"Innovation is a hallmark of CME," said CME Chairman Terry Duffy. "Throughout our 105-year history, our business and our exchange have been built on the ground-breaking ideas that have transformed global finance by providing powerful risk management tools to help institutions, corporations and individuals around the globe manage their risk. The CME Center for Innovation will allow us to continue this tradition of innovation."
The Center's mission is to help advance the application of innovation by providing a broad, multi-industry analysis of the principles behind innovation, and taking a strong, hard look at innovation in action. The Center's programs will examine the innovation in both the private and public sectors.
"As we have often stated, innovation is CME's middle name," said Leo Melamed, CME Chairman Emeritus and Senior Policy Advisor. "Through the CME Center for Innovation, we hope to demonstrate this commitment and serve as a creative force by supporting continuous development of original ideas."
CME has invited business, civic and academic leaders to celebrate the launch of the Center with a gala dinner tonight.
The CME Center for Innovation's signature program is the Fred Arditti Innovation Award of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Each year, the Center will select a different industry for its award and honor an individual whose innovative ideas, products or services have created significant change and improvement to the markets, commerce or trade in that industry.
The award is named after Fred Arditti, who served as Vice President of Research and Chief Economist of CME from 1980 to 1982 and later as Senior Executive Vice President of Planning and Development from 1997 to 2000. Arditti played a seminal role in the development of CME's most successful and innovative product: the introduction of the Eurodollar futures contract in 1981, which was the world's most actively traded futures contract in 2002 and the first ever cash-settled futures contract. He also was instrumental in CME's creation of the world's first exchange-traded weather derivatives in 1999.
"Fred Arditti's contribution to the financial markets helped transform how corporations and individuals manage their business risks," Melamed said. "His commitment to innovation helped make CME what it is today. Fred embodies the kind of innovative thinking and practical benefit to markets we want to honor through this annual award."
The first Fred Arditti Innovation Award of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will recognize an individual in financial services and markets. Nominations for the annual award will be sought on an annual basis and celebrated at a gala event. Arditti will receive an honorary award at this evening's launch event.
"Naming our Innovation Award after Fred recognizes his many important contributions to CME and the futures industry and encourages others to achieve the creative and original thinking he exemplifies," said William Shepard, CME Second Vice Chairman and Arditti's close friend.
Arditti's commitment to creative thinking and innovative ideas has been well documented throughout his career. A Professor of Finance at DePaul University, Chicago, since 1990, Arditti has taught courses in futures, options and debt instruments. He also served visiting professorships at the University of Chicago, the University of Toronto and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. From 1982 to 1986, he was President of GNP Commodities, Inc.
Renowned for his numerous writings on finance, Arditti is the recipient of fellowships and grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Defense Education Act, the Ford Foundation, Dean Witter Foundation and the University of Florida. He received an Outstanding Educator of America Award in 1973. Arditti holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, an M.S. in Industrial Management and a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT. His most recent book, Derivatives: A Comprehensive Resource for Options, Futures, Interest Rate Swaps and Mortgage Securities, was published in 1996 by the Harvard Business School Press.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® around-the-clock electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moves an average of about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments and manages $28.5 billion in collateral deposits at March 31, 2003. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME).
