Instinet has appointed senior vice president Kimberly Hicks as chief executive of the recently acquired ProTrader Group.
Based in Texas, ProTrader was acquired by Instinet in October 2001 and provides advanced trading technologies and electronic brokerage services.
Hicks will lead Instinet's efforts to compete for business from small hedge funds and professional day traders, as well as to accelerate the rollout of new and enhanced products for the direct access trading community, says the company.
ProTrader securities president, Craig Howard, and chief information officer, Jim Herbold, will remain in their current positions, reporting to Hicks.
Former ProTrader Group CEO, Jay McEntire, will move to Instinet, becoming senior vice president of business development.
Jean-Marc Bouhelier, chief operating officer of Instinet, comments: "These actions signal Instinet's intent to accelerate product deployment and improve operational efficiency. The Instinet Trading Portal, which is based largely on technology acquired with ProTrader, is our new trading application for US active fund managers and hedge funds."