Texas Stock Exchange moves closer to launch with leadership team, board

By Laura Matthews and Suzanne McGee

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Texas Stock Exchange, which is planning to launch next year, announced a board of directors on Monday in its latest step toward building a regional exchange to rival long-established platforms in New York.

TXSE announced in June that it plans to register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, having raised about $120 million and backed by BlackRock (NYSE:) and Citadel Securities.

Rick Perry, a former governor of Texas and former U.S. energy secretary, was named to the board, TXSE said. Other directors include Rick Roberts, a former SEC commissioner, and Alex Bussandri, global head of strategy at Citadel Securities.

The exchange has drawn staff members from Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, a division of the Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:), as well as other trading platforms.

The exchange also named Cam Smith as its global head of trading and co-president. Smith began his career working for electronic trading platforms and served as president of Quantlab, an automated proprietary trading firm.

Jeff Brown, a former acting general counsel at Charles Schwab (NYSE:), is serving as general counsel of TXSE Group Inc and chief regulatory officer of the exchange.