CBOE Origin Remembrances: Bill Brodsky

By Lawrence G. McMillan

Bill Brodsky was the CEO and Chairman of the CBOE from 1997 to 2013 and continued on as Chairman until 2017. Bill was involved in the listed option markets from the beginning and was instrumental in bringing the CBOE through many of its most important advances, including electronic trading and overseeing the company go public.

Q: Bill, how did you get involved with options in the first place?

After getting my law degree in 1968, I joined the Wall Street brokerage firm of Model Roland & Company in 1968, in the compliance department. Later (in 1974) Model Roland merged with Shields & Co., to become Shields Model Roland, which eventually merged with Bache (in 1977). Model Roland was an institutional firm. At one time, there had been an option department, dealing in the older style over-the-counter options. Ironically, that department was headed by Leon Pomerance, who later became the first Chairman of the CBOE (although Leon worked for DLJ – Donaldson, Lufkin, Jenrette by then). But when two fellows: Joe Sullivan and Gary Knight came to visit Model Roland prior to the founding of the CBOE, the option department at Model Roland no longer existed (and Leon Pomerance had moved on to another firm). The firm had felt there was too much risk in endorsing the option “paper” contracts associated with each option trade...

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