Summary of ISEEE 2012 Annual Meeting

by Don Calvin

The International Stock Exchange Executives Emeriti, Inc. (ISEEE) held its fifth Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida on March 25th through the 28th. The meeting was attended by a record number of twenty-four ISEEE Members and Special Guests from fourteen countries including Austria, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Peru, Israel, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States, each of whom have been or are currently officials of some fifty stock and derivative exchanges worldwide. Additionally, thirteen Accompanying Persons and five sponsors participated in the meeting. The Sponsors included: Internal Fixation Systems, Clean Wind Energy, gem (Global Emerging Markets), AlphaMetrix and Wall Street Strategic Capital, Inc., each of whom made excellent presentations at a dinner, luncheon or the Tuesday reception in Downtown Orlando.

The four day Agenda began with a meeting of the Small Business Crisis Financing Task Force, Chaired by David Wield of New York and William Foster of New Zealand as Secretary. The first Discussion Session of Members on Monday had presentations by Members from North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, including a market analysis on the topic of “The Future of Traditional Exchanges Worldwide – The Challenges and Opportunities.” The lead presentation will be posted soon to this website as will other presentations at the meeting.

The luncheon featured a presentation by David Weild, Chairman of the Small Business Financing Crisis Task Force on the decline of initial public offerings by small and medium sized issuers in the United States.

The Monday dinner Keynote Speaker was Professor Melvin Escudero from Lima, Peru. He made an excellent presentation on the developments in the capital markets in South America and the new Andes Stock Exchange, highlighting the growth and huge potential in the capital markets in Peru, Chile, Columbia, Brazil, and other countries in South America.

The Tuesday meetings began with a Discussion Session on “The Regulatory Landscape – Current Regulatory Proposals and the Issues Raised,” which featured several excellent presentations and comments on the regulatory issues in the United States, Russia, Turkey and Germany.

On Tuesday, the meeting venue moved from the Royal Plaza Hotel in Downtown Disney to Downtown Orlando for the luncheon and afternoon Sessions, which featured a Capital Formation Roundtable on “Factors Influencing Capital Formation Around the World.” These session began with South America and were followed by discussions on the Australian, Eastern European, Kazakhstan, Russian, Turkish, and Israeli markets.

The Session in Downtown Orlando concluded with a reception for some seventy business and political leaders from Florida and Washington hosted by Jim Schnorf, President of Wall Street Strategic Capital, Inc. of Orlando.

The ISEEE Business Session of the Membership Meeting and Board of Directors was held on Wednesday morning. Robert Aber of New York, ISEEE Vice Chairman and Secretary, presented the Minutes of the 2011 Annual Meeting and the slate of Directors to be elected to the ISEEE Board. All of the present officers were re-elected. Three applicants for ISEEE Membership were admitted as Members and elected to the ISEEE Board of Directors:

  • Mohamed Abdel Salam, Former Executive Chairman of the Egyptian Securities Exchange and Vice Chairman of the Arab Stock Exchange;
  • Michel Maquil, CEO of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange; and
  • Hannes Takacs, formerly an officer of the Vienna Stock Exchange and currently Vice Chairman of the Prague Exchange and Board member of the Budapest Exchange.

In addition, David Franasiak of Washington, DC was appointed to the ISEEE Executive Committee. The Chairman, Treasurer Rudiger von Rosen, and Deputy Treasurer Svetland Bernard reported that an invoice would be sent to all Members regarding the payment of annual dues.

The Board of Directors also received a presentation on the revised ISEEE website, www.capitalmarketexperts.org and began a discussion of the proposed Orlando Declaration 2012 led by Vice Chairman William Foster of New Zealand. He will be circulating a draft Orlando Declaration based on the discussion at the meeting and then a final Orlando Declaration 2012 will be publicly released to the press and interested government officials.

The Board also discussed the venue for the future ISEEE meetings and proposed returning to Orlando at a date to be set, most likely mid-March or April 2013. In addition, the Russian officials present offered to host an ISEEE meeting in Madeira at a date to be set and the Member from Istanbul offered to host a meeting in Istanbul possibly in February or March 2013. No decisions were reached on the venue or dates of future meetings.

The ISEEE 2012 meeting concluded with a Farewell Dinner with comments by the Chairman, Vice Chairmen, the Deputy Treasurer, the two new Members and a Special Guest from Russia, all of whom agreed it was an excellent meeting and look forward to the next ISEEE meeting. All thanked Jim Schnorf and Dustin Watkins of Wall Street Strategic Capital, Inc. for all of their efforts, the four other Sponsors, and Sheldon and LuLu Kraft of Stock News Network for the attendance and participation of all, without which the meeting would not have been the success all agreed it was.

Don Calvin, Chairman