Who's Who
Dr Ben Seifert: Chairman and Director of Research & Development
Dr Ben Seifert is the founder of Oxford Virtual Markets Limited. The idea for the development of TANGLE, the powerful technology at the core of OVM, came about through his research during the course of a distinguished academic career. After an undergraduate degree in economics at Columbia University, Ben studied Pure Mathematics at Merton College, Oxford, and Berkeley. He has taught mathematics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford; the University of Paris; and the University of California (Berkeley). For five years he was a Research Fellow at the Institut de Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (IHES) in Bures-sur-Yvette, one of the international centres of research in mathematics.
His research has covered pure and applied mathematics, including group representations, numerical and computational algebra, neural networks and dynamical systems. In particular, he was an early adopter of the use of high-level computer languages to solve problems in pure and applied mathematics. It was Ben's desire to see his theory transformed into applicable practice which led him into the marketplace where for the past twenty years he has worked to bring this desire to its virtual reality. He is the chief architect of the algorithms underlying TANGLE.
Ben has been active in the creation of proprietary trading systems in finance and other markets throughout his career, drawing on his ability to create ingenious mathematical models and implement them in software.
Chris Thornhill: Chief Technology Officer
Chris has been responsible for managing electronic systems and development initiatives for several international stock exchange enterprises. He has led major projects located in Austrailia, Hong Kong and several European countries. His extensive expertise and experience includes:
- In the UK he held the position of Chief Technology Officer for NASDAQ Europe (formally EASDAQ) with full responsibility for IT.
- In Germany he fulfilled the role of Vice President - Group Chief Information Officer for Adidas-Salomon AG Group of companies with revenues in excess of 100billion DM. He had full budgetary responsibilities of approximately 95million DM and line management responsibility for over 130 people (permanents and contractors) at the HQ in Germany.
- In Hong Kong, working for OM Sweden, he was the Project Manager for the system installation and acceptance of the first fully electronic and distributed derivatives trading system in Hong Kong. First contract to market launch was achieved within a period of just six months.
- In Switzerland Chris was the Project Manager for the Exchange System Development of the EBS Project for the Swiss Stock Exchange. Here he was responsible for a team of approximately fifty people.
- In Australia he was Head of Project and Chief Architect for the award winning redevelopment of the Australian Stock Exchange Core Systems. He presided over a two and a half year project employing 60 system development staff.
Ian Winton: Marketing Director
Following a successful internet marketing career, Ian has held the post of Marketing Director of Betfair, where he has brilliantly contributed to the astounding success of the world's largest betting exchange.
Ian has previously been CEO and part-owner of a successful internet advertising/marketing company and was responsible for selling it to J Walter Thompson (WPP Group). He has a wealth of experience of both B2B and B2C sales and in recruiting and managing staff in this sector.
John Watson: Senior Software Developer
John joined OVM in 2007 with a first in Physics from St Peters College, Oxford, and has gradually progressed from a junior position to hold the role of Senior Software Developer.
Anne-Marie Harvatt: General Manager
Anne-Marie joined OVM in 2006 having just graduated from Balliol College, Oxford.