Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Summary Of Experience
Timeline
Generic

Kosta Panousis

Cedar Park,TX

Summary

Accomplished IT professional with 20 years of experience in high-availability and high-transaction environments. Demonstrated expertise in developing real-time trade matching and execution systems for futures, options, and equities. Notable achievements include founding a software company and designing a successful options trading platform acquired by Tardier Inc. Core competencies include leadership, technical problem-solving, and strategic project management.

Overview

27
27
years of professional experience

Work History

VP Project Engineering

Tradier Inc
Charlotte, NC
11.2019 - Current
  • Developed requirements for system modifications and new system installations.
  • Conducted system architecture reviews and provided recommendations for improvements.
  • Analyzed code and corrected errors to optimize output.
  • Mentored junior architects and developers in best practices and technical skills.
  • Facilitated stakeholder meetings to align technology solutions with business goals.
  • Led the evaluation and selection of software products and tools for system integration.
  • Developed software architecture and design specifications for new product features.
  • Ensured smooth integration of the OptionEyes system with Tradier's API.
  • Developed futures trading capabilities using the CQG API.
  • Designed and implemented the market alarms framework.

Managing Director

OptionEyes
Chicago , IL
10.2016 - 10.2019
  • Converted existing options trading platform for non-professional trader use.
  • Used expertise to cultivate relationships with existing clients, develop new client relationships and win business.
  • Coordinated with senior leadership teams to develop long-term growth plans for the organization.
  • Implemented successful business strategies to increase revenue and target new markets.
  • Formed and sustained strategic relationships with clients.
  • Established performance standards and monitored progress towards achieving them.

CIO - Partner

Zydeco Asset Partners / LECOS Technology Solutions
06.2012 - 10.2016
  • I was responsible for all IT functions of the company, development, trader support, vendor management, contract negotiation and data center activities
  • In addition, I was responsible for creating, testing, and trading several automated trading models
  • Designed and implemented an options trading platform used by our traders
  • The system includes a unique display of option contracts, our in-house developed pricing model, charting, volatility scanner, risk management, P&L calculations, What-If scenarios, trade signals, volatility curve manipulation, etc
  • Managed software, hardware and market data vendors, and negotiated contracts
  • Planned a data center move from Chicago to New York
  • Created an equities market maker platform used by CBSX market makers
  • Facilitated the move of above market makers from CBSX to BATS
  • Developed solutions for traders on the CBOE floor
  • I was part of the team working on selling our software and raise capital
  • Developed and traded several electronic trading models
  • Designed and developed a futures auto-spreader
  • Designed and implemented a risk management system that allows for real time risk assessment and trader activity monitoring

Manager (Risk Management Systems)

Kershner Trading Group
10.2009 - 05.2012
  • I was responsible for redesigning and developing a new risk management system that would improve performance and also improve the ability of the risk manager to monitor traders and take actions in real time
  • Redesigned the risk management system
  • Provided ideas and solutions on several performance related issues
  • Redesigned and implemented the publish-subscribe libraries used by our trading software
  • Integrated several back office systems with the current trading platform
  • Created a back testing system that allowed traders to create strategies and schedule them for back testing
  • Designed and implemented processes for corporate actions
  • Designed and implemented a system for automatic stock locate requests

Development Manager (Core Systems)

Jump Trading
01.2008 - 10.2009
  • Responsible for the core development team functions including hiring, interviewing, architecting, and managing all core development systems (Risk Management, Compliance, Real time reconciliation, Position servers, Risk servers, P&L Servers etc)
  • The following are all team accomplishments and results
  • Created and grew a team of developers with focus on delivery of bug free high performance systems
  • Redesigned and delivered the new risk management system
  • Redesigned and delivered the new position servers
  • In addition, the servers were integrated with the risk management system giving a view of positions at the strategy level
  • Redesigned and delivered the P&L servers
  • The servers were able to provide P&L at the product level, business unit level, or the strategy level by utilizing the position and risk servers
  • Architected and developed a top of the book feed to be used by the P&L system
  • Architected and developed our compliance systems including ISO compliance, Short Sell compliance, Locates requirements and Self-trading

Performance Analyst

Jump Trading
02.2007 - 12.2007
  • I was responsible for improving the overall system performance including gateways, feeds, and middle-ware solutions by proposing architecture solutions to performance issues and performing code reviews on systems that did not perform up to our standards
  • Established performance baselines for our gateways and feeds, and developed automated reports on systems that exceed our performance thresholds
  • Improved overall system performance by 50% by proposing architecture changes on our data distribution systems
  • Improved gateway performance by 30% by re-architecting the gateway threading model and data flow
  • Re-wrote the EBS, Currenex, and Reuters gateways in order to improve performance
  • Assisted in every architecture and development effort in the company trying to ensure that performance was always the focus

Senior Trading Systems Analyst, Electronic Trading Systems

Chicago Board of Trade
06.2004 - 02.2007
  • Improve performance of the eCBOT platform and floor systems, and improve the overall trading experience by proposing system architecture changes, and assisting member firms fine tune their installations
  • Internally, identified system behavior that resulted in performance issues and proposed changes in the architecture to mitigate them
  • Externally, provided members with recommendations on how to avoid situations that would result in poor performance and assisted in fine tuning their applications or installations
  • Results include a better trading experience for traders on the eCBOT platform
  • Designed, developed, and maintained a data mart containing eCBOT order flow data and provide reports via a web interface
  • The data was used to identify trading behavior that could impact the performance of the system and to create the eCBOT message use policy
  • Results include a 50% reduction in messaging, and better execution times
  • Assisted in the re-architecture of our quote vending system for better performance and reduced the cost of ownership
  • Technical lead on a project to deliver eCBOT prices to the trading floor
  • Technical lead on a project to identify and resolve performance issues with the wall-board systems on the trading floor
  • The project was completed successfully and resulted in 100% performance improvement

