The 2013 Tech 50: Daniel Coleman

During his more than two decades with Switzerland-based UBS and its predecessor firms, rising from clerk on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange to global head of equities, Daniel Coleman lived through some ten mergers. That experience should serve Coleman well as Getco, the Chicago-based high frequency trading firm he joined in 2010, begins the integration of Knight Capital Group following Getco's acquisition of the Jersey City, New Jersey, market maker on July 1. Coleman, who turns 49 in August, is CEO of the combined firm, KCG Holdings. As Getco CEO he played an important role in the $400 million rescue plan for Knight in August 2012 after the market maker suffered huge trading losses as a result of a software error. "A world without Knight is a worse world as far as Getco is concerned," Coleman told theWall Street Journalat the time. "In some places we bump heads, but we're all better off if Knight is a viable competitor." In December privately held Getco agreed to buy publicly traded Knight for $1.4 billion in cash and stock. The merger brings Getco much-needed diversification — its revenue plummeted from $1.2 billion in 2008 to $551.5 million last year as a result of increased competition and lower trading volumes — as well as increased scrutiny as a public company.