Management Team

Mr Cheung is the Chairman of Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange.

Mr Barry Cheung is currently Chairman of the Board of Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Authority, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Disciplined Services Salaries and Conditions of Service, an Alternate Chairman of the Pay Trend Survey Committee, a member of the Commission on Strategic Development and a member of the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service.  He is an Independent Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors of UC Rusal, the world's largest producer of aluminium and alumina. Mr Cheung is also a former Chairman of the Corruption Prevention Advisory Committee of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission against Corruption.

From 1993 to 1994, Mr Cheung was a full-time member of the Hong Kong Government's Central Policy Unit on secondment from McKinsey & Company. He was with McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles and Hong Kong from 1987 to 1994, advising major financial institutions in the United States and Asia.

Mr Cheung received a Bachelor of Science degree with First Class Honours in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Sussex and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Mr Helmig leads the day-to-day operation of the Exchange. Together with an international pool of talented professionals, he works to build Asia’s Exchange in one of the region's most prominent financial hub, Hong Kong.

Mr Helmig is the third generation of his family to work in the commodity trading industry. He has more than 35 years of commodities experience from Wall Street to commodity merchant spanning both physical commodities and financial instruments on a global basis. He is a former Vice Chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange; he served on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee for 10 years and was Chairman or Vice Chairman of over 20 committees. Mr Helmig was Founder and Chief Executive of Grey House LLC, a private consulting firm on risk management, price models and industry best practices to clients such as financial institutions, producers, integrated energy companies, government agencies and ministries, think tanks and law firms. He is a frequent contributor at industry forums and to the media. He serves on the Advisory Board of Energy Intelligence Group as well as other corporate boards.

Mr Helmig holds degrees in Finance and Economics from Philadelphia University.

Mr Van den Brande brings 30 years of financial operations & technology expertise to HKMEx, leading the Operations & Technology team to launch a state-of-the-art trading platform in Asia. A well-respected industry veteran, Mr Van den Brande possesses a broad track record of global and regional experience, ranging from business & technology management to financial technology consulting.

Prior to joining HKMEx, Mr Van den Brande was Managing Director of Iflex Consulting (Asia-Pacific) Pte. Ltd., responsible for managing the company’s strategy, management and development in the Asia-Pacific region.

From 1998 to 2006, he held a number of critical positions at leading technology solutions provider Capco Group, launching and overseeing its Asia operation. Mr Van den Brande joined Capco from IBM, where he was Global Business Development Manager for Capital Markets Solutions. During this period he played key roles in some of the major infrastructure projects such as CLS (Continuous Linked Settlement), the real time settlement system for foreign exchange trades and Deutsche Borse Clearing AG.

Mr Ho oversees Marketing, Membership and Product Development divisions of HKMEx. Mr. Ho possesses over a decade of experience in the futures and securities markets, starting with Hong Kong Futures Exchange’s Products division. He was later responsible for the derivatives business and product development at the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited after the merger. He then headed up the Corporate Strategy Division of the exchange. Mr Ho later co-founded a specialist consultancy firm serving institutions on exchange management and strategy development in the Asia and China markets.

Mr Ho started his career with HSBC Group, serving both Hong Kong and Canada in various treasury sales and trading roles. Prior to joining HKMEx, he managed treasury products and business development at Hang Seng Bank Hong Kong.

Mr Ho graduated with a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

Mr Choi oversees finance-related functions of the Exchange.

Mr Choi is a Certified Public Accountant who possesses extensive banking, finance and accounting experience. He filled a number of important roles for AIG in more than 10 years of service, covering both operational management and regional management responsibilities. Prior to joining HKMEx, he served the consumer banking and credit card businesses of AIG in Hong Kong as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and later as Deputy President and Chief Financial Officer in Thailand.

Mr Choi is a Practising Certified Public Accountant of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration with First Class Honor from Hong Kong Baptist University.

Ms Cresce is responsible for managing all legal and regulatory functions for HKMEx.

Ms Cresce joins HKMEx from the Chicago Climate Exchange (“CCX”) where she was Senior Vice President and General Counsel overseeing all legal affairs pertaining to domestic and foreign business development, corporate matters, regulatory issues, intellectual property, and human resource issues related to Chicago Climate Exchange and the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange.

Prior to CCX, Ms Cresce was Director of Compliance and Assistant General Counsel at IntercontinentalExchange, Inc., and was previously Corporate Secretary/Director, Shareholder Relations for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”), where she was part of the demutualization and IPO teams. Ms Cresce held senior management legal/regulatory positions with Carr Futures Inc. and with the Chicago Board of Trade and held a regulatory role at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Ms Cresce holds a Juris Doctor from the Chicago-Kent College of Law and is admitted to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court and the State of Illinois Bar. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Center for International Business Education and Research at the University of Illinois.

Mr Ho is responsible for managing the Exchange’s Compliance and Market Surveillance functions.

Mr Ho brings extensive compliance experience in the futures industry to his position. Prior to joining HKMEx, he was a Director of Business Development at Sun Hung Kai Financial Group and a Director with Phillip Securities Group in Hong Kong responsible for compliance and product development. He was also previously Vice President of Corporate Strategy of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and was Head of Compliance of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange between 1993 and 2000.

Mr Ho received a Bachelor Degree in Social Sciences from the University of Hong Kong and is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Ms Wang possesses extensive experience in China commodities trading. Prior to joining the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, she was the Chief Representative of Amalgamated Metal Trading Limited (AMT) in Beijing and Shanghai, where she oversaw market development in the Greater China region. During her tenure, Ms Wang’s responsibilities included professional training, China daytime market making, client risk control management, business development and government relations. Ms Wang has been an active member of the commodity trading business for many years. Before joining AMT, she served in Preussag AG’s Beijing Representative Office as Project Manager and Yantai Huifa Metals Company Limited as Assistant to the General Manager.

Ms Wang received a Master’s Degree from Shandong University, majoring in Mathematics - Operation Research. Previously, she graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics - Industrial Management.

Mr Day joins HKMEx as the Head of Marketing and is responsible for directing the Exchange's marketing strategy and driving business development.

Previously, he was a Director in the Strategy & Business Development Group of Merrill Lynch based in Hong Kong. Prior to that, he served as a Vice President in the Financial Institutions Group of Goldman Sachs based in New York. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Core to Mr Barkshire’s role will be delivering independent advice across all aspects of building and running a major commodities exchange.

Mr Barkshire has worked in the financial services sector for over 20 years and has broad experience as a broker and in senior roles within major exchanges, post-trade services and in the operation of alternative trading platforms. 

Prior to joining HKMEx, Mr Barkshire worked at the London Stock Exchange (LSE), where he served as Director of Corporate Strategy and as Member of the Chief Executive’s Committee. In addition, he held a number of important positions at such organizations as LCH.Clearnet Limited, European Repo Exchange Ltd (ERX), London International Financial Futures Exchange (Liffe), Euro Brokers, and Tradepoint Investment Exchange (now part of SIX Swiss Exchange). Mr Barkshire began his career at SG Warburg (now part of UBS AG) as a graduate trainee.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Mr Barkshire is a graduate of Southampton University, where he earned a degree in Economics and Business Economics.