Director of Proprietary Systems

Botta Capital Management Inc
01.2001 - 06.2004
  • Responsible for all IT functions and personnel
  • Management of systems development and architecture, vendors, consultants, budget, and application support
  • In addition, I was responsible for developing a long term plan for IT and implementing the vision of spinning IT into a separate company and sell our software to other trading and clearing firms
  • The company (Brisk Systems Inc) and the software were successfully sold to PAX clearing
  • Successfully created an IT department consisting of 16 developers, 1 project manager, and 3 support experts
  • The team was created by using both junior and senior developers, and stayed together until the sale of Brisk Systems Inc
  • Architected, developed, and managed our proprietary trading system
  • The system provided with real time analytics, PNL, and auto quote functionality for CBOE and PHLX
  • It replaced the several third party systems used by our traders and provided them with the flexibility of custom features and functionality
  • This resulted in saving money on licenses and improving PNL for our traders
  • Architected, developed, and managed our data feeds, order routing, and communications transport protocols
  • The system could receive real time prices from OPRA through Hyperfeed and used a publish-subscribe model for the data distribution
  • It also had the ability to route stock and option orders to ISE, BOX, PHLX, PCX, CBOE, AMEX, AMEXs, NYSE, ARCA, INET, and ISLD
  • The speed of the real time analytics, price feeds, and order routing made a big difference on the PNL of our traders
  • Architected, developed, and managed our global risk system
  • The system collected trades from all of our traders from every location in real time, and using real time analytics calculated the global company risk
  • The risk manager had the ability to remotely change trading parameters such as volatility curves, interest rates, etc for an individual trader, send orders to minimize a traders or groups exposure, or take a trader or group out of the market

Project Leader

Bond Technologies
10.2000 - 01.2001
  • I was responsible for growing the business by discovering opportunities for our consulting teams and managing existing accounts
  • In addition, I was responsible for managing teams of consultants at client sites and overseeing architecture and project progress
  • I was also responsible for developing teams and junior consultants
  • Successfully managed and completed several projects for Bank of America, Mesirow Financial, and Botta Capital Management
  • For Bank of America I worked on the architecture of a web based energy derivatives trading system and developed a currency price delivery from BofA to Bloomberg
  • For Botta, I begun the architecture of a risk management / trading system that would replace several third party applications they were using
  • As a result of my work, I was offered the opportunity to join Botta as the IT director and help them develop an IT department
  • Successfully trained several consultants in new technologies and our project management methodology
  • As a member of our training team I gave several classes on socket programming
  • I also implemented classes on the financial industry in order to help our technical people understand our clients’ needs better
  • As a technology expert I assisted in several other projects when the consultants on site needed help or a second opinion on a technical issue

Systems Integrator

PPM America
11.1997 - 10.2000
  • System analysis design and implementation
  • Designed and implemented a portfolio balancing and trading system for our trading desk
  • Automated covenant testing for our CBO and CLO products
  • Assisted in the design of our data warehouse system
  • Eliminated the need for three reporting systems by developing a system that gave the user a single interface to the three databases and report engines
  • Developed a price server that distributed prices from Bloomberg to the trading desk

Education

Bachelors of Science - Computing and Information Science, Mathematics

Roosevelt University
01.1994

Skills

  • Collaborative Leadership Skills
  • Technical System Design
  • Vendor Relationship Management
  • Project Management
  • Performance System Tuning
  • Critical Analysis
  • Effective Task Management
  • Reliable and Accountable
  • Effective Decision-Making
  • Analytical Problem-Solving
  • Effective Communication

Summary Of Experience

I have 20 years experience in the IT industry where I have a proven track record with highly-available high-transaction environments. Coupled with my strong leadership and technical skills, I have been both an individual contributor and a team member developing real-time trade matching and trade execution systems specializing in futures, options, and equities. My most recent experience includes designing and implementing an options trading platform from the ground up, managing data center activities, and managing external partners and vendors.

Timeline

VP Project Engineering

Tradier Inc
11.2019 - Current

Managing Director

OptionEyes
10.2016 - 10.2019

CIO - Partner

Zydeco Asset Partners / LECOS Technology Solutions
06.2012 - 10.2016

Manager (Risk Management Systems)

Kershner Trading Group
10.2009 - 05.2012

Development Manager (Core Systems)

Jump Trading
01.2008 - 10.2009

Performance Analyst

Jump Trading
02.2007 - 12.2007

Senior Trading Systems Analyst, Electronic Trading Systems

Chicago Board of Trade
06.2004 - 02.2007

Director of Proprietary Systems

Botta Capital Management Inc
01.2001 - 06.2004

Project Leader

Bond Technologies
10.2000 - 01.2001

Systems Integrator

PPM America
11.1997 - 10.2000

Bachelors of Science - Computing and Information Science, Mathematics

Roosevelt University

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Kosta Panousis