CBOT Moves Ahead With William Farrow's Leadership

Planning for proposed merger with the CME in the works, Continuing education for employees and community a priority, Focus on back-office systems and capitalizing on migration window are key

Chicago Board of Trade

William McKnight Farrow III

EVP and CIO

William McKnight Farrow Chicago Board of Trade

PREVIOUS POSITIONS:
Senior vice president of e-business, JPMorgan Chase/Bank One Corp.; senior vice president, head of marketing, First Chicago NBD; director of corporate strategy and business development, Dart & Kraft Inc.; manager of acquisitions, GD Searle Pharmaceuticals; senior technology consultant, Arthur Andersen.

EDUCATION:
B.A., Augustana College; M.M., Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Chicago Board of Trade
141 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604

SIZE OF FIRM:
$621.1 million in 2006 revenues.

WHO WAS YOUR MENTOR?
I had a series of mentors. My mom. She was a teacher and had an amazing heart. My father had an amazing work ethic. My grandfather was an artist -- my day care was hanging out with him when he painted. He didn't have a lot of money. In order to get a bicycle, he would paint a sign for a bike shop. He taught me the value of bartering.

WHAT WORK EXPERIENCE HAD THE MOST LASTING IMPRESSION ON YOUR CAREER?
I worked for Don Rumsfeld [at GD Searle]. He would hold you to task on things but also had a very positive way of viewing business.

LAST GOOD BOOK READ:
"The Razor's Edge," by W. Somerset Maugham.

What's Next?

The next big thing is really how you coordinate and stay in line with the business -- what you do and how. You need to really understand where technology is and where it can add value. The next great hurdle is less about the technology and more about translating the technology to business value and getting it to be as seamless as possible. The technology should hum in the background without anyone noticing. That is my job and objective.

VITALS

IT Budget:

N/A

Key Technology Management:

N/A

Size of Technology Team:

Range of 175 to 250.

Percent of IT Projects Outsourced:

Very low percentage.

Key Technology Partners:

N/A

Success Metrics:

Standard metrics such as processing time, latency, uptime, estimated completion of projects. We monitor these metrics 24 hours per day.

2008 INITIATIVES

CBOT-CME Merger

We will be focusing on the merger and getting the business platforms integrated. That's the large thing. Those are tightly coordinated efforts that require the total focus of the organization.

TOP 3 CURRENT PROJECTS

Merger With the CME

We are trying to prepare for the proposed merger with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. We are planning the implementation and integration of these huge exchanges and making sure that the transition will be flawless.

Business as Usual

In terms of technology, there's the administrative and back-office systems and e-mail, then there's the electronic platform. We use the Euronext platform. The amount of technology in the exchange is extremely dense. We are up 22 hours per day. We have a very small window to do our migrating and fix things.

Employee/Community Development

We're an advocate of people continuing their education. I am a work adviser to some students. We also work with the community to give students some exposure to technology and our business.