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 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, was an odyssey that took two years.  The escape spanned three continents, seven languages, the Trans-Siberian railroad, and Japan—courtesy a life-saving transit visa from Japanese Counsel General  to Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara.  Happily, the journey concluded in the United States in 1941.

As chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in 1971, Leo Melamed revolutionized futures markets by launching the International Monetary Market (IMM)—the world’s first futures market for the express purpose of trading in financial instruments.  Currency futures at the IMM began trading on May 16, 1972.  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.  Twenty years after their inception, Nobel Laureate in Economics, Merton Miller, named financial futures as “the most significant innovation in the past two decades.”  In 1987, Melamed spearheaded the introduction of GlobexÒ, 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, where Mr. Melamed serves as a member of the Board and is chairman of its Strategic Steering Committee.

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 Chinese, Japanese as well as Korean.  Mr. Melamed is the recipient of many awards including the 2005 Fred Arditti Innovation Award of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  In 2008, Leo Melamed became the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, as well as the William F. Sharpe Lifetime Achievement Award.  He holds an Honorary Professorship at Renmin University, Beijing, and in 2007 was appointed Honorary Dean of Peking University.

Leo Melamed is an attorney by profession and an active futures trader.  He is Chairman & CEO of Melamed & Associates, Inc., a global market consulting service.

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