Thinking about trading cheddar cheese, currencies, interest rates, stock indexes, or frozen pork bellies? Then you might want to talk with M. Scott Gordon '74, the new chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange or, as it's more commonly known, “The Merc.”
The Merc, according to Gordon, helps investors and institutions manage risk. In this international marketplace, institutions and businesses trade futures contracts and futures options on agricultural commodities, foreign currencies, interest rates, and stock indexes.
The Merc's membership includes the world's largest banks and investment houses as well as independent traders and brokers. “The users run the gamut from large global investment houses to individual investors,” Gordon says.
A mathematics major at Union, Gordon has worked for various firms in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and other Chicago finance and options exchanges since 1977. He first became interested in the Merc the summer after his freshman year, when a neighbor offered him a summer job there.
“I had a really positive experience and I loved working there,” Gordon says. “It was something that I fell in love with right away; it was exciting, interesting and challenging.” The firm asked him back the following summer, and he took a job with them after graduation.
Gordon started as a clerk -basically a “gofer” — and has worked his way to the top of the job post. His career has included jobs as a runner, phone clerk, floor trader, broker, and clearing firm executive, and he has traded almost every product type. Now, in addition to being chairman, he is executive vice president of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Futures, Inc., a subsidiary of the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and a Chicago Mercantile Exchange clearing member firm. He has been with the firm for nearly ten years.
While many traders at the Merc are economists by training, Gordon says that he finds his math background highly applicable. Mathematical and analytical skills are becoming more important at the Merc, he says, pointing to the increased use of computers. In fact, in 1992, the Merc introduced GLOBEX, the world's first global post-market electronic transaction system.
Still, Gordon says that he enjoys working with the people. “We have more than 2,700 members and close to 900 staff people,” he says. “I think that what I enjoy most is the challenge of working with those people to deliver a great product.”
Seen as a “consensus builder” at the Merc, Gordon has his work cut out for him, according to some observers. But he has told reporters that his message is “one of optimism. All we have to do to reach the goal is work together.”