 to 2002. He has been
a member of CME since 1981 and a Board member since 1995.
Through his positions, Duffy has been a leading force behind the
exchange's ongoing evolution as well as its increasing prominence
in the U.S. and globally. He was instrumental in facilitating
the transition to electronic trading, influencing the company's
demutualization and initial public offering in 2002, which made CME
the first publicly traded financial exchange in the U.S. He
has played a critical role in the exchange's growth, including the
historic merger with the Chicago
Board of Trade (CBOT) in 2007 and the New York Mercantile Exchange
(NYMEX) in 2008. In 2002, Duffy was appointed by President
George W. Bush and confirmed by the
U.S. Senate in 2003 as a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift
Investment Board (FRTIB), which administers the Thrift Savings
Plan, a $190 billion retirement
savings plan for federal employees. He currently serves on
the Board of Directors of World Business Chicago, the Board of
Trustees of Saint Xavier University,
and the Regional Advisory Board of The American Ireland Fund and is
Co-Chair of the Mayo Clinic Greater Chicago Leadership
Council. He also is Vice Chairman of the CME Group
Foundation.
About Phupinder Gill
Gill, who has been with the company since 1988, has served as
President of CME Group since July
2007 and served as President and Chief Operating Officer of
its predecessor companies, CME Holdings and CME since January
2004. In these positions, Gill was responsible for
implementing strategic initiatives and overseeing the divisions
responsible for products and services, technology, global
operations, clearing, enterprise solutions, and research and
product development. From 2000 to 2003, Gill was Managing
Director and President of CME Clearing, the largest derivatives
clearing house in the United States. He led the
implementation of the company's historic clearing agreement with
the Chicago Board of Trade to
provide clearing and processing services for all CBOT products,
which ultimately paved the way for CME's merger with CBOT in
2007. Prior to that, Gill held numerous other positions
within CME Clearing and has been responsible for overseeing
virtually every function within the clearing organization.
Gill is President of GFX Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of CME
Group that provides liquidity in foreign exchange futures, and
serves on the Board of Directors of CME Clearing Europe. He
is also on the Board of Directors of Teach for America and a member
of CME Group's Competitive Markets Advisory Council as well as a
member of the Board of Directors of The Alexander Maxwell Grant
Foundation and the CME Group Foundation.
About Craig Donohue
During his 23 year tenure at CME, Donohue has held a broad range
of positions with progressively increasing responsibilities in
Legal Affairs, Market Regulation, Strategic Planning and Business
Development, including General Counsel and Chief Administrative
Officer and CEO since 2004. Donohue serves on CME Group's
Board of Directors, as well as the boards of BM&FBOVESPA and
the World Federation of Exchanges (the trade association of 53
publicly regulated stock, futures and options exchanges around the
world). In 2010, Donohue was selected as one of the 50
best-performing CEOs in the world by the Harvard Business
Review. In 2009, Donohue was named to Institutional
Investor's Power 50 list of the World's Most Influential People
in Finance. Also in 2009, Donohue was recognized as The
International Executive of the Year by the Executives' Club of
Chicago and the Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of The Year® in the investment/financial services
category for the Midwest region. He is a member of the
Wall Street Journal's CEO Council and serves on the steering
committee for its Future of Finance Initiative. Donohue also
serves on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Global Markets
Advisory Committee.
As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace,
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage
risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global
benchmark products across all major asset classes, including
futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes,
foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather
and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers
together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform and
its trading facilities in New York
and Chicago. CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the
world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, which
offers clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded
contracts, as well as for over-the-counter derivatives transactions
through CME ClearPort®. These products and services ensure
that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty
credit risk in both listed and over-the-counter derivatives
markets.
CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME,
Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago
Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the
Board of Trade of the City of
Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and
ClearPort are registered trademarks of New York Mercantile
Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange,
Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ:
CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.
CME-G
SOURCE CME Group