The Leadership Team
At the forefront of digital asset management innovation
ETC Group’s leadership team combines deep traditional finance experience and expertise; across structuring, markets, trading and regulation, all with a background of innovation and problem solving; with a passion for digital assets and blockchain. This combination puts
ETC Group in a powerful position to drive the company, products and ultimately the investment community forward.
With this shared passion for digital assets and investment, ETC Group’s growing team has been responsible for developing a series of first, such as:
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The first BaFin approved prospectus dedicated to the issuance of crypto products
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The world’s first centrally cleared Bitcoin ETP
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The first successful corporate action involving a crypto investment product on traditional exchanges (issuance of ETH PoW ETPs to ZETH bondholders following the merge)
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The world’s first MSCI crypto index product
Culture is vital to any organisation and the primary driver within ETC Group is to put clients first. Always.
Management
Bradley Duke
MD, Head of EuropeBradley has spent most of his career in regulated Financial Services as well as young technology companies. He worked for investment bank Jefferies at their offices in New York, Paris and London, and then at the trading powerhouse KCG in London where he headed the team at Knight Direct Europe. Bradley co-founded fin-tech and payments company Zapper, and most recently was CEO of the UK branch of the investment bank BCS Global Markets. Bradley has always had a strong interest in nascent technology and his fascination with blockchain and crypto lead him to attend the Blockchain Strategy course at the University of Oxford - Said Business School, following which he became a founding member of the London Blockchain Foundation.
Leyla Sharifullina
Director, Head of Operations — EuropeWith over 15 years of work experience at major international banks as well as real estate development companies, Leyla (CFA certified) brings integrity and a high level of quality and ethical standards to her role within ETC. Before joining the company as Chief Operating Officer, Leyla held a dual role of Senior Analyst and Structured Finance Manager at Raven Property Group.
Julian Kelly
Director, Head of Finance — EuropeJulian Kelly is a versatile and highly experienced Chief Financial Officer with extensive experience across pharmaceutical, biotech, SaaS, fintech and e-commerce. He has a strong track record in building and selling entities, and has worked for a UHNW on both private and AIM-listed entities in Tech and Financial Services. He also assisted in the sale of FCA regulated Baydonhill (AIM-listed FX/Payments business) to Earthport (now Visa payments).
Maximilian Monteleone
Director, Head of Marketing — EuropeMaximilian has been with ETC Group since the early stages of its inception and played an essential role during the launch of the first product in Germany, BTCE, as well as in designing the product management procedures and operational structure of the issuer together with the COO. He brings unique experience in managing and structuring complex projects, as well as knowledge about the relevant technology to the venture. Being involved in a wide range of projects in the past, he has been running an IT development company, acted as a project manager on certain European Union initiatives in technology and logistics, and has worked as strategy consultant in the past.
Wendy Langridge
Director, Head of Regulation & Compliance — EuropeWendy Langridge has over 20 years of experience in building and managing global compliance and governance functions in exchange, trading platform, investment banking, broking and fund environments. Wendy has a proven track record of managing regulatory relationships, as a Board member, Chief Compliance and MLRO. Her product knowledge covers high and low latency trading, payment services, capital markets, commodities, and Appointed Representative services. Prior to ETC Group, Wendy has held senior roles at ED&F, BCS Prime Brokerage, Commerzbank and also worked within Market Supervision and Investigations at the London Stock Exchange.
Luke Sayer
Director, Head of Legal & Structuring — EuropeLuke has over 10 years of experience in the legal sector working for international law firms. Prior to joining ETC Group, he worked as a regulatory lawyer and commercial litigator at Carey Olsen Guernsey. Luke is qualified as an advocate in Guernsey and a solicitor in England & Wales. He practised in a broad range of legal areas including commercial, regulation and litigation, and advised on a variety of cryptocurrency and blockchain matters. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Nottingham and a law degree from the College of Law, London.
Chanchal Samadder
Director, Head of Product & Capital Markets — EuropeChanchal Samadder is a seasoned professional in the exchange-traded product ETP and ETF industry, with over 15 years of experience in building market leading, innovative investment franchises. Prior to joining ETC Group in 2023, Chanchal held senior leadership roles across distribution, product and strategy at BlackRock, Aberdeen Standard Investments and Lyxor (Amundi).
Cathy Lightowlers
Director, Head of HR — EuropeMichael Howe
Director, Head of Strategy — EuropeAndré Dragosch, PhD
Director, Head of Research — EuropeAndré Dragosch has been working for more than 10 years in the German financial industry, mostly in portfolio management and investment research. He also holds a PhD in financial history from the University of Southampton, UK. He has been a private crypto asset investor since 2014 and has been gaining institutional crypto asset experience since 2018.
Jan Altmann
Regional Director, Investment Strategy — EuropeJan Altmann is an expert in exchange-traded index products and has been involved in ETPs and ETF investments for over 20 years. Altmann was instrumental in shaping the beginning of ETFs in Europe: While working at Deutsche Börse, he developed the first trading and listing segment for ETFs in Europe. Later, he advised numerous providers from asset management and the index industry on product strategy, sales and marketing. In parallel, he shares his ETP expertise in seminars for professionals from investment, trading and sales, among others in cooperation with Deutsche Börse. Before joining the ETC Group, Jan Altmann worked for four years as a senior ETF analyst at the popular Internet portal justETF.com, where he made ETF saving known to private investors. In addition to analysing the market and ETFs, the ETF expert had over 25,000 private investors as live guests in his webinars and produced justETF's Top10 investment podcast.
Ronald Richter
Regional Director, Investment Strategy — EuropeRonald brings over 20 years of expertise in the alternative investment industry where he has held key roles on the investment, sales and operational side within asset management, banking, fund management and distribution companies. His knowledge spans across traditional as well as digital alternative products through his past tenures as Portfolio Manager, Sales and Head of Operations. Prior to joining ETC Group, Ronald held senior roles at a Swiss private bank, a fund of hedge funds manager and a digital asset manager. He has also run his own placement agency business for nearly a decade.
Ray Dillet
Regional Director, Head of Financial Institutions — EuropeRay brings 15 years of professional experience as an Alternatives specialist, holding senior business development and strategy roles at Deutsche Bank, PGIM and (Lyxor) Amundi where he partnered with some of the most well-regarded Hedge Funds globally. He also Co-Founded Bridge Partners, a boutique advisory & asset management firm that employs a strategic and thesis driven approach to digital asset investing. Prior to this he spent several years in the British Army and Security Services, first encountering Bitcoin in 2011 whilst working at the National Cyber Security Centre (GCHQ) and he has been actively investing in digital assets since 2017.