Speakers

Adena Friedman became President and Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq on January 1, 2017, and is a member of the Board of Directors. She brings more than 20 years of industry leadership and expertise, and is credited with significantly shaping Nasdaq’s transformation into a leading global exchange and technology solutions company with operations across six continents.

Prior to being named CEO, Adena served as President and Chief Operating Officer throughout 2016 and was responsible for overseeing all of the company’s business segments with a focus on driving efficiency, product development, growth and expansion.

She rejoined Nasdaq in 2014, after serving as Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director of The Carlyle Group from March 2011 to June 2014 and playing a critical role in taking the company public in May 2012.

Before Carlyle, Adena was a key member of Nasdaq's management team for over a decade, serving in a variety of roles, including head of the company's data products business, head of corporate strategy and Chief Financial Officer. She played an instrumental role in Nasdaq’s acquisition strategy, overseeing the acquisitions of INET, OMX, and the Philadelphia and Boston Exchanges. She originally joined Nasdaq in 1993 as an intern.

Since December 2018, Adena has served as a Class B director to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She was elected to the Board of Directors of FCLTGlobal, a non-profit organization that researches tools to encourage long-term investing, in January 2020. Adena began her term as a member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust on July 1, 2020.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Williams College in Massachusetts and a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

Nelson Griggs is President of Capital Access Platforms. He oversees new listings and capital markets, our governance and investor relations solutions, and global business development and relationship management with the 4,000 companies on our listing markets around the world.

He served as Senior Vice President of New Listings and Capital Markets in the U.S. and Asia, attracting some of the highest-profile IPOs and transfers to Nasdaq. Since joining our company in 2001, he has held in a range of leadership roles within the Listing Services unit including: Senior Vice President, Listing Services, where he was responsible for our U.S. listings business and corporate solutions sales; and Head of Asia Pacific.

Prior to joining Nasdaq, Nelson worked at Fidelity Investments and a San Francisco-based start-up. He graduated from Denison University in Granville, OH.

Tal Cohen is President, Market Platforms, at Nasdaq. In this capacity, he is responsible for client relations and driving growth across cash equities, derivatives, commodities, fixed income, digital assets, marketplace technology and trade management services globally.

Prior to joining Nasdaq in April 2016 as the Senior Vice President of North American Equities, Tal was the Chief Executive Officer of Chi‐X Global Holdings, LLC from 2010 to 2016. From 2008 to 2010, he served as CEO of Chi‐X Americas.

Prior to joining Chi-X, Tal held several senior leadership roles at INSTINET, including Senior Vice President of Business Development and Product Strategy, and Co‐head of electronic trading for North America, from 1999-2008. Before joining Instinet, he served as M&A Manager at American Express; building out its strategic investment portfolio. Tal started his career at Arthur Andersen as an Auditor and Senior Business Advisor focused on the Financial Services and Telecom industries.

From 2009-2016, Tal served as a Director on the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) Board. He additionally served as a Director on the Canadian Depository for Securities (CDS) Board from 2013-2016.

Tal holds a B.A. from SUNY Albany, an M.B.A. from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and is a Certified Public Accountant. He also holds FINRA Series 24, 7 and 63 licenses, the CSI Partners, Directors, and Senior Officers Designation (PDO).

Jamie King serves as Executive Vice President of Nasdaq’s Anti-Financial Crime (AFC) business, which provides anti-financial crime management solutions used by thousands of banks, exchange operators, and other financial institutions.

With a background in robotics and artificial intelligence, Jamie co-founded Verafin in 2003. An industry expert, technology innovator, and lifelong learner, Jamie’s leadership and strategic approach led Verafin to become the industry leader in cloud-based anti-money laundering and fraud detection solutions. In February 2021, Verafin was acquired by Nasdaq.

Jamie continues to serve as Verafin CEO while guiding numerous global teams across Nasdaq AFC towards a shared vision to protect all the world’s financial interactions.

Ann Dennison serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Nasdaq. With more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance, financial reporting and analysis, Ann leads a global team responsible for Corporate Finance (Controllers, Tax, Advisory Office), Treasury, Planning & Analysis, Investor Relations, ESG Reporting, Procurement and Real Estate, Facilities and Security.

Ann joined Nasdaq in 2015 as Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer and was responsible for all areas of the company’s accounting, financial reporting, analysis, and disclosure, as well as budgeting and planning, tax, procurement and global accounting operations.

Prior to joining Nasdaq, Ann was a Managing Director and Head of Financial Reporting at Goldman Sachs. Ann holds a BBA/MBA, Accounting and Finance from Pace University’s Lubin School of Business.