The Volatility Exchange (VolX), originator of VolContracts - the world's first listed instruments on realized volatility - announced at the annual Futures and Options Expo today that Richard L. Sandor, Ph.D., has joined the company's Board of Directors.
Sandor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Environmental Financial Products and founder of the Chicago Climate Exchange, is widely credited as the principal architect of the interest-rate futures market in the 1970s. Sandor was honored by the City of Chicago in 1992 for his contribution to the creation of financial futures and his recognition as the "father of financial futures."
The news followed Monday's announcement by VolX and CME Group that CME will begin offering FX VolContracts on its major currency pairs in the first quarter of 2011 under a license agreement with VolX.
Sandor said: "The Volatility Exchange is part of a tradition of invention and creativity in the futures industry. It brings innovative and transparent products that can appeal to a vast section of market participants and their risk-management needs. I look forward to serving on their board and working with its management."
Robert Krause, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Volatility Exchange, called Sandor "one of the foremost innovators in the derivatives market." "He brings to the board a wealth of knowledge, not only as an educator and futures expert, but also as an entrepreneur who has had great success starting financial exchanges and launching creative products," Krause said.
Sandor was honored in 2007 as one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment for his work as the "Father of Carbon Trading." In 1997, Sandor founded the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), the world's first legally binding greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system. CCX was recently acquired by IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), and Sandor now serves as an adviser to ICE. Over the years, he has served on the boards of directors of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) and ICE.
Sandor is a research professor at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at North a at Northwestern University and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University , where he also serves on its international advisory committee. He is also on the advisory committee of the TERI School of Management in India and has taught at the University of California Berkeley , Stanford University , and Columbia University.