leo melamed, born in 1932, is an american attorney, finance executive, and a pioneer of financial futures. he currently serves as the chairman emeritus of cme group (formerly the chicago mercantile exchange). == personal life == melamed was born leibel melamdovich in bialystok, poland, in 1932 to isaac melamdovich, a jewish mathematics teacher.leo melamed biography on leomelamed.com in 1939, at the outbreak of world war ii, the family fled to lithuania to avoid capture by the nazis. in 1940, the japanese consul general to lithuania, chiune sugihara, issued his family a life-saving transit visa, and they made the long trek across siberia to safe haven in japan.cme group: the futures of capitalism, the economist, may 11th 2013 they crossed the pacific to the us in the spring of 1941 and the family settled in chicago.leo melamed retraces path of escape from nazis to japanese port, jewish daily forward, june 27, 2014 == career== melamed, an attorney by profession, became involved in futures trading by accident. in law school he was looking for a law clerk job and answered a want ad from a firm looking for a 'runner', thinking the firm, merrill lynch, pierce, fenner & beane, with that many names could be nothing but an established law firm, looking for a clerk to run to court. he worked as a runner in the produce futures markets of the cme throughout law school, learning about the business. he practiced law until 1965 and was elected to the cme board in 1967."the world according to leo melamed," derivatives strategy, april 1998 melamed became chairman of the chicago mercantile exchange in 1969. in 1972, under his leadership, the cme created the international monetary market (imm), the world's first financial futures exchange, and launched currency futures. in the years that followed, melamed led the cme and imm in the creation of a number of financial instruments, including futures on us treasury bills in 1976, eurodollars in 1981, and stock index futures in 1982. in 1987, melamed spearheaded the creation and introduction of globex, the world's first electronic trading system, and became its founding chairman. throughout the next three decades and into the 21st century, melamed held many cme titles including: special counsel to the board; chairman of the executive committee; and senior policy a
1932_births American_business_theorists American_financial_businesspeople Living_people People_from_BiaAystok Polish_Jews