Cronin joined CME in November 2002 as Director, Corporate Secretary and Acting General Counsel. She currently leads the company's Corporate Secretary, Shareholder Relations and Membership Services and Legal Department functions. In her new role, Cronin will serve on CME's management team and will advise the company on all legal matters. She will also assume oversight responsibility for CME's Market Regulation area.
"Since she joined us last year, Kathleen Cronin has been integral to our efforts to complete our IPO last December and our secondary offering in June, as well as to further develop our corporate governance principles and corporate compliance program," said Craig Donohue, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. "Her expertise and knowledge have been and will continue to be critical as we continue evolving as a public company."
Cronin will continue to report to Donohue in her new capacity.
Before joining CME, Cronin served as Corporate Counsel for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where for 11 years she advised acquirers and sellers in connection with leveraged acquisitions, stock mergers and asset and stock purchases. Cronin also served as Chief Counsel/Corporate Finance for Sara Lee Corp., where she advised the company's senior management on domestic and international acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, financing activities, credit facilities, public debt offerings and internal restructurings.
Cronin earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Boston College in 1985 and a JD degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1989.
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® 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 moved about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments in the first half of 2003 and managed $29.1 billion in collateral deposits at . CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000® Index.
