FESE Convention 2026 | From Vision to Action: Delivering the Savings and Investments Union for Growth

Rosa Armesto is the Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the trade association of exchanges in Europe. She is a member of the ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group and also lectures on financial market infrastructures at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management (Belgium).

Before becoming Director General of FESE, she served as Deputy Director General for 6 years. She also worked at Insurance Europe for 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of Public Affairs and Communications. Earlier in her career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs at FESE and had various roles before rejoining FESE. She began her professional career at Eurostat, the Statistical office of the European Commission, in Luxembourg.

Rosa has nearly 20 years of experience in EU financial services. She specialises in financial regulations like MiFID/MiFIR, Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. Additionally, she is knowledgeable about Solvency II, PRIIPs, IDD, and other insurance-related files. Rosa is also the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Community at the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE).

She holds a Master of Science in Economics with a major in Econometrics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and the University of Groningen (Netherlands), a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (Spain). She is proficient in English, French, and Spanish.

Dr Thomas C. Eckert is a German diplomat with extensive experience in European and international affairs. Since 2025, he has served as Head of the Representation of the State of Hessen to the European Union in Brussels. Previously, he was Ambassador of the European Union to Mali (2024–2025) and to Algeria (2021–2024).

Earlier in his career, he held senior positions at the German Federal Foreign Office and within European institutions, including Senior Expert in the Cabinet of EU Commissioner Elisa Ferreira, Minister and Antici at the German Permanent Representation to the European Union, Head of European Legislative Affairs, and Counsellor for Political Affairs at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. He also served as Personal Representative of the EU High Representative in Belgrade and held various diplomatic positions in Brussels and Paris.

Dr Eckert holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in history from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and an M.Litt. in Modern History from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He is fluent in English, French, and Arabic. He is married and has three children.

Niels Brab is Deutsche Börse Group’s Chief of Staff and Head of Group Corporate and Regulatory Strategy.

In his role he works in symbiosis with the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Board on the daily management of the company and is responsible for the Group-wide strategy. As part of his responsibilities, Niels supports DBG’s businesses and their senior executives, acting as a catalyst to drive growth and resilience.

He is also in charge of Deutsche Börse Group’s regulatory strategy and represents the Group in various industry associations and key public fora, enhancing critical thought-leadership. Niels is the President of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) and serves as a Co-Chair of the European Association of CCP Clearing Houses (EACH).

He is also a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) CCP Policy Committee and a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Consultative Committee.

Before his appointment as Chief of Staff, Niels served as Deutsche Börse Group’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Head of Government Relations and Head of the Brussels Representative Office.

Prior to joining Deutsche Börse Group in 2014, he held roles at leading consultancies, such as FTI Consulting and Fleishman-Hillard. He also founded his own firm, EURObjective. Niels holds an LLM in European Law and an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development from the University of Maastricht.

Verena Ross is the Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). She took up the role on 1 November 2021 and is responsible for representing the Authority as well as preparing the work of and chairing its Board of Supervisors and Management Board.

Between 2011 and 2021 Verena Ross served as ESMA’s first Executive Director, when she was responsible for building up the organisation and overseeing its day to day running.

Prior to this, Verena held a number of senior posts in the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) and was a member of the FSA’s Executive Committee. Verena joined the FSA in 1998 to run the Executive Chairman’s office during the regulator’s start-up phase and was briefly a seconded advisor to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 2000. She held various positions in the FSA’s Markets Division and was Director of Strategy & Risk Division before becoming Director of the International Division.

Verena is a German national. Following studies in Sinology and Economics in Hamburg, Taipei and London (SOAS) she began her career at the Bank of England in 1994, where she worked as an economist and banking supervisor.

GPW CEO since March 2024, Tomasz Bardzilowski started his professional career with ABN AMRO brokerage house and Credit Suisse First Boston. He was Head of Institutional Sales at DM BZ WBK and President of the Management Board of CAIB Securities. He was Head of Emerging Europe Equity Research and Head of CEE Equities at UniCredit CAIB. He was Managing Director and Head of the Polish branch of Credit Suisse Securities, and Management Board Member and Head of the Public Market Department of Vestor Dom Maklerski. From 2019, he was Managing Director in the Capital Markets Department and Advisor to the Management Board at IPOPEMA Securities.

