Mr. Fernando began his career as a volunteer at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange while he was in college.  After graduating, he worked his way up from the lowest position to the very highest. Following several years of various trading positions at the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Mr. Fernando founded Chopper Trading in 2002.

By 2004, Mr. Fernando stopped trading full time to make Chopper Trading the technological powerhouse that it ultimately became. As CEO, Mr. Fernando designed, implemented and managed some of the most sophisticated risk management, communications, trading, monitoring and source code security systems in the financial industry.

Over the course of more than a decade, Mr. Fernando grew Chopper Trading into one of the largest market participants trading on the biggest global exchanges including the CME, Nasdaq, Cantor Fitzgerald-espeed, ICAP- Broketek, ICE, and Eurex.  With approximately 250 employees worldwide, the company comprised many of the brightest engineers and traders in the world.

Mr. Fernando regularly contributed to the work of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), supporting its mission of fostering open, transparent, competitive, and financially sound markets. Mr. Fernando spoke as a featured panelist on its discussion of disruptive trading practices in 2010.

Mr. Fernando participated regularly at industry and policy conferences across the country. In 2013, Mr. Fernando addressed an international audience of shareholders and media at the annual Rosenblatt Global Exchange Leader Conference – an exclusive industry forum.

In 2015, Chopper was sold to DRW – a global leader in the financial industry.

In 2016, Mr. Fernando launched Scoutahead.com™, an Internet start-up he developed to deliver the most trusted information to companies and individuals in order to increase corporate and professional growth and productivity.

With twenty-five years of experience and expertise in the international financial markets and over a decade of experience leading cyber security initiatives, Mr. Fernando provides exceptional insights and counsel for his own companies as well as the boards and organizations he serves.

Mr. Fernando also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Board of Directors for PAWS Chicago, a no-kill animal shelter.

Mr. Fernando earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and history from Beloit College and also studied at University College London.