Quick Facts
Biography
Xavier R. Rolet KBE (born 12 November 1959) is the CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group.
Early life and career
Rolet was born in Aix-les-Bains, France. He is the eldest of three children born to military parents. His early life was spent in Algeria and France. After graduating from the Marseille Business School with an MSc in Management Science and Finance in 1981, he served as a second lieutenant and Instructor at the French Air Force Academy, earned an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1984 and a post-graduate degree from Paris-based IHEDN (Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence) in April 2008.
From 1984-1994, Rolet worked at Goldman Sachs in New York and London. At Goldman, he started on the international arbitrage desk in New York. Then he joined Credit Suisse First Boston as Global Head of European Equities in 1994, working there until 1996. After that, Rolet worked at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson from 1997-2000 as Global Head of Risk and Trading. He then worked at Lehman Brothers from 2000–2008, in New York, as co-head of global equity trading, in London, as head of European and Asian equities, and in Paris, as CEO of Banque Lehman Brothers. He joined the Board of the London Stock Exchange in March 2009, and became CEO in May
. Under his leadership, the London Stock Exchange Group acquired MillenniumIT (2009), Turquoise Holdings Ltd (2010), FTSE Group (2011), TRS (2011), GATElab Srl (2012), EuroTLX Srl (2013), LCH.Clearnet (2013), Bonds.com (2014), Exactpro (2015), XTF (2015) and the Frank Russell Company (2014) from Northwestern Mutual, the Asset management arm of which was sold in October 2015 to TA Associates and Reverence Capital Partners. In October 2015, LSE Group launched Curve Global, a new Futures Exchange co-owned with Barclays Bank, Bank of America, Citi, Goldman, Sachs, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. In March 2016, the company announced it had reached an agreement with Deutsche Boerse AG to merge. The companies will be brought under a new holding company, UK TopCo, and will retain dual headquarters in London and Frankfurt. ON 21 November, 2016, London Stock Exchange Group announced the acquisition of Mergent, Inc., a 100-year old global provider of financial data and analysis based in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Personal
He has competed successfully in several editions of the Dakar Rally, finishing 82nd (out of 575 crew) in the 2009 edition with co-pilot Jean-Louis Juchault.
He is a Board member of LCH.Clearnet and MTS Group and a member of the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School, a former Vice-Chairman of the World Federation of Exchanges WFE, an Honorary Fellow (FCSI/Hon) of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment CISI and a member of Her Majesty's Treasury's Financial Services Trade and Investment Board. He was also a member of Prime Minister David Cameron's Business Advisory Group and is a member of the Governor of the Bank of England's Financial Services Forum and of the Bank of England's Open Forum. in October 2015, he was appointed an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In December 2015, he was appointed Echansonnier 'A Camera Paramenti ' of the Echansonnerie de Châteauneuf-du-Pape. He was made a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic by Presidential decree on January 1, 2016. In 2016, Rolet was listed by UK-based company Richtopia in the global list of 500 Most Influential CEOs in the world. In July 2016, Rolet was made an Officer of the Royal Sharifian Order of Al-Alaoui (Order of Ouissam Alaouite) by His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco.