BREAKING NEWS: Weinstein, ILX Founder,To Leave Thomson

Bernard Weinstein, president of Thomson Financial's Sales and Trading Group, and founder of New York-based real-time market data vendor ILX Systems Inc., is retiring, according to Sharon Rowlands, chief operating officer, of Thomson Financial, which owns ILX. However, a source inside the company requesting anonymity, contends that Weinstein is being forced out as a result of friction with Thomson officials. Lou Eccleston, vice president and general manager, global financial services at Siebel Systems, has been hired to replace Weinstein as president of the Sales and Trading Group. In his new post he will oversee ILX, Beta Systems and Autex. Weinstein could not be reached for comment.

An internal memo was circulated on Monday, June 17, 2002 announcing that Weinstein would step down. The source said the internal memo was circulated in advance of ILX's plans to make a public announcement of Weinstein's departure at the upcoming Securities Industry Association's annual conference and trade-show in New York.

While the internal document, and the public announcement, describe the move as an amicable break, the source said Weinstein was, in fact, removed as head of ILX as a direct result of friction with Thomson officials.

Rowlands denies there was any friction behind Weinstein's departure, contending "this is a very amicable scenario. Whenever these things happen there is always speculation because people want there to be a sordid story behind these things. But the reality is that Bernie has worked for this business for over 14 years now. He has done a fabulous job. He's created a wonderful asset for us. We're very, very happy with the work he has done (and) the contribution he has made."

Rowlands says that Weinstein has decided to retire. Although Weinstein's retirement is not effective until the end of the year, he will give up direct duties at the end of this month. Rowlands says Eccelston was brought on now to have an orderly transition. "Bernie is going to be very supportive of Lou in that transition," says Rowlands.

Despite the fact that Weinstein is on a family vacation, Thomson went ahead with the announcement. Rowlands says it was a vacation planned for the last three months and "there's been nothing to read into that." She notes that Weinstein will be back in the office next Monday.

Weinstein formed ILX Systems (an acronym for Integrated Logic) in the late 1980s, with some $30 million in seed funding from Thomson.Prior to forming ILX, Weinstein served as the Chief Information Officer at E.F. Hutton, with responsibility for information systems and telecommunications globally.

Weinstein was also Founder and Chief Executive Officer of International Brokerage Information Systems Inc. (IBIS), an E.F. Hutton Group subsidiary, which sold information systems and services.

He has also served as Chairman of the Securities Industry Association's Information Management Committee, as well as on the Advisory Board of SECTOR (Securities Industry Telecommunications Organization).

Weinstein received his AB in Philosophy from Columbia College and an MBA in Finance from New York University's Stern Graduate School of Business Administration where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, the graduate business school equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa.

Eccleston is a 14-year veteran of Bloomberg LP where he headed global sales and product strategy before joining Siebel Systems. Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio