Liam Smith
Liam Smith is an American financial markets executive serving as chief strategy officer at Optiver US, where he oversees corporate strategy, government relations, principal strategic investments, execution services, and exchange market structure initiatives.[1] Background[edit]CME Group[edit]Smith began his career in the derivatives industry at CME Group (CME) in June 2008, spending more than nine years at the exchange organization in Chicago, London, and Singapore. During his tenure, he held several commercial and product roles, serving as manager of program development in Chicago from June 2008 to December 2010, senior business analyst for client development and sales covering asset managers from January 2011 to January 2013 across London and Singapore, director of hedge funds and asset managers in London from February 2013 to March 2014, and director of over-the-counter products from March 2014 to October 2017 across Chicago and London. Smith's responsibilities coincided with structural shifts in global derivatives trading prompted by the 2008 financial crisis and the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in the United States and the European Market Infrastructure Regulation in Europe. As regulatory mandates required central clearing for standardized bilateral over-the-counter swaps, Smith worked with swap dealers, institutional investors, and banks to onboard market participants onto exchange-cleared infrastructure. His work focused on expanding client access to cleared interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, supporting the growth of electronic trading and central counterparties.[2] During his time at the exchange, Smith contributed to trading architecture and product commercialization alongside colleagues including Derek Sammann, senior managing director of commodities, options, and international markets, and CME Group chairman and chief executive officer Terrence A. Duffy. Smith participated in designing technological solutions for trade execution and pricing mechanisms, co-inventing an exchange pricing framework that resulted in United States Patent No. 11,182,852, titled "Exchange computing system including a reference rate generation unit," assigned to Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. The patented system calculates derived trade metrics, such as VWAP values, within an automated exchange environment to generate reference prices and support settlement and benchmark pricing in financial futures and options. For his work supporting market participants and expanding trading technology across European institutions, Dow Jones and Financial News selected Smith for their 40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Trading and Technology list in September 2013.[3] Optiver[edit]In October 2017, Smith joined Optiver, an international market making firm and CME Group (CME) self-clearing member. He served as an over-the-counter products specialist before being appointed head of corporate strategy in May 2018, and later chief strategy officer of Optiver US in December 2024. In these capacities, Smith oversees corporate strategy, government relations, regulatory affairs, principal strategic investments, execution services, and clearing across the firm's operations in the United States and United Kingdom. He also serves as chairman of Optiver's political action committee. Smith worked alongside Optiver US chief executive officer Rutger Brinkhuis and head of trading Michael Golding to expand the firm's execution business during a period characterized by record options average daily volume, the expansion of retail participation, and the growth of short-dated contracts expiring in zero days to expiration. In public forums, Smith analyzed how complex multi-leg trades, institutional hedging, and market maker risk provision interact to supply liquidity across both listed options and exchange-traded derivatives.[4] Through Optiver's Principal Strategic Investments arm, Smith guided capital allocations and exchange governance initiatives designed to increase competition among trading venues. In March 2023, Optiver spearheaded a strategic equity financing round for Members Exchange (MEMX) to fund the development and August 2023 launch of its options exchange, MEMX Options. Following the transaction, Optiver obtained representation on the exchange operator's governing boards, with Smith appointed alternate director of MEMX Holdings LLC and named chair of the Options Market Structure Committee, alongside service on the Technology and Operations Committee and the Governance, Legal and Regulatory Committee. Working with MEMX chief executive officer Jonathan Kellner and committee members such as Paul Jiganti of IMC, Smith helped establish the venue's time/price priority match engine to compete with traditional customer-priority exchange models. In January 2026, Smith guided Optiver's participation in a $37.6 million Series C funding round for secondary trading venue Nasdaq Private Market, taking a seat on its board of directors to support market infrastructure, standardization, and price discovery for transactions in private company equity. His board service also includes serving as a director of MIAX Emerald within the Miami International Securities Exchange (MIAX) group from August 2022, serving on the advisory board of Cboe Global Markets (Cboe) from May 2020 to October 2025, and serving as a board observer at retail options broker Gatsby Digital, Inc. from March 2021 until its acquisition by eToro in August 2022.[5] Smith represents Optiver and proprietary trading firms on broader regulatory and market structure bodies. He serves on the executive committee of the Principal Traders Group (PTG), participating in discussions with Securities and Exchange Commission officials on equity and options market structure proposals, including the Order Competition Rule and Consolidated Audit Trail funding mechanisms. Representing FIA-PTG on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Agricultural Advisory Committee, Smith delivered a presentation in July 2026 on perpetual futures, examining the mechanics of non-expiring contracts originating in digital asset markets and evaluating whether such structures could support agricultural commodity hedging where physical delivery, open interest convergence, and cash settlement govern commercial risk management. In addition to committee work, Smith authored a four-part policy series on United States equity options market structure, analyzing exchange marketing fees, payment for order flow, and price improvement mechanisms in electronic auction systems.[6] Smith has also directed academic partnerships and civic engagement on behalf of the firm. In October 2025, he established a corporate sponsorship between Optiver and the Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy at Georgetown University, participating in annual conferences on financial market structure and artificial intelligence. In July 2026, he was appointed to the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. In February 2025, the nominating and governance committee of CME Group (CME) named Smith as a candidate for election as a Class B-2 director at the exchange's annual meeting on May 8, 2025. In the subsequent shareholder vote, Smith received 153 votes, but because Class B-2 shareholders failed to achieve a quorum under Delaware corporate law, the board seat remained vacant pending a subsequent election.[7] Education[edit]Smith graduated from Providence College in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. While attending the institution, he was a member of the Providence College Friars men's varsity lacrosse team, competing as a defenseman. He subsequently completed pre-MBA coursework in finance at Northwestern University.[8] References[edit]
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