Veteran Wall Street Executive Paul Cassell Named CIO At Pico As Firm Accelerates Its Global Expansion

Cassell Will Also Lead Firm's Growing Consulting Practice

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Jul 08, 2015, 11:15 ET

NEW YORK, July 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Veteran Wall Street executive Paul Cassell, president of PC IT Consulting Inc. and former U.S. chief information officer for NYSE Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange, has been named CIO for Pico globally, and will lead the firm's consulting division. Pico is a managed services provider of multi-asset electronic trading technologies.

Veteran Wall Street executive Paul Cassell, president of PC IT Consulting Inc. and former U.S. chief information officer for NYSE Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange, has been named CIO for Pico globally, and will lead the firm's consulting division.

"Paul is a respected leader in the technology community with a 25-year track record of success from Wall Street to Silicon Valley," said Jarrod Yuster, co-founder and CEO of Pico. "Paul's background and experience, combined with the skills of our seasoned Pico management team, will be vital as Pico accelerates its global expansion. Paul will join the senior management team and provide leadership both within the firm as well as with clients and partners. He will work closely with the management team to continue to scale the organization's infrastructure, software and client service teams."

"We are excited to have Paul join and oversee all aspects of Pico's technology function, including network and systems engineering, data center operations, disaster recovery and business continuity planning and technology policies and procedures. Additionally, we will leverage Paul's most recent experience building PC IT Consulting to shape and develop IT consulting for Pico clients," Yuster said. "Our company and our clients will benefit from bringing Paul's expertise in-house. Paul has a unique ability to quickly assess problems, marry technology solutions to business challenges and then successfully execute a multitude of solutions in the infrastructure, security, testing and project management areas. His hands-on implementation experience -- plus excellent communication skills -- are what set him apart."

Since founding PC IT Consulting Inc. in May 2014, Cassell has helped top-tier clients transform their IT operations, including leading multimillion-dollar infrastructure outsourcing programs, conducting comprehensive IT evaluations, assisting with strategic hires and providing expert opinions to investment firms. In addition to his role as CIO, Cassell will also lead and grow the firm's consulting division, Pico Consulting.

"I'm thrilled to be joining such a unique and rapidly expanding financial technology firm where I can apply my experience to help take the company to the next level," Cassell said. "With a comprehensive approach to IT strategy, we want to give clients the actionable insights they need to make technology an asset, not a liability. Instead of trying to sell clients any one particular technology, our team will focus on offering clients solid choices and scalable solutions to meet their current and future needs."

In previous roles, Cassell has held leadership positions at NYSE Euronext, Archipelago and IBM. In his role as U.S. CIO for NYSE Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange, Cassell oversaw a $300 million budget for an S&P 500 company with more than $3.5 billion in annual revenues and a workforce in excess of 1,500 that spanned three continents and 10 countries.

Cassell also served as managing director at Archipelago, managing director at Instinet, senior business analyst at Optimark Technologies, program trader/systems analyst for the Floor Broker Network and as an equities trader for IBM Retirement Fund. Among his career highlights, Cassell helped take Archipelago public, became the lead equity trader for a $30 billion-dollar pension fund by age 30, and created an automation group that reduced costs by $30 million in one year.

Pico provides infrastructure, integration management, market data and advisory services to a diverse financial services client base. The firm's "trading infrastructure-as-a-service" delivers a fully managed solution, including hosting, multi-asset class market data, connectivity and regulatory reporting. Pico has significant experience in implementing infrastructure and integrating best-of-breed technology to produce the optimal client solution.

Pico has grown rapidly over six years, from one office with nine employees to four offices globally, with over 90 employees.

"Jarrod and his talented team have made Pico a force to be reckoned with," Cassell said. "I'm delighted to join the team at such an exciting point in the company's history, as Pico continues with its global expansion and innovative new offerings that will further its trajectory of rapid growth."

About Pico

Pico is a group of affiliated companies that offer premium technology hosting and managed services, specializing in trading technology. Pico has space in all of the major U.S. and Canadian financial colocation facilities and is expanding into Europe. Pico clients have the ability to connect to over 30 exchanges and to over 120 venues. Specifically, Pico Quantitative Trading LLC is an agency-only U.S. broker-dealer that specializes in providing services to multi-asset electronic trading clients, and is a member of FINRA, SIPC and the NFA. Pico Consulting is the consulting division of SpryWare, LLC. To learn more, visit: picotrading.com.

CONTACT:

Kate Dockstader, 646.362.4365, [email protected]
Dan Bartucci, 646.362.4366, [email protected]

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SOURCE Pico