Peter Clare, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
Peter is a highly experienced senior executive with an active interest in technology and innovation and has a number of private equity investments in fintech and other new technology businesses. A Director of Capital Markets Technologies since 2016, he also holds a number of non-executive director positions with CRC entities, private equity investments and independent companies.
He was previously Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer for Westpac in New Zealand and held Group Executive roles at Westpac, Commonwealth and St. George Banks, with responsibility for Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Product, Operations, Technology, Property and Procurement. His background also includes Insolvency Accounting and Management Consulting.
Peter’s qualifications include a BCom and MBA. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia, the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, and Certified Practicing Accountants Australia.
Dr Michael Aitken AM, Founder and Chief Scientist
Mike was the driving force behind the establishment of the Securities Industry Research Centre of Asia Pacific (www.sirca.org.au) in 1997 and CMCRC in 2001. Mike's first venture into the world of commercial enterprise came with the development of the Thomson Reuters Tick History Service. This service ingests more than two million transactions a second from the world’s financial markets and makes it available to the commercial and academic enterprise, with the former funding the later. Following this, he established the SMARTS Group, a private Australian company that set the standard in real-time security market surveillance and was sold to NASDAQ in 2010. With some of the returns from the SMARTS sale, Mike established Capital Market Technologies (CMT), which is now investing in start-up enterprises that enhance market transparency, with a view to increasing the fairness and efficiency of a range of different marketplaces. This currently includes investments in mortgage (www.dealmax.com.au), supply chain (www.ordermentum.com), building management (www.cimenviro.com) and digital currency trading marketplaces (www.digi.cash).
More recently, he has moved from securities to health markets with his groundbreaking work in the detection of fraud in the health and general insurance markets (www.loricahealth.com). Associated with his work in these areas, Mike has established an expert witness business (Capital Markets Consulting), providing specialist services for legal cases involving insider trading, market manipulation and continuous disclosure breaches. He was also a key force behind a recoveries practice in the health domain. His latest venture (Market Quality Dashboard – www.mqdashboard.com) addresses the efficacy of security market design. Similar work is underway in the health domain as Mike spearheads a broadening of focus from fraud detection to the efficacy of health intervention.
Mike has a PhD from the University of New South Wales and First Class Honours and Masters Degrees from Massey University (NZ). In recognition of his contributions to business and academia, he was awarded the Business and Higher Education Round table Award for Outstanding Achievement in Collaboration in Education and Training in 1999. In 2010, Mike was named Ernst and Young (EY) ICT Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as NSW and Prime Minister Exporter of the Year. In recognition of his significant service to the education, business and finance sectors of the nation, Mike was inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2014. In 2016 he was awarded the Prime Minister’s prize for Innovation in Science. Mike's career achievements are featured in Who's Who in Australia.
Jodi Watson, Chief Financial Officer
Jodi is a qualified CPA with over 20 years' experience in public practice and corporate accounting roles. Jodi’s corporate experience has been in the IT sector, holding Chief Financial Officer positions at SMARTS Group, SIRCA and a small technology investment business over the last 14 years. At SMARTS Group, a global stock market surveillance company, Jodi was responsible for all accounting and finance functions, providing strategic advice to management and Board reporting. Over a six-year period, the company grew to 130 staff in five countries, and was later acquired by NASDAQ OMX in the US. Prior to her corporate roles, Jodi worked for many years in a medium-sized accounting firm.
Dr Andrew Lepone, Chief Research Officer
Andrew has a PhD from the University of Sydney and First Class Honours from the University of Wollongong. He is currently Professor in Finance and Accounting at Macquarie University Graduate School of Management. He is actively involved in industry-oriented research in equity and futures market microstructure, particularly related to the areas of market design and market quality, for which he has won significant government grants.
Dr Vito Mollica, Head of Market Quality – Finance
Vito leads the CMCRC’s Finance Market Quality program, which covers foreign exchange, derivative, real estate, equities, digital currency and OTC markets. He is the Director of Higher Degree Research at Macquarie University Graduate School of Management. Vito has provided policy advice around the over-the-counter swap markets for residential real estate for the Australian Financial Markets Association and to the Financial Services Council in response to regulatory proposals surrounding issues of dark pools and minimum ticks. His research has contributed to the development of a patented index methodology that tracks the performance of Australian residential real estate.
Vito was a foundation member of a real estate funds management group and a senior research analyst. He received a PhD and Joint 1st Class Honours (Accounting & Finance) from the University of Sydney, and was awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship.
Dr Steve Clark, Head of Scholarships and Training
Steve leads the Health and Finance PhD Scholarships and Training program at CMCRC. He manages all matters associated with the financial administration and management of scholarship students, postdoctoral researchers and academic supervisors between the CMCRC and university partners. He manages the CMCRC PhD Training Program to prepare students for industry engagement, including the development, implementation and delivery of blended and eLearning courses. He provides strategic leadership on the governance and policies for the PhD program, including reporting to the CMCRC Board and Commonwealth Government.
Before joining the CMCRC, Steve was Academic Adviser eLearning at the Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Academic Fellow in Learning and Teaching at UNSW Arts and Design (College of Fine Arts, UNSW), and Academic Adviser and Developer in eLearning at the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. Steve received a PhD in Design Computing and Cognition from The Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, a Masters of Fine Arts from University of NSW, and Masters of Education in Technology in Learning and Teaching from The University of Wollongong.
Dr Jeff Wong, Head of Market Quality – Energy
Jeff leads the CMCRC’s Energy Markets Research Centre and is responsible for engaging with government, regulators and industry stakeholders to enable evidence based decisions. He previously worked for Singapore Exchange and held executive positions in the funds management industry. His research outcomes have contributed to a better understanding of the complex relationship between cross-border exchanges and assisted in shaping the rules and regulations governing securities market design. Using his experience in financial and other markets, Jeff seeks to incorporate advance techniques into energy markets to optimise security and reliability.
Jeff has a PhD and Honours from the University of Sydney, won significant government funding (from Australian Research Council) and consulted with the NSW government on energy research projects.
Ian Gerrard – Group Marketing Director
Ian Gerrard has over 20 years' experience as a senior journalist and marketer. As a journalist he has written for and edited leading consumer and international affairs publications, as well as hosting and moderating television debates. His marketing experience covers FMCG, pharmaceuticals, finance and healthcare, including heading Cochlear's global Consumer and Services Marketing Communications departments. Equally at home in business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketing, Ian has developed award-winning content and campaigns designed to raise awareness and provide maximum return on investment.
Alison Brown – Group HR Business Partner
Alison Brown is the Group HR Business Partner at CMCRC, bringing over 11 years of human resource experience. She has a proven track record of engaging key stakeholders in the implementation of HR strategies.
Prior to joining CMCRC, Alison worked with large and small organisations in a variety of industries including banking/finance, law and professional services. She is experienced in recruitment, managing employee relations, training and all HR life cycle processes. Alison holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from University of South Australia.
Yiping leads the Research and Analytics team at the CMCRC. He leads the big data research in global financial markets, manages the daily operation of CMCRC’s research infrastructure, and supervises the research projects jointly funded by CMCRC and its industry partners. Prior to this, Yiping worked as a research consultant at Nasdaq and Singapore Exchange. His research has contributed to the understanding and development of securities market design in terms of exchange access fee, tick size, dynamic price limit, and market manipulation. Yiping has also been in charge of CMCRC’s infrastructure training program. The Big Data Analytics course he developed has become a core unit of both CMCRC’s Industry Ph.D. program and the Master of Data Science program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Finance and Bachelor of Commerce (with Honours) from the University of New South Wales.