Rothera, the CFTC-regulated event contract market, today announced seven executive hires and promotions expanding leadership of its technology, risk, compliance, security, operations, legal, and product teams. These executives will support new products, oversee trading activity and maintain robust risk controls to enable institutions to participate in event contract markets with confidence.
- Saikat Bhattacharjee, Chief Risk Officer, most recently served as Principal in Model Risk Management at the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). He helped build Citadel’s firmwide risk function and has also served as a consultant to the CFTC advising on risk and margin models.
- Kevin Dan, Chief Compliance and Regulatory Officer, most recently led the regulatory function at both Crypto.com Derivatives North America and Nadex. His past experience also includes Cboe, the National Futures Association, DRW Trading and HC Technologies.
- Pat DeFrancesco, Chief Technology Officer, previously served as CTO for Systematic Trading at Brevan Howard, CTO at Genesis Trading, and head of credit derivatives technology strategy at Intercontinental Exchange.
- Ryan Mendel, Chief Information Security Officer and Chief Information Officer, was formerly CIO of LedgerX and brings more than 20 years of experience leading IT and cybersecurity functions.
- Hugo Nistal Gonzalez, Vice President of Product Management, previously held senior product roles at Bitvavo and Cboe Digital (formerly ErisX), helping develop exchange and clearing technology from inception to production.
- Jena Pollock, Associate General Counsel, joined Rothera from Underdog Sports, where she spent more than three years as Associate General Counsel, advising on the company’s entry into prediction markets and its acquisition of a CFTC-registered DCM and DCO. Prior to that, she was in private practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Jones Day.
- Eric Schmid, Vice President and Head of Operations, previously spent over 12 years at IEX, most recently as Senior Product Manager for the IEX Options Exchange, following leadership roles in market operations.
“Rothera’s development, and our ability to manage rapid growth and expansion, requires us to assemble a team of experienced professionals that can collectively serve as the backbone of a Wall Street institution,” said Thomas Chippas, CEO at Rothera. “Bringing together executives that have managed technology, risk, product, security, and operations at exchanges and clearinghouses supports our journey to become a leading trading platform for a growing asset class. This team sets Rothera apart and will help us expand while driving our high standards for performance and execution.”
Rothera has managed substantial trading through its platform and in October surpassed 6 billion cumulative contracts traded following its May 2026 launch. As interest in event contracts continues to expand, Rothera is focused on building a platform with executives experienced in trading, clearing and settlement, risk and compliance, and exchange technology with institutional relationships to foster continued growth on the platform.
