Douglas Yones, the former head of exchange-traded products at the New York Stock Exchange, has been named CEO of Direxion, the provider of leveraged, inverse and non-traditional ETFs announced on Nov. 18.
Yones is the first to assume the CEO title at Direxion since Dan O’Neill, its previous CEO, stepped away from the firm’s day-to-day operations about two years ago, a Direxion spokeswoman said. However, O’Neill, along with Michael Rafferty, CEO of Rafferty Holdings, Direxion’s parent company, has continued to provide strategic oversight of the firm, she said.
As head of exchange traded products at the NYSE, Yones oversaw listings and operations for ETPs, closed-end funds and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), Direxion said in a news release. Yones’ team at NYSE supported issuers in product development, regulatory compliance and listing processes, the release said.
“Doug’s history of delivering innovative ideas and valuable insights in the capital markets was a major reason for bringing him aboard, and Direxion is delighted to welcome him to the team,” Rafferty said in the release.
A New York Stock Exchange spokeswoman declined to comment regarding Yones’ departure except to say that Tim Reilly will serve as head of exchange traded solutions, leading the NYSE ETP and NYSE Bonds businesses and continuing to facilitate trading advisory services across the NYSE.
Founded in 1997, Direxion had about $48.5 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, according to the release.
