NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Genesis today announced a series of leadership appointments to position the company for its next phase of growth. Effective today, Genesis CEO Michael Moro is stepping down and will continue to advise the company through the transition. Chief Operating Officer Derar Islim, Ph.D., who joined Genesis in 2020 and has overseen the development of strategy and key core functions, has been appointed interim Chief Executive Officer. Seasoned financial services executive Tom Conheeney will consult to Genesis as a Senior Advisor, where he will support Islim on the firm’s overall strategy while advising the trading, lending, and risk teams. Conheeney will join Islim on the company’s Board of Directors. Genesis has also commenced a search for a full-time CEO.
In addition, Genesis has made key executive leadership hires to further strengthen its governance and position the firm for the future. Chief Risk Officer Michael Patchen, Chief Compliance Officer Michael Patterson, and Chief Technology Officer Matthew Johnson have recently joined Genesis. Alice Chan, Chief Financial Officer, and Arianna Pretto-Sakmann, Chief Legal Officer, round out the expanded leadership team focused on strengthening the company’s overall risk management in partnership with Genesis’ sales and trading leadership.
“Our clients look to Genesis to provide integral capital and execution services across their digital asset portfolios,” said Derar Islim, Interim Chief Executive Officer. “The changes and investments we’re announcing today affirm our commitment to operational excellence as we continue to expand our services to meet the needs of our clients today and into the future.”
“I’m thrilled to join the Genesis Board. I also look forward to working with Derar and the team to bolster key areas of Genesis and to expand the firm’s market position with more traditional financial institutions and alternative asset managers looking for investment opportunities in digital assets,” said Tom Conheeney, Genesis’ Senior Advisor.
“Since we launched the first OTC bitcoin trading desk in 2013, sophisticated investors have come to Genesis to provide liquidity, lending, and custody services for their digital assets. It has been an honor to lead Genesis for nearly a decade and I look forward to supporting the company’s next phase of growth,” said Michael Moro.
Genesis is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group and has emerged as a leading digital asset trading and lending firm with hundreds of institutional clients around the world. “We thank Michael for his steadfast leadership of Genesis in building the company into the industry leader it is today,” said Mark Murphy, Chief Operating Officer, Digital Currency Group. “We’re pleased to elevate Derar to the interim CEO role – he has our full trust and confidence and has been instrumental in developing key areas of the Genesis business. We also welcome Tom, a proven leader and highly skilled financial services veteran, as we strengthen Genesis for the future.”
Derar Islim – Interim CEO & Board Member
Prior to joining Genesis in 2020 as COO, Dr. Derar Islim served as Head of Risk at Hard Yaka, a San Francisco based venture capital firm, and previously served as Vice President at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he co-managed the company’s funding valuation adjustment trading desk. Islim earned his PhD. in Financial Mathematics with a focus on the pricing and hedging of financial derivatives from Florida State University and is a Fulbright Scholar. He holds FINRA 7 and 63 licenses.
Tom Conheeney – Senior Advisor & Board Member
Tom Conheeney has had an extensive career in financial services. He served as President of SAC Capital and its successor Point72 Asset Management from 2008 to 2015, after joining SAC in 1999 as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to SAC, Conheeney was President of Investment Management Services, Inc. He joined Moore Capital / IMS in 1993. Earlier in his career, he worked at Goldman Sachs Trust Company with responsibilities for daily operations, technology, and client services. He also worked in the operations and equity divisions of Goldman Sachs.
Michael Patchen, CFA – Chief Risk Officer
Michael Patchen is the Chief Risk Officer at Genesis, overseeing all risk departments. Previously, Patchen spent nearly six years with AQR Capital, a large systematic asset manager, where he was a principal and the Chief Risk Officer. While there he oversaw a large-scale Enterprise risk effort covering market, model, operational, counterparty, and technology risk. Before AQR, Patchen started his career as a portfolio manager and researcher and worked at top-tier asset management firms including SAC Capital and Goldman Sachs. He holds a B.S. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BAS from the Engineering School.
Michael Patterson – Chief Compliance Officer
Michael Patterson, Chief Compliance Officer of Genesis, is a seasoned global business leader and board member with 40 years of cross-sector experience in strategy, P&L management and international operations. Patterson previously worked as senior partner and business leader with EY, Merrill Lynch & Co., BearingPoint Inc., and Arthur Andersen. He holds a B.B.A from Pace University.
Matthew Johnson – Chief Technology Officer
A fintech executive with twenty years of experience in technology administration and development, Matthew Johnson has worked with some of the world’s largest hedge funds revolutionizing their technology stacks. Previously he was the CTO of Bakkt, a platform for the management of digital assets. Prior to that, Johnson was the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Digital Asset Custody Company, which was acquired by Bakkt in 2019.
Alice Chan – Chief Financial Officer
Prior to joining Genesis, Alice Chan was the Chief Financial Officer of Cantor Fitzgerald SPACs Franchise and served as a member of the board of directors. Chan also served as the Global Controller at Cantor Fitzgerald and Chief Financial Officer of certain investment funds. Previously, she worked at Goldman Sachs, focusing on broker dealers financial and regulatory reporting, and bank financial reporting. Chan is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a BS in Finance from Pace University and MS in Accounting from St. John’s University. She is also registered with FINRA and holds a Series 27 Financial Operations Principal License.
Arianna Pretto-Sakmann – Chief Legal Officer
Before joining Genesis, Arianna Pretto-Sakmann worked as a lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in New York and London from 2011-2019 and with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP from 2007-2011. She was previously an academic and taught law at the University of Oxford and Columbia Law School. She holds an MSt and a DPhil from Oxford University and an LLM from Columbia Law School.
Genesis is a full-service digital currency prime brokerage providing a single point of access for select qualified individuals and global institutional investors. Genesis combines unrivaled operational excellence, a seamless user experience, and best-in-class client service to provide the full suite of services global investors require to manage their digital asset portfolios. For more information, please visit genesistrading.com and follow @GenesisTrading on Twitter.
