Contact: Mary Jane Collipriest, 202-224-5444, Washington, DC 20510
March 21, 2002
Contact: Mary Jane Collipriest, 202-224-5444, Washington, DC 20510 |
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 21, 2002 |
Grasso to Keynote Bennett's Financial Services and Technology Conference
"Protecting our Financial Infrastructure after September 11th"
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah) is pleased to announce that Dick Grasso, Chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), will keynote Bennett's 7th Annual Financial Services and Technology Conference, "Protecting our Financial Infrastructure after September 11th," to be held April 5th in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"In the wake of the September 11th attacks, Mr. Grasso became the steward of Wall Street's resolve to prevail," said Bennett. "His insights will be key to our discussions on combating emerging threats to America's financial infrastructure, and delivering financial services in a new technological age."
Dick Grasso, 55, has been Chairman and CEO of the NYSE since June 1, 1995. In 2000, Grasso announced that the NYSE would take a great technological stride by creating its own electronic trading system. Having significantly invested in network enabling technology, Grasso calls the exchange the biggest "electronic communications network " (ECN) in the world. Currently over 90% of NYSE trades are handled electronically. Also, under Grasso's leadership, the NYSE went fully decimal (ie, its prices are now quoted to the nearest cent, instead of nearest sixteenth) as an early response to a deadline set by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2000.
Now in its seventh year, Bennett's Financial Services and Technology Conference has brought together high-tech and financial services industry professionals to hear from government and industry leaders such as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former President and CEO of Netscape Jim Barksdale and former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt.
Bennett has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his contributions to the high-tech industry and his understanding of its role in a healthy U.S. economy. He recently introduced legislation in the Senate, the Critical Infrastructure Information Securities Act (S.1456), designed to encourage two-way information sharing between federal and private industry to advance threat analysis for critical infrastructures.
Senator Bennett is past chairman of the Senate's Republican High-Tech Task Force and the Senate Y2K Committee. He is currently the ranking Republican senator on the Joint Economic Committee and a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.
The conference, to be held in Salt Lake City's Grand America Hotel, 555 South Main Street, will include a breakfast session and three panel discussions, concluding with Mr. Grasso's luncheon keynote address.