Over eight years creating digital solutions for a financial services solutions provider, solving complex challenges for financial industry leaders was a daily occurrence. During that time, the changes to the financial industry were drastic. From fin-tech to blockchain, the markets of today look very different from a decade ago. Then more recently another year was spent with the Federal Reserve Bank, helping enable cash liquidity to the financial industry. 

Working for an S&P 500 company that managed over $1.2 trillion dollars of the world's assets, the numbers were large. Supporting one of the world's most popular financial instruments, the stakes were high. Yet when every day brings new challenges, the excitement of creating solutions to better people's lives never gets old.

Data and the pipes the data travels through, those are the backbone of the modern financial markets. When microprocessors get smaller and faster each year, then displaying, formatting, rendering or charting is no longer a challenge. Not for PCs nor Bloomberg terminals, not for even mobile devices or IoT devices. Finding the new funnel point that slows the stream of data is the challenge of today and tomorrow. Getting ahead of data streams even by microseconds, there lies the arbitrage opportunities that make and lose fortunes. How can you beat out the competition?

The human factor is secondary, and must come earlier and earlier to program machines to act on our behalf. When the human factor is key to buying or selling, those experiences must be straightforward yet robust. How does a tech novice become a fluent user, and how does the occasional user become a power user?

The financial industry is historically slow to adopt technology. From the wall street trading floor, to the last industry holdouts keeping Blackberry alive, the only person wearing a suit on a hot day is going to be a financial industry poster-child. When the Nasdaq is already all electronic, and the top global companies are all in the tech industry, the person predicting "what's next" may not be the one with the CFA Charter on the wall of their office. Are you willing to listen to the quiet nerdy person in the room or will you just tune into the screaming sales person who claims to know what's best?

Once upon a time...

• After being awarded a Presidential Scholarship to attend DePaul university, Christopher Marx aimed to be the first person in his family to attend college. 

• Along the way, Christopher Marx kept his nose in the books.  He was admitted to the Strobel Scholar honors program, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, the Golden Key Honor Society, and the invitational Delta Sigma Pi professional organization. 

• Nearing graduation, Christopher Marx was ready to finish with a Marketing degree with a specialization in market research and advertising. However, a wonderful change of plans occurred.  A surprise invitation to become a member of the Honors Finance cohort, to take on a 2nd major field of study complete with an extended scholarship, convinced him to stay a 5th year at DePaul. This began his interest and expertise in the world of finance. He graduated with honors, two majors, and two additional specializations.