By Anna Marie Kukec
5/22/2009
When hedge fund veteran Ronald Santella was tapped last fall as the new chief executive officer at Geneva-based Fox River Execution Technology LLC, his mission was to expand the company.
But this came at the height of the recession, when Wall Street was in turmoil and Santella's key product was The Fox, an electronic platform for traders (www.foxriver.com).
About seven months later, Santella said the company has boosted its number of clients from 20 to 40 and expanded the work force from 25 to 40, with more expected by year end.
"Even though the environment has been challenging, we're thriving right now," Santella said.
The Fox launched in 2001 by founder Joe Ritchie, who developed the platform to help the institutional trader. It blends the human logic of a professional trader with mathematical formulas. It also has earned honors from some groups, including Institutional Investor in 2007 and 2008.
While Geneva is the headquarters, the firm also has offices in New York.
Last year, then-CEO Bill DeRonne retired and Ritchie tapped his longtime industry colleague Santella to lead the company.
Santella started forming a new team, including Richard Sansaricq, a former managing director of global prime brokerage sales at BNP Paribas Bank, to lead sales and Cheryl Gilberg, former executive director of marketing at Morgan Stanley, to lead marketing to boost product awareness.
Next, the company plans to introduce a couple of new products, possibly by late June.
"We found clients were more receptive to dealing with an independent like us, instead of Wall Street firms. We don't have those same issues," Santella said.