NYSE Blue VCS Registry

Brian M. Storms

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Brian Storms joined APX in January 2008 to help accelerate the firm’s growth and to realize its vision as the infrastructure backbone and provider of choice for the energy and environmental commodities markets.

Mr. Storms has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, spanning such diverse disciplines as sales, marketing, and distribution; new product innovation; operations; and risk management and insurance.  He has successfully launched and grown new businesses, led complex change management programs, articulated powerful new branding and positioning strategies, and navigated some of the most highly regulated and transparent marketplaces in the world.

Prior to joining APX, Brian was CEO of Marsh Inc., the worlds leading risk advisory and insurance brokerage firm, with revenues of $5 billion and 26,000 employees.  He was also a member of the executive committee of Marsh’s public company parent, Marsh & McLennan (MMC).  While at Marsh, Brian was a committed advocate on the issue of climate change, including collaboration and participation with numerous high profile partners and initiatives, such as: the Clinton Global Initiative; the U.S. Climate Action Partnership; the Business Environmental Leadership Council of the Pew Center for Climate Change; and Ceres.

Before moving over to lead Marsh, Brian was President and CEO of MMC sister company, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which he joined in late 2004.  Prior to Mercer, Brian was President and CEO of UBS Global Asset Management - Americas, and a member of the UBS Group Managing Board.  From 1996-1999, he was President of the Prudential Investments mutual fund and annuity complex and a member of the Prudential Securities Board, and from 1991-1996 Brian held various senior positions with Fidelity Investments, culminating with the successful launch of Fidelity’s International Retirement Group.  Brian began his career as an account executive for E.F. Hutton in New York.  He earned his BS in economics from the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

Joseph Varnas

Managing Director and Head of Environmental Markets

Mr. Varnas is responsible for APX's Environmental Markets Business as well as its technology roadmap and strategy, including expansion of the company's existing platforms for power and environmental markets. This includes the development of new solutions to help APX integrate its market infrastructure with the financial markets.

Prior to joining APX, Mr. Varnas served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Marsh, a leading global risk management and insurance brokerage firm. In this role, he led the firm's IT and Operations, Global Consumer Business Unit, and Human Resources departments.

Previously, he was a managing director at UBS Global Asset Management, where he was President of UBS U.S. Mutual Funds and responsible for IT and operations across the Asset Management Group. Mr. Varnas also served as Chief Operating Officer of Morningstar Investor Services and Vice President and Manager of Product & Technology Development at UBS PaineWebber. Earlier in his career, he worked at Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Chemical Investment Services Corp., and Prudential Mutual Fund Management, Inc.

Jose Ibietatorremendia

Managing Director and General Counsel

Mr. Ibietatorremendia is the General Counsel of NYSE Blue and serves on its executive committee. He previously served as general counsel of NYSE Blue’s predecessor business, APX. Mr. Ibietatorremendia was a Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Goldman Sachs & Co. from 2006 to 2008 and served as a Managing Director and Counsel at GE Capital, working in the Energy Financial Services and Structured Finance Groups, from 1999 to 2006. He began his legal career as an associate at the law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, which he joined after serving as a law clerk to the Hon. Eduardo C. Robreno of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of the Wharton School and the Law School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Roger Yang

President, APX Power Markets

Mr. Yang joined APX in June 2002 and is the President of APX Power Markets. His responsibilities include executive oversight of APX’s Power Market solutions, including scheduling and settlement operation services, professional services, account management, and sales. Previously, he was a consultant with MRW & Associates, a director at Enron Energy Services, and held various positions at Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

Mr. Yang has over 20 years of energy industry experience, including providing expert consulting to market participants, participating in regulatory proceedings, restructuring of wholesale power markets, and providing energy solutions for retail customers. He has experience working with competitive retail electric energy suppliers, independent power producers, private and public utilities, project developers, and end-use electric customers. He holds a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in economics and legal studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kenneth A. Lopian

Managing Director

Mr. Lopian leads the company's market development efforts focusing on the carbon and renewable energy markets. Mr. Lopian brings more than 25 years of executive experience in business management and market development for the financial services industry. Most recently, he served as Senior Executive Vice President, Emerging Markets, for the Bank of New York Mellon, with responsibility for country and client management across all lines of businesses covering twenty-one offices and sixty-five countries. Mr. Lopian was a member of the Bank of New York Executive Committee and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Wing Hang Bank, Hong Kong.

Previously, Mr. Lopian held several global management roles at Bank of New York Mellon including Executive Vice President, Head of Asia - Pacific Region. Additionally he served as Senior Vice President, Head of American Depositary Receipts, and Vice-President, Head of ADR Relationship Management where he was responsible for all aspects of the business including sales, marketing, strategic relationships, systems, client service, product management, operations and transaction execution. Mr. Lopian graduated from the University of Scranton, PA, with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979. He also completed a two year Corporate Finance certificate program for executives at the London Business School in 1985 -1986.

Russell Wong

Managing Director and Head of Finance

Mr. Wong brings over 20 years of accomplishment in corporate finance, business development and business advisory services to APX. Russell is a hands-on financial management leader and is responsible for the company’s corporate financial and administrative functions, including accounting, finance, risk management, treasury, human resources, and facilities, and has a proven record of developing and implementing sound financial and operational controls. Prior to APX, in addition to providing financial advisory services to various public and privately-held high technology companies, Russell served as vice president and controller of financial strategies at Intend Change, a venture construction firm, and was the director of worldwide mergers and acquisitions for USWeb, an Internet professional services firm. Russell was also employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers where he specialized in serving high technology companies and worked with clients in the successful completion of a number of mergers and acquisitions and public equity offerings. Russell earned a bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in management from the University of California in Irvine and is a licensed CPA (inactive) in California.