Lecturer Bios
Gene DeMaio, Esq.
Gene DeMaio is a Senior Vice President in FINRA’s Market Regulation Department where he manages the Options Regulation program, which he was instrumental in developing and implementing. Previous to joining FINRA, Mr. DeMaio was an Options Market Maker at the American Stock Exchange, and earlier worked as an attorney at the law firm of Kord Lagemann where he represented complainants in securities arbitration disputes. Mr. DeMaio is a graduate of Fordham Law and earned his LL.M at New York University.
Timothy Thompson, Esq.
Timothy Thompson is Senior Vice President in FINRA’s Department of Market Regulation. More specifically,
Mr. Thompson serves as the Firm Group Leader for the Trading and Execution (T&E) firm group. In that role,
Mr. Thompson is responsible for FINRA’s examination and risk monitoring program related to broker-dealers
engaged in trading on the U.S. equities and options trading markets. The firms included in the T&E firm group
include proprietary trading firms, market making firms, alternative trading systems and institutional brokerage
firms.
The T&E firm group also performs trading reviews of firms in other firm groups (i.e., broker-dealers
whose primary business is not trading). In addition, T&E performs examination work on behalf of the U.S.
securities exchanges, which have an obligation to oversee such activity. Prior to joining FINRA in January
2015, Mr. Thompson served for more than 10 years as the Chief Regulatory Officer of the Chicago Board
Options Exchange where he oversaw a comprehensive regulatory program consisting of, among others,
trading examinations, financial and operational examinations, market surveillance, and insider trading
surveillance.
The insider trading surveillance was performed on behalf of all U.S. options exchanges. Mr.
Thompson also oversaw the Cboe’s regulatory program for the Cboe Futures Exchange during his tenure.
Prior to becoming the CRO for Cboe, Mr. Thompson served as the Chief Compliance Officer and General
Counsel for Botta Capital Management, the Associate General Counsel for Cboe, and a Branch Chief for the
Securities and Exchange Commission in the financial responsibility area of the SEC’s Division of Market
Regulation (which is now the Division of Trading and Markets).
Mr. Thompson graduated cum laude from the
University of Michigan Law School and summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame.
Jon Kroeper, Esq.
Jon Kroeper is the Executive Vice President of the Quality of Markets Section of FINRA’s Market Regulation Department. The Quality of Markets Section is responsible for the conduct of post-trade surveillance and investigations related to data integrity, market conduct rules, and trading-manipulation matters in the U.S. equity and fixed income markets regulated by FINRA as a self-regulatory organization and as a provider of regulatory services to other U.S. SROs. Prior to joining FINRA's predecessor NASD in early 2007, Mr. Kroeper served as Counsel to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris Cox in 2006 and 2007, and Counsel to Commissioner Paul S. Atkins in 2005. From 2000 to 2005, Mr. Kroeper was First Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Instinet Group Incorporated.
Mr. Kroeper began his career at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1994, serving as a senior counsel in the Division of Market Regulation and subsequently as Counsel to Commissioner Laura S. Unger. Mr. Kroeper received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a law degree, cum laude, from Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Alexander Ellenberg, Esq.
Alex Ellenberg is Associate General Counsel in FINRA’s Office of General Counsel. Mr. Ellenberg works with others in the Office to develop and interpret FINRA rules and to provide legal and policy advice to FINRA management and staff. His work focuses in particular on matters related to market structure, market integrity, and order and trade reporting for equity, options, and fixed income securities. Mr. Ellenberg worked previously in the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and in private practice, and he received a J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ola Persson Esq.
Ola Persson is Senior Vice President and head of FINRA’s Transparency Services Department. He is responsible for all business, technology and operational aspects related to FINRA’s fixed income and equity trade reporting and quotation facilities (TRACE, ADF, ORF, OTCBB and the TRF’s).
Mr. Persson joined FINRA in 2004, with responsibilities for the fixed income (TRACE) program. Prior to joining FINRA, Mr. Persson worked for 10 years at Thomson Reuters where he held a number of positions in the Fixed Income division.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Statistics from the University of Stockholm, Sweden, and a Master’s degree in International Business from Baruch, City University of New York.
