About
BestEx Research

Hitesh Mittal is the founder and CEO of BestEx Research. Hitesh has led some of the largest electronic trading organizations on both the sell-side and buy-side and is considered a pioneer in algorithmic trading. He has been an active researcher and practitioner for over 20 years, utilizing his expertise in market structure and computer science to lower transaction costs for institutional managers.

Before founding BestEx Research, Hitesh was the head of AQR's Global Trading Strategies group where he ran the firm’s trading desk across asset classes globally and founded the firm’s Advanced Systematic Trading team that automated all equities, futures, and FX trading. Under his leadership, AQR’s trading desk won Markets Media’s “Best Hedge Fund Trading Desk” award in 2015.

Before AQR, Hitesh ran ITG’s algorithmic trading business and POSIT crossing network globally. Hitesh helped ITG build its equities algorithms from the ground up. ITG soon became the top algorithmic trading broker globally, generating almost half a billion dollars in annual revenues and winning awards for algorithm innovation in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Hitesh has an MBA in Finance from NYU and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from JNV University, India. He has authored articles on a variety of topics related to market structure for publications including Euromoney and Institutional Investors Journal and holds several patents related to electronic trading.

Nigam Saraiya is Chief Product Officer at BestEx Research and oversees research and product management.

Previously the Head of Transaction Cost Analysis at AQR Capital and Head of Trading Analytics at ITG, Nigam has more than 15 years of experience in transaction cost modeling and building global multi-asset trading analytics and TCA systems.

He has also published several research papers related to market structure and its relationship to the measurement of trade performance. Nigam holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai and a master’s degree in Financial Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Paul A. Merolla is General Counsel at BestEx Research. Paul has significant experience with SEC statutes, regulations and rules; the rules of self-regulatory organizations, and state legal requirements impacting broker-dealers and other financial institutions. He has strong expertise in sales and trading, market structure, capital markets, electronic communications, contracts, books and records maintenance and storage, and supervisory and compliance policies and procedures. He has assisted organizations with corporate governance and public company requirements, provided guidance on strategic transactions and related due diligence, and advised on risk management processes.

Paul joins BestEx Research from the LeClairRyan and Murphy & McGonigle law firms, specializing in financial services regulatory law. He has also previously served as General Counsel of Instinet Group Incorporated where he advised the Board of Directors, management, and traders on regulatory requirements relevant to Instinet's trading platforms and helped prepare the company for its initial public offering. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy General Counsel for Drexel Burnham Lambert Group, Inc. and senior counsel at Goldman Sachs & Co. He began his legal career at the Shearman & Sterling law firm.

Paul has served as President of the SIFMA Compliance and Legal Society and remains active as Past President. He has also been recognized as a New York Super Lawyer. In March 2022, he was awarded the Alfred J. Rauschman Award for his dedicated service to the financial services industry.

Paul is a graduate of Fordham College and Fordham Law School and served as a lieutenant in the United States Army.

Beatrice Derian is Chief Financial Officer at BestEx Research.

She joined our team with more than 15 years of experience in financial services accounting and regulatory reporting, extensive expertise within the broker-dealer sector, and a track record of success in building and scaling finance organizations within the fintech sector. Previously, Beatrice played a key role in capital raises and the opening of foreign subsidiaries in the UK, India, and Australia while at Quantitative Brokers.

While there, she streamlined and standardized local and offshore accounting and reporting processes, providing updates to the Board and investors and driving efficiency, accuracy, and compliance. In her previous roles, Beatrice has driven complex strategic initiatives, M&A activities, FP&A, financial operations, process improvement while maintaining robust internal controls, and she is positioned to do the same at BestEx Research.

Beatrice holds a BA in Journalism and an MA in Radio & Television Broadcasting from The Lebanese University - Faculty of Journalism.

Kathryn Berkow is a Managing Director of Research and Brand at BestEx Research.

Her research and writing contribute to performance analysis, product design, educational material, communications, and marketing. She has more than 12 years of experience studying the market microstructure of equities and futures markets globally. Earlier in her career, Kathryn worked at Morgan Stanley and ITG, where she analyzed institutional order behavior and market microstructure and published related papers.

Most recently, Kathryn spent 7 years at the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business & Economics teaching statistical modeling and data science best practices in undergraduate and graduate programs. Kathryn has a PhD in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Stony Brook University.

Dave Conner is a Managing Director of Business Development at BestEx Research. In the past 25 years, Dave has been a leader in the digital transformation of electronic trading, commission management, and software solutions. He has extensive experience developing and selling algorithmic trading solutions, utilizing a variety of TCA methodologies to provide clients with behavioral insights, and delivering compelling EMS and OMS offerings to help clients improve execution quality and efficiently deploy their commission dollars.