Tomasz graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Banking from the Warsaw School of Economics and earned a Master’s degree in International Finance from the University of Amsterdam. He completed his doctoral studies at Kozminski University, the Advanced Management Program at IESE Business School, and the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. He also studied at Staffordshire University Business School in the UK and at Wirtschaftsuniversität in Vienna.

He is a stockbroker (licence number 2110) and holds the title of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He has won multiple awards as the best stock analyst in prestigious rankings.

Roland Chai is EVP and President of European Market Services, responsible for Nasdaq’s multi-asset trading, clearing, listings, and market services businesses across Europe, including Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania stock exchanges.

Prior to leading European Market Services, Roland was the head of Nasdaq’s Marketplace Technology business, which comprises purpose-built products to meet the technology needs of marketplace infrastructure clients. He also previously served as Nasdaq’s first Global Chief Risk Officer, responsible for developing, reviewing and maintaining Nasdaq’s global risk program while overseeing risk functions of Nasdaq Clearing and Nasdaq Fixed Income.

Before joining Nasdaq, Roland served as Head of Post-Trade at the Hong Kong Exchange, where he oversaw clearing and risk management functions across equities and fixed income, currencies and commodities, as well as the exchange’s market surveillance. He previously served as Group Risk Officer at Hong Kong Exchange. During his tenure, Roland re-established risk frameworks across Exchange, Listings, Mainland Commodities, Trading, and Clearing departments. Roland also served on the Board of LME Clear. Prior to joining the Hong Kong Exchange, Roland served as Head of Equities at LCH.Clearnet Ltd and as Product Development Manager at Australian Securities Exchange.

Markus Ferber, born in 1965 in Augsburg and an engineer by profession, has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1994. During his time in office, he has served in multiple high-profile roles, such as Chairman of the CSU delegation in the European Parliament and Co-Chairman of CDU/CSU delegation in the EPP Group. Currently, he serves as the Coordinator of the European Peoples Party (EPP) in the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON). As rapporteur for the Master Regulation of the Market Integration and Supervision Package, he is the European Parliament’s lead negotiator for one of the key pieces of financial markets regulation in this legislative term.

On 1 January 2020, Ferber became Chairman of the Hanns-Seidel Foundation, a political foundation associated with the CSU. In July 2021, he was elected Vice-President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF).

Dr George Theocharides is the Chairman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). He is also the Chairman of the Risk Standing Committee (RSC). The RSC is part of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the successor of the Committee for Economic and Markets Analysis (CEMA), for which Dr. Theocharides served also as Chairman, between March and December 2022.

He served as CySEC’s Vice Chairman from July 2020 to September 2021 and was previously a CySEC Board member. He has extensive experience working in the wider financial sector. From September 2010 until July 2020, he held the position of Associate Finance Professor at the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) and Director of the MSc in Financial Services Programme.

Prior to joining CIIM, he worked as an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Sungkyunkwan University of South Korea from 2006 to 2010. In 2006, he also worked as an International Faculty Fellow at the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the past, he served as a member of the Interim Board of Bank of Cyprus, Chairman of the Board of the Cyprus Blockchain Technologies Ltd, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus-Kuwait Business Association.

He also served as a member of the Training/HR Committee of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA), Chairman of the Board of Management of The English School, as well as a non-executive member of the Board of Directors for a number of organisations and companies in the financial services sector. He is also an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) and a Research Associate at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT). Dr. Theocharides holds a degree of BΕng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering & Electronics from the University of Manchester (U.M.I.S.T.), an MBA from the University of San Diego and a PhD in Finance from the University of Arizona.

Andrea Beltramello has been the Head of the Savings and Investments Union Coordination unit in the European Commission’s DG FISMA since January 2025. Previously, he led the Resolution and Deposit Insurance unit in the same DG.

From 2018 to 2023, he was a Member of Cabinet for Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, handling financial services and trade policy across two mandates. Earlier DG FISMA roles included Deputy Head of Communication and policy officer in Capital Markets Union and Free Movement of Capital units. Before the Commission, Beltramello worked as an Economist/Policy Analyst at the OECD in Paris (2007-2012) across the Financial and Enterprise Affairs, and Science, Technology, and Industry directorates. He also gained trade policy and EU affairs experience at a major European tech firm. He holds degrees from the University of Trieste and the College of Europe in Bruges.

