Vinod | Technology | Joined CME Group in 2003 | Based in Chicago

Tell us about your role here.
I help select and improve hardware and operating system technology as a base platform for CME Group applications like CME Globex and Clearing. When selecting an operating system and hardware, we look for the highest performing and most cost-effective platform without sacrificing reliability or other features we expect in a mission critical environment.

Tell us about a typical day for you.
A lot of my work involves research and development. I work in a lab with teams who have helped create the technology applications. We do what we call performance testing, which is measuring how well the electronic trading platform or clearing technology systems run under a given set of circumstances. We help support these performance tests, which are run by application development teams.

We are constantly evaluating new technology to see if it can benefit CME Group and our customers, but also trying to filter out the hype regarding new technology.

There is a lot of collaboration with our technology vendors.  During these conversations we’re pushing them to better meet CME Group Linux/Unix requirements.  They benefit because our high standards help them improve their products.  We also spend a lot of time looking at competitors to the vendors we use today.  To the extent that we can, we want to avoid or limit vendor lockin.

How does your job improve financial markets?
By helping CME Group select the technologies that meet our specifications, we are helping customers experience the fastest performance behind CME Globex and Clearing.

What does it mean to live the CME Group brand?
It’s being honest. In technology it’s being open to new ideas but also saying what’s on your mind and giving everyone the opportunity to be heard. But it’s also making decisions because they’re right for CME Group, not because they’re necessarily popular.

Ultimately this process includes a lot of debate that results in better attention to detail, practicality and quality.  These are the characteristics I would like our brand to be associated with.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I participate in non-competitive kick boxing, I cook, I take photography and I love to travel. I am on a quest to visit every continent at least once. I recently took a three-week trip to Argentina and Antarctica. First we explored Patagonia and then we traveled by boat through the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands. The only continent I have yet to visit is Australia. Once I’ve completed my quest, I want to go back and visit more of the countries on each continent.  I’m at 21 countries and counting.