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Leo Melamed | Howard Dubnow | Kshama Fernandes | Mitch R. Fulscher Leo
Melamed Leo Melamed is recognized as the founder of financial futures markets. At the close of 1999, Melamed was named by the former editor of the Chicago Tribune, among the ten most important Chicagoans in business of the 20th Century. Chicago Magazine included him among the century's top 100 Chicagoans. In 2003, Pensions & Investments included Mr. Melamed in the list of 30 individuals whose contribution "made the most dramatic difference" in the management of money during the last 100 years. Leo Melamed's achievements exemplify the splendor of America. He was an immigrant child who found safety in the U.S. during World War II. The story of his escape from Bialystok, Poland where he was born, as he and his parents miraculously outwitted the Gestapo and KGB, is the stuff that Hollywood movies are made of. It was an odyssey that took two years, spanned three continents, seven languages, the Trans-Siberian railroad, Japan-courtesy a life-saving transit visa from Japanese Counsel General to Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara-and happily concluded in the United States in 1941. In 1972, as chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Melamed launched currency futures and created the International Monetary Market (IMM)-the world's first futures market for financial instruments. Twenty years after their inception, the1992 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Merton Miller, named financial futures as "the most significant innovation in the past two decades." In the years that followed, Melamed led the CME in the introduction of a diverse number of financial instruments, including Treasury Bills in 1976, Eurodollars in 1981, and stock index futures in 1982. In 1987, Melamed spearheaded the introduction of Globex?, the world's first futures electronic trading system, and became its founding chairman. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, today known as the CME Group, is the world's premier futures market whose shares are publicly traded on the NYSE. Mr. Melamed has written extensively on financial markets. Many of his essays and lectures can be found on the website www.leomelamed.com. Mr. Melamed's memoirs "Escape to the Futures" have been translated and published in Japanese as well as Chinese. Mr. Melamed is the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Fred Arditti Innovation Award of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He holds an honorary degree in Doctor of Humane Letters from DePaul University, 2005; Doctor of Humane Letters from Loyola University, 2000; Doctor of Letters, University of Illinois, 1999. He holds an Honorary Professorship at Renmin University, Beijing, China, and in 2007 was appointed Honorary Dean of Peking University. In 2007, he was also appointed to CASFEDA, a special and official research branch of the Chinese government. Melamed is an attorney by profession and an active futures trader. He is Chairman & CEO of Melamed & Associates, Inc., a global market consulting service, and Vice Chairman of HuaMei Capital Company, a financial services intermediary. |
