Chicago – TruMarx Data Partners has announced that it has accepted investment from Dr. James Newsome, Mark B. Fisher, and Robert Green, who have been appointed to the company’s board of directors. TruMarx is the developer and marketer of COMET™, the energy industry’s first web-based execution platform that allows power and natural gas market participants to create an individual private market for each of their bilateral OTC transactions.
Dr. James Newsome was the President and CEO of NYMEX Holdings, Inc. from August 2004 through the IPO and merger with the CME in August 2008. Prior to joining NYMEX, Dr. Newsome was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2001. Dr. Newsome had been a Commissioner of the CFTC since August 1998. During his CFTC tenure, Dr. Newsome served as a member of the President’s working group on financial markets, and the President’s corporate fraud task force. Dr. Newsome served as Commissioner of the CFTC from 1998-2000, and Chairman of the CFTC from 2000-2004. He is currently a director of and a consultant to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and a director of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange and Gavilon, Inc.
A 30 year investment-industry veteran, Mark B. Fisher is the founder of MBF Clearing Corp. (“MBF”). With an outstanding reputation for supporting a significant number of professional floor traders, “upstairs” fund managers and boutique trading firms, MBF’s presence extends across all major exchange-traded futures markets, including energy, metals, soft commodities, currencies, interest rates, and equity-related indexes. Within the global energy markets alone, MBF is one of the industry’s largest clearing firms for exchange-traded crude oil and natural gas futures contracts. Mr. Fisher is also the Managing Member / Portfolio Manager for MBF Asset Management, LLC.
A former Fortune 100 CEO in the energy, telecom and utility industries, Robert Green has extensive experience in general corporate law, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory and legislative strategies. He has served on the board of seven publicly listed companies and numerous private companies. Mr. Green was Chairman of two NYSE-listed companies and three other publicly listed companies, and has led more than 30 merger, acquisition and divestiture transactions. Companies under Mr. Green’s leadership have received numerous awards, including Risk Manager of the Year, Utility of the Year and Employer of the Year. Mr. Green is a past board member of the Edison Electric Institute, American Gas Association, K.C. Chamber of Commerce, and a past member of The Business Roundtable. He is past chairman of the Kansas City Area Development Council, the Greater Kansas City YMCA, and former president of the Heart of America Boy Scouts.
“Energy-based bilateral OTC contract transactions face ever-increasing scrutiny, from competitive pricing to capacity/price volatility to regulatory reporting demands,” said Dr. Newsome. “The COMET transaction platform offers an outstanding solution that combines transaction process efficiency, more accurate price discovery, and comprehensive, automated audit logs of every transaction detail to address even the toughest government reporting requirements. COMET is truly the future of bilateral OTC energy trading,” said Dr. Newsome.
“We are extremely proud to have three such distinguished icons in the energy and commodities trading industry join our Board of Directors and become valued stakeholders,” said Jon B. Olson, President and CEO of TruMarx Data Partners, Inc. “Jim, Mark, and Bob each bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and strategic vision that will continue to fuel the success of the COMET negotiation and transaction platform.”