Convergent Markets Advisory partners with traditional financial and crypto-native companies as an advisor to leadership teams, an independent board member or a hands-on fractional executive for a defined period, to facilitate the transition from off- to on-chain markets.
Chuck brings over 30 years of experience building and leading financial services businesses across credit, fixed income, commodities and equity markets. Today he guides leadership teams to meet their deliverables and navigate the complex mix of policy developments, technology capabilities, transforming market structures and shifts in product and client needs.
He started his career as a bank examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then spent over twenty years on the sell side, including senior roles at Goldman Sachs and UBS in New York and London. As an analyst covering the global banking sector, he earned over a dozen top rankings from institutional investors. At UBS, he became Managing Director and Global Co-Head of FICC Research, leading a 250-person team in a $9B revenue business. He also co-founded a global macro hedge fund. He then joined S&P Global, where he served as the first Chief Index Officer of S&P Dow Jones Indices and then as S&P Global’s first Chief DeFi Officer.
In this role, he was mandated by S&P Global’s executive leadership to build the firm’s digital asset business and franchise from the ground up. He launched the Digital Asset Research Lab, initiated an enterprise-wide education program, founded the S&P DeFi Council and drove the firm’s VC, M&A and partnership initiatives, becoming its most visible ambassador in the space, with significant interaction with policymakers, the media and industry.
He is focused on bringing together his leadership skills, deep markets experience and crypto knowledge to help drive the transition from off- to on-chain markets.
Built a digital asset business and franchise from scratch. He and his team led and/or guided a series of market firsts, including the Stablecoin Stability Assessment, the tokenized S&P 500 fund mandate and the Vault Risk Assessment, as well as ratings including the Sky Protocol and Ledn’s bitcoin-backed loan securitization.
Drove both organic and inorganic opportunities to elevate and expand the firm’s product capabilities and franchise placement, including the strategic investment in Kaiko’s Series B round and the acquisition of OpenZeppelin.
Scaled innovation and ESG indices, including a $12.6B ESG index mandate from a top-3 global pension plan and a flagship AI thematic New Economies index that grew to ~$1B AUM.
Shaped the strategic transformation of a fintech serving leading global asset managers as Non-Executive Director, driving 100%+ client growth and culminating in its sale to BGC Partners.
Led the restructuring of fixed income research compliance in the wake of the 2003 Global Research Analyst Settlement, unifying 17 independent research silos into the bank’s first integrated FICC research function to deliver investment advice and tactical trading recommendations.
Created a systematic client engagement framework and review process that drove double-digit growth with key clients and improved broker-review rankings.
Moved to Europe to help build Goldman’s European credit franchise with the introduction of the euro; became the firm’s first #1-ranked credit analyst in Europe and helped drive innovation in European bank capital markets.
Joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Policy Supervision Group as a bank examiner for international banks; part of the inaugural team of a new unit established to create capital restructuring plans for foreign banks in the Second District.
Each service is drawn from work Chuck has led, and paired with typical deliverables.
Mandated by S&P Global’s executive leadership to build the firm’s digital asset practice across the enterprise, from strategy through to commercial launch.
Typical deliverables: strategy roadmap, opportunity sizing, operating model and launch plan.
Built buy-in with the CEO, ExCo, the board and senior business leaders; designed and ran an enterprise-wide education program with events, teach-ins and workshops to upskill teams and build alignment; founded the S&P DeFi Council.
Typical deliverables: CEO and board briefings, education programs, workshops and teach-ins.
Mapped S&P’s strengths in data, analytics and benchmarks to on-chain market needs, then led first-of-its-kind products for on-chain markets, including risk assessments for stablecoins and DeFi vaults.
Typical deliverables: product landscape map, gap analysis and product specs.
Scaled S&P’s digital asset products across existing institutional clients and new-to-firm crypto-native clients, building a franchise with both new products and new clients.
Typical deliverables: target segments, pricing, positioning and launch planning.
Created a systematic client engagement framework and review process at UBS that drove double-digit growth with key clients, improved broker-review rankings and delivered a significant uptick in new business.
Typical deliverables: client segmentation frameworks, tailored engagement strategies and value-added client programs.
Led S&P Global’s VC and M&A initiatives in digital assets to expand the firm’s on-chain capabilities faster than it could build them alone.
Typical deliverables: partner and target landscaping, client synergies and diligence support.
Extensive experience with policy stakeholders, including regulators and legislators; former Chairman, Committee on Research Conflicts at the Bond Market Association; former UK FSA/FCA Significant Influence Function for UBS investment bank.
Typical deliverables: policy briefings and regulatory roadmaps.
Led a 250-person global FICC research team for the UBS investment bank; earned over a dozen top rankings from institutional investors; first FICC representative on the UBS Equities Research Board; launched S&P Global’s Digital Asset Research Lab.
Typical deliverables: editorial plans, white papers, POVs and speaking strategy.
Selected panels, interviews and podcasts on stablecoins, tokenization and on-chain finance.
Also: Pantera Capital Blockchain Summit, Fintech TV, Vault Summit, TOKENFUTURE Frankfurt, Real-World Asset Summit Singapore and Stableschool.
Full media library (PDF) ›For advisory, board and project work across traditional and on-chain markets.