Founding CEO Of MilleniumIT Tony Weerasinghe Resigns

Tony Weeresinghe, the London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE) executive who helped rebuild the market’s core trading technology, plans to resign at the end of June.

He joined the exchange in 2009 after selling his company, Sri Lanka-based MillenniumIT, to LSE for $30 million. 

MillenniumIT forms the basis of LSE’s trading system. Now based in Boston, Weeresinghe, 52, plans to spend time with his family and “pursue his next entrepreneurial venture,” according to a memo sent to LSE employees today.

LSE Chief Executive Officer Xavier Rolet said in the document that it’s “with regret” he’s conveying the news of Weeresinghe’s departure. “However, I’m pleased Tony will maintain a close relationship” as an adviser, he added.

No exchange can function without a matching engine, and MillenniumIT had developed one of the most advanced in the industry. After joining LSE, Weeresinghe served as director of global development, overseeing the deployment of the new system at the company and selling the same technology to third parties such as Singapore Exchange Ltd. and the Mongolian exchange.

When LSE bought the business, “it was a transformational acquisition that allowed us to deliver cutting-edge, cost-effective technology solutions to our markets and partners around the world,” Rolet said in the memo. “Its systems are now live in over 30 capital markets around the world, ranging from major international markets to emerging and frontier markets. Tony has played a key role driving this growth.”

Stepping Back

Weeresinghe became LSE’s representative at events and conferences around the world and was a member of the exchange’s executive board. He’d founded MillenniumIT in his native Sri Lanka in 1996, landing a contract from the Colombo Stock Exchange the next year. 
 
In 2002, the company moved to a Silicon Valley-style campus in Sri Lanka. Last year, he stepped back from running MillenniumIT day to day, appointing Mack Gill as CEO and taking the chairman title.

“We are thankful for Tony’s leadership and whilst we know he will be missed by many across the group, we look forward to a continuing relationship with him,” Rolet said in the memo.

The operator of Europe’s oldest independent bourse said yesterday that full-year revenue rose to 1.21 billion pounds ($2.03 billion), beating the average analyst estimate of 1.16 billion pounds. (Bloomberg)