Howard W. Lutnick

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Howard Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a New York-based investment bank established in 1945, and chairman and CEO of BGC Group, an affiliated broker. 
He served as chairman, president and CEO of eSpeed, Inc., which spun off from Cantor in 1999 in an IPO and merged with BGC in 2008 to form BGC Partners, Inc.
He is known for guiding the rebuilding of Cantor following the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 658 of the company’s 960 New York-based employees, including Lutnick's brother Gary. He also started the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, which helps to aid families of the attacks and natural disasters. Lutnick was publicly criticized for cutting off paychecks to his employees’ relatives after the Sept. 11 attacks, but by 2006, the firm had donated $180 million to them. Lutnick himself survived the disaster, having chosen to take his his five-year-old son Kyle to his first day of kindergarten at Horace Mann School, making him late for work. 
In rebuilding the company, Lutnick became a billionaire. He is a friend of Donald Trump's and a top contributor to Trump’s campaign, having given about $11 million to the candidate and related PACs in 2023, Bloomberg reported. In November of 2024, President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate Lutnick for secretary of commerce. Lutnick said in his confirmation hearing on July 29, 2025 that if he is confirmed for the role he will sell all of his business holdings within 90 days. His financial disclosure statement showed that he had positions in more than 800 businesses and other private organizations.
In 2017, the UJA-Federation honored Lutnick at its annual Wall Street dinner.
Lutnick announced on January 22, 2024, that BGC Group had received approval from the CFTC to offer U.S. Treasury and SOFR futures, the most widely traded futures contracts in the world, through its new FMX Futures Exchange. The futures would compete directly with the CME Group's Treasury futures products. BGC Group plans to launch FMX in September of 2024. FMX has partnered with LCH for clearing, raising some debate about whether the US should allow Treasury futures to be cleared abroad.
== Background ==
Lutnick joined Cantor Fitzgerald in 1983. He was named president and CEO of Cantor in 1991, succeeding Bernard Gerald Cantor, and was named chairman in 1996.
Lutnick launched eSpeed in 1996, helping to fuel an electronic trading revolution in Treasuries. eSpeed was bought by Nasdaq Inc. in 2013.
Under Lutnick, Cantor Fitzgerald made a big move into real estate in 2009, launching Cantor Commercial Real Estate. In 2011, Cantor Fitzgerald affiliate BGC Partners purchased the commercial real estate brokerage Newmark Knight Frank, as well as assets from Grubb & Ellis, to form Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.
Since July 2014, he has served as chairman of the board and CEO of CF Finance Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (the “Cantor SPAC”). Since February 2017, he has served as chairman of the board and CEO of each of Rodin Global Property Trust, Inc. and Rodin Income Trust, Inc., which are non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs). 
Lutnick served as chairman of the board of directors of GFI Group Inc. from February 26, 2015 through the closing of BGC’s merger with GFI in January 2016. He is a member of the board of managers of Haverford College, the board of directors of the Zachary and Elizabeth M. Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at Rockefeller University, the executive committee of the Intrepid Museum Foundation’s Board of Directors, the board of directors of the Horace Mann School, board of directors of the Partnership for New York City, the board of directors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, and the board of trustees of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum Foundation. 
He received the Department of the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor granted by the Navy to non-military personnel.
== Education ==
Lutnick graduated from Haverford College in 1983 with a degree in economics.
== References ==	
Category:Bios - Executives
Category:Cantor Fitzgerald
Category:BGC Partners
Category:Inter-dealer Brokers