Management
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William O'Brien
Chief Executive Officer
William O'Brien joined Direct Edge as Chief Executive Officer in July 2007. Prior to
his appointment to Direct Edge, Mr. O'Brien was Senior Vice President at The Nasdaq Stock Market,
having held senior management positions in Nasdaq’s New Listings and Market Data units.
Mr. O'Brien joined Nasdaq in 2004 by way of Brut, LLC, where he had been Chief Operating Officer since 2002,
helping lead the company through a period of significant growth and its acquisition by Nasdaq. He originally
joined Brut as Senior Vice President and General Counsel in 2000. Mr. O'Brien was an attorney in the Legal
Department of Goldman Sachs from 1998 to 2000 and at Orrick LLP from 1995 to 1998. He has a B.A. from the
University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
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William Karsh
Chief Operating Officer
William Karsh has served as Direct Edge’s as Chief Operating Officer since July 2007. He
originally joined Direct Edge in March 2006, serving as Chief Executive Officer while the company operated
as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Knight Capital Group.
Mr. Karsh has over 25 years of financial services experience, serving in senior management positions at a
number of firms, including the Bass Division of BTIG, Trading Services Group, LLC, UNX Inc., and National
Discount Brokers.
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Steve Bonanno
Chief Technology Officer
Steve Bonanno joined Direct Edge’s as Chief Technology Officer in September 2007. Prior to
Direct Edge, he served as Vice President of Technology Operations for Right Media, where he played an
instrumental role in aiding the company through the process of its acquisition by Yahoo! In April 2007.
Mr. Bonanno has over a dozen years experience in overseeing the development and operating efficiency of financial
market technology, serving in a variety of senior technology positions at The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc., Brut,
LLC, MarketXT, Inc. and Instinet.
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Glen Badach
Controller
Glen Badach joined Direct Edge’s as the firm’s Controller in October 2007. He oversees the all
financial planning, reporting, and operations for the firm.
Mr. Badach served in a similar position with Brut, LLC, where as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer he played a
pivotal role in the sale of the company to SunGard Data Systems, He also worked for over a decade in the
Finance Department of Morgan Stanley, ultimately serving as Division Controller. He has a B.S. in Accounting
from Farleigh Dickinson University and holds a CPA license from the New Jersey State Board of Accounting.
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Bryan Harkins
Head of Sales and Strategy
Bryan Harkins has served as Direct Edge’s Head of Sales and Strategy since August 2007. He
joined the company in March 2007 to oversee its Sales function. He came to Direct Edge from a Sales position
in the Transaction Services Division of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.
Mr. Harkins is an industry veteran who has held Sales and technical positions at Brut, LLC, MarketXT and Instinet.
He has a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
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Eric Hess
General Counsel
Eric Hess joined Direct Edge as General Counsel in June 2008. He oversees all legal and regulatory affairs of the company.
Mr. Hess came to Direct Edge from Lehman Brothers, where he was Senior Vice President covering the Equities Division. Prior to his tenure at Lehman, he was General Counsel for Sungard Trading Systems, a division of Sungard Data System and Chief Legal Officer for The BRUT ECN. Mr. Hess has also worked as Legal Head of Transactional Services for Bloomberg, L.P. and as an associate for the law firm of Wachtel & Masyr. Mr. Hess graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton and earned his law degree from the Fordham University School of Law.
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