Kerstin Jorna is a German national and a civil servant at the European Commission where she has held various positions, amongst others as Head of Cabinet of several Commissioners and different Director posts.

Mrs. Jorna is the Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Before, Mrs. Jorna was Deputy Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs. Mrs. Jorna also held positions on the Board of the European Investment Bank, the European Investment Fund as well as the European Innovation Council Fund

Delphine d’Amarzit has led Euronext Paris as CEO and is a Managing Board member of Euronext N.V. since March 2021.

In the previous stage of her career, she held key roles in the French Treasury and Prime Minister’s Office, contributing to shape European financial regulation, before joining Orange in 2016 to develop their financial services.

Head Primary Markets, SIX & Chief Executive Officer of BME and Head of BME Exchanges

Mr. Juan Flames holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law and Business Administration (E3) from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE).

Since November 15, 2024, he is Chief Executive Officer of BME and Head of BME Exchanges and Primary Markets SIX. He is also member of the Board of Directors of BME. He is likewise member of the Executive Committee of Federación Iberoamericana de Bolsas and member of the Board of Directors of Operador Del Mercado Ibérico De Energía, Polo Español, S.A. (OMEL) and of Operador Do Mercado Ibérico (Portugal) (OMIP).

Until that date he was Vice Chairman Capital Markets EMEA, Investment Banking Division, at Barclays Bank Europe, to whose group he worked since September 2010 and in which he successively held the positions of Head of Risk Solutions Group Iberia, Co-Head of Debt Capital Markets and Risk Solutions Group Southern Europe, Banking Division, and Head of Risk Solutions Group EMEA, Investment Banking Division, at Barclays Bank plc.

Previously, he worked for 11 years at Goldman Sachs International, where he held various roles in financing and risk management covering banks, corporates and public sector clients in Iberia.

From March 2018 to March 2024 he was Trustee/Chair of Finance and Fundraising Committee of One World Media.

Director of Financial Markets (FISMA-C)

Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (FISMA),European Commission, Brussels

Masters Degree – Political science/International Affairs & Masters Degree – Philosophy

Martin Merlin started his career at the French Treasury in the Department of International Monetary and Financial Affairs.

He then joined the Commission and since then has worked consistently across the various domains of Financial Services including positions in the Commissioner’s Cabinet, as Head of Unit coordinating Financial Services Policy and as Director Banking, Insurance and Financial Crime until his current position as Director of Financial Markets.

He represents the Commission on the Board of Supervisors and the Management Board of the European Securities Market Authority.

Claudio Vidal joined the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) in 2021 and is currently Head of Policy. In his role, he coordinates FESE’s policy work under the auspices of the FESE Management Committee, with particular expertise in equity market structure and market data. He previously led FESE’s working groups on sustainable finance, market abuse and statistics.

Prior to joining FESE, Claudio worked on economic policy at the European Committee of the Regions and also gained experience in the banking sector in Spain.

He holds a Master’s degree in European and International Studies from the University of Valencia, and a dual-award Bachelor’s degree in International Business from Nottingham Trent University and the University of Valencia. He speaks English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Jens Hachmeister serves as a Managing Director at Deutsche Börse Group, bringing over 25 years of experience in various senior positions within the Capital Markets and Financial Services industry. Currently, Jens is the Head of Issuer Services and New Digital Markets, and a Member of the Clearstream Management Board. In 2018, Jens established the New Digital Markets Area as a key pillar of Deutsche Börse’s digital, DLT, and blockchain strategy. He took on additional responsibility as Clearstream’s Head of Issuer Services in February 2020. Before driving Deutsche Börse’s digital transformation, Jens held numerous senior management positions within the Deutsche Börse Group, including Chief HR Officer, Head of Strategic Execution, and Chief of Staff to the CEO of the Group. Jens has extensive experience in capital market infrastructure design, build-out, and operations along the entire value chain of the industry. His previous roles at Deutsche Börse included leading large transformational market infrastructure projects and managing customer support and market operations departments for the trading venues and the Clearing House of Deutsche Börse Group. Prior to joining Deutsche Börse Group, Jens was a management consultant at KPMG.

