Adam Conn, head of trading at Baillie Gifford, was named Industry Person of the Year last night at The TRADE’s Leaders in Trading Awards.
The award was determined by a live vote of more than 300 industry attendees throughout the evening, with the winner revealed on stage as the final announcement of the night.
Now in its fourth year, the award recognises individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to their organisation and the wider industry, demonstrating a commitment to driving positive change and helping shape the future of financial markets.
Following a closely contested vote, Conn was announced as the winner before collecting his crystal and delivering an insightful speech, where he looked back on his markets career to highlight how the industry has changed for the better and become more diverse, the people that have supported him throughout his tenure, and look ahead to what may come next for the industry.
Conn is a buy-side trading veteran with more than four decades of industry experience. He currently serves as head of trading at Baillie Gifford, a role he has held since 2016.
In the position, he has oversight across all asset classes, and has since established its trading desks in Hong Kong and New York and integrated trading data analytics into its offering.
Prior to joining Baillie Gifford, Conn spent six years as head of dealing at Baring Asset Management where he set up a centralised dealing desk in Seoul. Before that, he was global head of trading at hedge fund Atticus Capital, where he built trading desks in London and New York, and earlier at Instinet and GT Management.
A prominent buy-side voice on various topics – in particular, market structure and regulation – Conn chairs the Investment Association’s Equity Trading Committee and has been a leading advocate for automating the IPO and placement process. He has also spoken widely on shorter settlement cycles, data ownership and the UK’s capital markets reforms.
Other nominees for the award included: Eglantine Desautel, chief executive, EuroCTP, Paul Humphrey, chief executive, BMLL Technologies, Chris McConville, global head of execution services and trading, Kepler Cheuvreux, and Peter Whitaker, market structure strategist, Jane Street.
The TRADE would like to extend its congratulations once again to Conn for his award!