Marex Spectron, the global commodities broker, today announced the retirement of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John Wall, and the appointment of its current Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ian Lowitt as his successor. Both changes take place with effect from Friday 8 January 2016.
The position of CFO will be taken by Rob Watts, currently the company’s Group Financial Controller.
These appointments remain subject to regulatory approval.
CEO John Wall said: “When I joined Marex Spectron in 2012 it was with the specific aim of completing the integration of the Marex and Spectron Groups and creating an efficient, sustainably successful company, focused on its core strengths in the global commodity markets. I am very pleased to say that we have exceeded this goal thanks to the efforts of my colleagues and the active support of our owners. Marex Spectron is stable, profitable, prudently managed and strong: all significant achievements at a time when many of our competitors are struggling.
“With the firm in excellent shape, I feel that now is the right time for me to step back. It has been a privilege to lead this great company and I have no doubt that Ian is the right person to take charge of the next stage of its development.”
Ian Lowitt, who will move to London from New York to take over as CEO, said: “Marex Spectron has a terrific base to build on. We are financially strong with robust, trusted, client relationships and a well-deserved reputation, thanks to the tremendous efforts of our staff, for excellence in execution and service. We are well placed to capture the opportunities that will arise in the coming years and I am excited by our potential.”
The composition of Marex Spectron Group Ltd’s Board of Directors is also changing. Non-Executive Chairman, Jeremy Isaacs CBE, will step down and be succeeded by current non-executive director, and former London Metal Exchange CEO, Simon Heale. Mr Isaacs will remain on the Board.
In addition, non-executive director Peter Sugarman is stepping down to be replaced by Joanna Nader. Mr Isaacs, Mr Sugarman and Ms Nader are officers of JRJ Group which, together with its partners Trilantic Capital Partners and BXR Group, are the majority shareholders of Marex Spectron. Simon van den Born, Marex Spectron’s Global Head of Metals, will join the Board.
Chairman Jeremy Isaacs, said: “I would like to thank John for the outstanding job he has done in making the vision which JRJ Group and our partners had for a global centre of excellence in commodities broking a reality. It has been a great honour to chair the Board of this company as it emerged as the leader in its sector and I look forward to remaining closely involved as Marex Spectron builds on the solid foundations John and his team have laid.
”My successor as Chairman, Simon Heale, has been engaged with the firm since becoming a non-executive director of Marex Group in 2007. He knows this business well, understands the challenges and opportunities before it, and has spent a long and successful career leading some of the most influential organisations in the commodities sector. He is undoubtedly the right person to preside over the Board as Ian Lowitt takes the company forward.”
The changes to the Board of Directors of Marex Spectron will take effect place with effect from Friday 8 January 2016.
For further information please contact Richard Lindsay at Marex Spectron on +44 (0)20 7650 4091 or rlindsay@marexspectron.com.
Notes to Editors:
Ian Lowitt
Ian joined Marex Spectron in July 2012. He was previously at Barclays Wealth America where he served as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Barclays, Ian spent 14 years at Lehman Brothers, latterly as CFO and Co-Chief Administrative Officer.
Simon Heale
Simon Heale is Chairman of KAZ Minerals plc, Chairman of Gulf Marine Services plc and the Treasurer and a trustee of Macmillan Cancer Support. He was CEO of the London Metal Exchange from 2001 to 2006 and prior to that served as COO and Group Finance Director at the investment bank Jardine Fleming in Hong Kong. He is a chartered accountant who began his career with PWC and has worked in Europe, Asia and the USA.
Joanna Nader
Joanna is a Partner and the Chief Investment Officer of JRJ Group. Prior to joining JRJ in November 2008, Joanna was employed by Lehman Brothers, which she joined in 2000. From May 2007, she served as Head of Strategy for the Office of the Chief Executive Officer – Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Prior to that role, Joanna was a highly ranked financial services research analyst at Lehman Brothers, leading coverage of the European investment/universal banks, asset managers, inter-dealer brokers, private banks, and exchange operators. She began her career as an Economist at Bank of Montreal, in Toronto, Canada.
Simon van den Born
Simon joined Marex Spectron in 2010. Prior to that he worked for 8 years in the Commodity Index and Metals teams at Goldman Sachs, before moving to become a Portfolio Manager at Valhalla Capital Management in 2004.
Rob Watts
Rob joined Marex Spectron as Group Controller in January 2014 having spent eight years at Goldman Sachs where he managed the legal entity control team responsible for Goldman Sachs International, the Group’s main broker dealer and largest entity. Prior to this, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant before moving to Deloitte’s Financial Services Audit & Assurance practice for six years. During his time at Deloitte, Rob was responsible for the statutory and regulatory audits of a number of important clients including BGC / Cantor Fitzgerald, the commodities business at Morgan Stanley, and the private wealth management division of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc. He was also seconded to Deloitte’s internal technical and risk management department, Professional Standards Review, responsible for the quality of audit and assurance engagements.
About Marex Spectron
Marex Spectron is one of the world’s largest privately held brokers of financial instruments in the commodities sector and a leader in facilitating trade in physical energy products.
We are the conduit for clients transacting in raw materials and related derivatives. We do so efficiently, discretely and with confidence, on or off-exchange.
We provide liquidity in commodity markets that are frequently difficult for clients to access or that require specialist knowledge to navigate successfully.
We connect our clients to any of the world’s major commodity exchanges via state of the art networks. We provide a full suite of services to trading companies who need to outsource infrastructure and support operations.
We also broker financial futures and options, and fixed income and equity securities.
Our aim is to provide our clients with a global, integrated service that enables them to trade how they want to trade: by voice, on electronic platforms or through trading floors where possible.
Our clients are predominantly commodity producers and consumers, banks, hedge funds, asset managers, brokers, commodity trading advisors and professional traders.
We are members of the London Metal Exchange (where we are a Ring Dealer), the CME Group exchanges, ICE US, NYSE Liffe, ICE Futures and Eurex.
We are 600 market professionals, headquartered in London with offices across Europe, North America and Asia.
More information about the company can be found at marexspectron.com