Waqas Samad was named CEO of FTSE Russell and group director of the information services division at London Stock Exchange Group, a spokeswoman said.
Mr. Samad replaced Mark Makepeace. Mr. Makepeace became non-executive chairman. The move follows a natural transition, the spokeswoman said. Mr. Samad reports to David Schwimmer, CEO of LSEG.
Mr. Samad had been CEO benchmarks at FTSE Russell since 2016. His replacement has not been named yet, the spokeswoman added.
"As the founder of FTSE and a founder and inaugural chairman of the Index Industry Association, (Mr. Makepeace) has been a pioneer in the development of the global index industry," Mr. Schwimmer said in a news release. "(He) has successfully built a world-class global business with more than $16 trillion in assets under benchmark to FTSE Russell indexes."
"(Mr. Samad) will build on the existing strong business and proven strategy to continue to deliver on our growth expectations for this business," Mr. Schwimmer added. "He will also bring his industry experience in indices and analytics across all asset classes to further develop the multiasset and data analytics capabilities, as well as continue to deepen our customer partnership approach."