Mattias Levin is the acting head of unit of the Digital Finance unit of the European Commission’s Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union DG (“FISMA”). At FISMA, he has previously worked on regulation related to banks, investment firms, conglomerates and financial market infrastructures. Before joining DG FISMA, he was a member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA), a think tank attached to the President of the European Commission. Prior to joining the Commission, Mattias was a Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Mattias studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Lund University and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg.

Dr. Matthias Voelkel has been Chief Executive Officer of Boerse Stuttgart Group since 1 January 2022.

Prior to this, Dr Matthias Voelkel joined McKinsey in 2006, was elected partner in 2013 and became leader of the global Capital Markets Infrastructure and Exchanges Practice in 2014. Before joining McKinsey, he was an advisor to the Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Committee for Budgetary Control from 2002 to 2004.

Dr. Matthias Voelkel holds a doctorate in law and studied at the Universities of Freiburg, Oxford, and Heidelberg. He completed his legal clerkship at the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and the German Embassy in the US, among other locations.

Since March 2023, Dr. Matthias Voelkel has been a member of the Board of the “Deutsches Aktieninstitut” (DAI) and is committed to strengthening the German and European capital markets.

Rosa Armesto is the Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the trade association of exchanges in Europe. She is a member of the ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group and also lectures on financial market infrastructures at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management (Belgium).

Before becoming Director General of FESE, she served as Deputy Director General for 6 years. She also worked at Insurance Europe for 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of Public Affairs and Communications. Earlier in her career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs at FESE and had various roles before rejoining FESE. She began her professional career at Eurostat, the Statistical office of the European Commission, in Luxembourg.

Rosa has nearly 20 years of experience in EU financial services. She specialises in financial regulations like MiFID/MiFIR, Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. Additionally, she is knowledgeable about Solvency II, PRIIPs, IDD, and other insurance-related files. Rosa is also the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Community at the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE).

She holds a Master of Science in Economics with a major in Econometrics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and the University of Groningen (Netherlands), a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (Spain). She is proficient in English, French, and Spanish.

Niels Brab is Deutsche Börse Group’s Chief of Staff and Head of Group Corporate and Regulatory Strategy.

In his role he works in symbiosis with the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Board on the daily management of the company and is responsible for the Group-wide strategy. As part of his responsibilities, Niels supports DBG’s businesses and their senior executives, acting as a catalyst to drive growth and resilience.

He is also in charge of Deutsche Börse Group’s regulatory strategy and represents the Group in various industry associations and key public fora, enhancing critical thought-leadership. Niels is the President of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) and serves as a Co-Chair of the European Association of CCP Clearing Houses (EACH).

He is also a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) CCP Policy Committee and a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Consultative Committee.

Before his appointment as Chief of Staff, Niels served as Deutsche Börse Group’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Head of Government Relations and Head of the Brussels Representative Office.

Prior to joining Deutsche Börse Group in 2014, he held roles at leading consultancies, such as FTI Consulting and Fleishman-Hillard. He also founded his own firm, EURObjective. Niels holds an LLM in European Law and an MSc in Public Policy and Human Development from the University of Maastricht.

Rosa Armesto is the Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the trade association of exchanges in Europe. She is a member of the ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group and also lectures on financial market infrastructures at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management (Belgium).

Before becoming Director General of FESE, she served as Deputy Director General for 6 years. She also worked at Insurance Europe for 4 years as a Member of the Management Team and Head of Public Affairs and Communications. Earlier in her career, she was Head of Public and Regulatory Affairs at FESE and had various roles before rejoining FESE. She began her professional career at Eurostat, the Statistical office of the European Commission, in Luxembourg.

Rosa has nearly 20 years of experience in EU financial services. She specialises in financial regulations like MiFID/MiFIR, Capital Markets Union, Sustainable Finance, Benchmarks, and the Digital Package. Additionally, she is knowledgeable about Solvency II, PRIIPs, IDD, and other insurance-related files. Rosa is also the Co-Chair of the Advocacy Community at the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE).

She holds a Master of Science in Economics with a major in Econometrics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and the University of Groningen (Netherlands), a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Zaragoza (Spain), and a professional degree in Piano from the Conservatory of Teruel (Spain). She is proficient in English, French, and Spanish.