About the Foundation

Our leadership

The Foundation is managed by an Executive Board supported by a Scientific Advisory Board and a non-executive Research Director.

Executive Board

Geeske Vlaming, Chairman

Geeske Vlaming graduated with a Master of Science in mathematical sciences from the University of Utrecht in 2008. After finishing her research project at the Derivatives Technology Foundation, she decided to join her sponsor organisation, Saen Options (acquired by All Options in 2009), as a derivatives trader. Today, she leads the company's strategy

desk, where her team combines quantitative
research and frontline trading expertise to develop new derivatives trading strategies across a diversity of products and markets.

Joost van der Laan, Secretary

Joost van der Laan studied economics at the Hogeschool voor Economische Studies and University of Amsterdam. Since the mid 1990s he has been active in the financial markets industry in commercial and business development functions. He has worked for companies including the European Options Exchange, MeesPierson Clearing Services, and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets. Currently he is the Corporate Affairs Manager for All Options. His primary role for the Foundation is to manage the daily operations, and he is the first point of contact for all queries regarding the Foundation and its activities.

Non-executive Board member

Prof. Dr. Michel H. Vellekoop, Research Director

Professor of Actuarial Science, University of Amsterdam

Michel Vellekoop is a full professor in Actuarial Sciences in the Department of Quantitative Economics at the University of Amsterdam. He studied Applied Mathematics at the University of Twente and obtained his PhD in 1998 at Imperial College in London for research on non-linear filtering problems for stochastic

processes. Since then, he has focused on applications in mathematical finance, both as assistant and associate professor at the University of Twente and as Research Director for the Derivatives Technology Foundation. His main research interests are valuation and risk management problems for contingent claims in complete as well as incomplete markets, with a focus on optimal stopping problems that arise due to early exercise features.

Scientific Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Arunabha Bagchi

Head, FElab, University of Twente, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Chair in Stochastic Systems and Signals

Arun Bagchi graduated in 1969 from the University of Calcutta in Applied Mathematics. One year later he graduated in electrical engineering from UCLA in Los Angeles. By invitation of Prof. H. Kwakernaak, he went to the University of Twente in 1974 as a researcher, initially for one year, but stayed on to become Dean of the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences in 1994. Whilst on sabbatical in New York, he saw how maths was being applied in finance and came back to Twente to found the Financial Engineering department (the FElab). Gaining support from Bert Bruggink, CFO at Rabobank and former student, he was also made Chair of Financial Risk Management at Twente. With support from industry and academia, by 2001 he was able to realise his vision of a multidisciplinary course that taught both financial management and applied mathematics.

Dr. J.W. Hans Nieuwenhuis

Associate Professor of Operations, University of Groningen

Hans Nieuwenhuis studied Quantitative Economics at the University of Groningen, graduating in 1971. His thesis at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences examined the duality of the results in mathematical programming. During the 70s, he conducted research into the mathematics of operations research, followed by systems and control theory in the 80s and 90s. In 1998, he became interested in mathematical finance, financial engineering and stochastic processes, working together with Michel Vellekoop on these subjects. He teaches in the Department of Econometrics and the Department of Economics at the University of Groningen.

Past Board Members

Chairman, Dr Gabriele Luculli, 2009 - 2010

Secretary, Mr Brant Emery, 2009 - 2010