Rumi Morales is stepping down as head of CME Ventures, the strategic investment vehicle for US-based exchange operator CME Group, Axios reported yesterday.
Morales, who was named as part of Global Corporate Venturing’s 2017 Powerlist in May this year, headed CME Ventures as executive director. She was previously an executive director in the company’s international corporate development and finance division.
Senior director Brandon Gath is also departing from the unit according to Axios. Neither Morales nor Gath, who featured on Global Corporate Venturing’s 2017 Rising Stars list, have given reasons for their decision.
Gath joined CME Ventures at the same time as Morales in late 2013, having previously spent four years in corporate development and finance for CME.
Morales and Gath made up most of the unit’s three-person team, but a CME spokesperson told Axios: “the focus for CME Ventures will not change”.
CME Ventures’ portfolio companies include Ripple, Orbital Insight and Digital Asset Holdings, and it exited deep learning software developer Nervana Systems, which had disclosed $25m in funding, through a $408m acquisition by Intel in August 2016.
– Photo of Rumi Morales courtesy of LinkedIn