William Brodsky

William Brodsky served as chairman and CEO of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) for 16 years, from 1997 to 2013. During his tenure, CBOE developed the VIX — the "fear gauge" that became one of the most-referenced indicators in global financial markets. He also oversaw CBOE's demutualization and successful IPO in 2010. Brodsky was instrumental in growing listed options markets from niche derivatives products into mainstream institutional risk management tools. He was deeply involved in global exchange policy discussions and industry governance. Under his leadership, CBOE also successfully defended its intellectual property rights over the VIX methodology and related volatility products, which became a commercially significant franchise as volatility trading grew into a major institutional market segment globally.