Dave began his career on the buy-side at Sanford C. Bernstein. He went on to hold senior management positions in major institutional brokerage firms’ equities divisions including PaineWebber, Lehman Brothers, J.P. Morgan, and Citi. Dave has also worked at SunGard/FIS as a Major Accounts Global Relationship Manager and most recently at Verisk Financial within Argus Information & Advisory Services where he developed a SEC Rule 606 TCA solution for buy-side investors.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Ithaca College.

Hector Robles is a Managing Director of Business Development at BestEx Research. Robles has over 15 years of experience in electronic trading and a deep understanding of trading technology and market microstructure.

He joins BestEx Research from RCM-X, where he was Executive Director of Algorithmic Execution, overseeing distribution of algorithmic and quantitative trading products. Prior to RCM-X, Hector served as an Executive Director at UBS, where he was responsible for the distribution of the firm’s algorithmic execution strategies in futures, foreign exchange, and fixed incomes across the Americas.

He has also served as Global Head of Electronic Trading for the Futures Division of Mizuho Securities, leading execution strategy, product development, and electronic trading sales, and held senior roles in product and sales at Quantitative Brokers.

Hector holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign.

Charlie Whitlock is Managing Director of Business Development at BestEx Research. He joined our team with more than 20 years of experience in electronic and algorithmic trading, market structure, and client advisory.

Most recently, Charlie served as Head of Americas Distribution at XTX Markets, where he developed institutional and retail equity trading strategies and represented the firm as a regular industry panelist. Prior to that, he was Head of Advanced Execution Services (AES) Sales for the Americas at Credit Suisse, responsible for client acquisition and retention among the firm’s largest institutional accounts, helping position AES as a top-ranked algorithmic execution platform.

Earlier in his career, Charlie held senior roles at ITG, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he scaled multi-asset electronic trading businesses and was recognized by Institutional Investor as the #1 Electronic Trading Salesperson for the Americas. He holds a BA in Economics and German Language Studies from Earlham College.

Annie Chen is a Managing Director of Business Development at BestEx Research.

Annie has over a decade of experience in agency algorithmic trading, spanning across sales, marketing, product development, and analytics. Most recently, Annie served as a Director at RBC Capital Markets, where she spearheaded the expansion of their North American Futures Electronic Trading business.

Her role also encompassed the strategic distribution of algorithmic trading for U.S. Treasuries and NA Equities. Prior to RBC, Annie held positions at Barclays and Lehman Brothers focusing on the marketing of electronic trading products and digital analytics platforms. In addition to her sales & trading experience, Annie spent five years at American Express, where she held B2C and B2B marketing roles in payment products and small business loans.

Annie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics from the University of Rochester.

Nick Ashwin is Head of Execution Services in Europe at BestEx Research. He oversees trading and support of BestEx Research algorithms and supports product development and analysis of trading performance. Nick joined our team with nearly a decade of experience in algorithmic futures execution, serving most recently as VP in Futures Electronic Trading at Barclays. There, his responsibilities included product development, transaction cost analysis, and client consultancy.

Prior to Barclays, he was Head of EMEA Client Execution Services at Quantitative Brokers where he helped clients meet their execution goals, expanded reporting tools, and supported algorithm performance enhancement and research initiatives.

Nick holds a master's degree in Physics with Philosophy from the University of York, UK.

Sandra Delmore is Managing Director of Client Success at BestEx Research. Sandra joined our team with more than 20 years of experience on the sell side in equities trading and strategic global relationship management.

Prior to joining BestEx Research, Sandra spent 15 years at Liquidnet and served as Global Head of Commission Management Services, responsible for its domestic and global expansion strategy across the firm’s domestic and international trading businesses. Before that, Sandra served as Vice President of Operations and Client Service at BNY ConvergEx.

In each role, Sandra has pioneered impactful change, and she is keenly dedicated to helping businesses grow.

Johnson Zachariah was a programmer and team leader with experience coding ultra-low latency trading systems at Morgan Stanley before joining BestEx Research.

He currently runs the BestEx Research India development office. Prior to joining our team, Johnson earned a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and cofounded a software development firm.

Hrant Grigoryan specializes in front-end development. Prior to BestEx Research, Hrant worked for Scopic Software and also as an independent contractor.

He holds a Master of Cybernetics degree with a secondary concentration in Computer Science from the State Engineering University of Armenia.

While studying, he honed his development skills at Forbri, LLC.