About Chartis
Our focus is outcomes
When you work with a research partner it should be with intent; specifically, intent to reach a result that progress achievement of your business goals. We understand that purpose driven intention and bring it to life through our well-known benchmark reports, our thought leadership work, and the excellence of our experienced analysts.
Your priorities are our priorities whether you are a vendor, an end-user or an investor. When you engage Chartis you can expect results.
Leadership team
Mark Feeley
Global Brand Director
Mark has over 30 years’ experience in global capital markets, consulting, and associated technologies, focusing on risk management, front- and middle-office platforms and data management. Before Chartis he held executive positions in large global financial institutions, consultancies and FinTechs, in various roles including platform and software development, solution architecture, large-scale program management, vendor selection and implementation, and strategy development and execution.
With a background covering the front, middle and back office, Mark brings to Chartis a holistic view of business, technology, and regulatory issues across the enterprise, and how these issues can be addressed by leveraging appropriate technology solutions. His primary focus has been risk technology, and his work in this area includes leading the global teams for risk technology at RBS Capital Markets and AIG; working with middle- and front-office technology teams at Barclays Capital; extensive consulting experience with major consulting organizations including EY and Deloitte; and extensive vendor experience, including time at Algorithmics and Misys (now Finastra). Mark has an MA from Oxford University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Alexa McCloughan
Global Head of Research and Advisory
Alexa brings her energy, analytical ability and business process rigor to Chartis. An accomplished senior product management and business development executive she is experienced in technology, IT & professional services, and financial services industries. Prior to joining Chartis, Alexa held leadership positions with Forrester, Greenwich Associates, Gartner and IDC. Under her guidance new products were successfully launched and enjoyed significant growth to become the industry standard.
Alexa brings a laser focus on client centricity, and an innovation mindset to her work. A true leader, she has built teams of highly motivated professionals and led collaborative, cross functional projects.
Alexa began her career as an equity analyst at Goldman Sachs as a member of its technology research team. She received a BA in business administration and French from Franklin & Marshall College.
Marcel Chambers
Senior Vice President of Sales
Marcel is an established business leader with 20 years’ experience in advisory, capital markets research, market analysis, go-to-market strategy for derivatives, ETFs and fixed-income products, and financial services technology from front- to back-end. Before joining Chartis, he was Head of APAC Sales for Infopro Digital, based in Hong Kong. During his 12-year tenure with InfoPro Digital, Marcel has held the positions of Head of Client Development and Sales, Asia, and Commercial Director for the Asia Risk, FX Markets, waterstechnology and Risk.net brands in the Asia-Pacific region. As Global Head of Client Development, he oversees Chartis’ EMEA and Americas sales teams.
Sidhartha Dash
Chief Researcher
Research areas:
Risk data Model risk management High-performance analytics Energy and commodity trading risk Market structure design New computational models Innovative mathematical methods in risk management
Sid is the Chief Researcher at Chartis Research with more than 25 years of experience in the financial, energy and commodities markets in various functions across the trade and software development lifecycles. He has held various roles in product development, trading, risk management, software development and consulting in banks, hedge funds, and risk advisory and software firms, including Standard Chartered Bank, TCG Group, HCL and Cognizant.
Sid’s specific areas of interest and research include risk data, model risk management, quantitative models in illiquid markets, high-performance analytics, energy and commodity trading risk, market structure design, new computational models, and the use of innovative mathematical methods in various emerging areas of risk management .He has a MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and is a qualified Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst CAIA, Financial Risk Manager (FRM), Energy Risk Professional (ERP), Member of GARP and CIPM from the CFA institute.
Ekrem Nurkerim
Head of Core Services
Ekrem joined Chartis in 2017 and now holds the Head of Operations position. Overseeing the Operations function at Chartis, Ekrem focuses on project management and delivery, as well as supporting clients and staff while ensuring that all well supported throughout. Ekrem holds a degree in Computer Science.
Ben Sumner
Chief Editor
Ben joined Chartis in 2016 as Senior Editor. A professional editor and writer for 25+ years, he comes to Chartis following a 15-year stint as writer/editor at technology research and advisory firm Gartner.
Meet our experts
Sidhartha Dash
Chief Researcher
Research areas:
Risk data Model risk management High-performance analytics Energy and commodity trading risk Market structure design New computational models Innovative mathematical methods in risk management
Sid is the Chief Researcher at Chartis Research with more than 25 years of experience in the financial, energy and commodities markets in various functions across the trade and software development lifecycles. He has held various roles in product development, trading, risk management, software development and consulting in banks, hedge funds, and risk advisory and software firms, including Standard Chartered Bank, TCG Group, HCL and Cognizant.
Sid’s specific areas of interest and research include risk data, model risk management, quantitative models in illiquid markets, high-performance analytics, energy and commodity trading risk, market structure design, new computational models, and the use of innovative mathematical methods in various emerging areas of risk management .He has a MBA from the Indian Institute of Management and is a qualified Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst CAIA, Financial Risk Manager (FRM), Energy Risk Professional (ERP), Member of GARP and CIPM from the CFA institute.
Sean O'Malley
Research Director
Research areas:
Anti-Money Laundering Sanctions and Name Screening Fraud Financial Crime
Sean comes to Chartis with 36 years of accumulated expertise and experience in the financial services industry. He has a strong record of innovation and leadership in anti-money laundering, OFAC/sanctions, compliance, operational risk management, financial risk management, data analytics and enterprise-wide risk assessment at top-tier financial institutions.
A compliance and risk management leader throughout his career, he has worked at many leading institutions, including Ford Motor Credit, Deloitte & Touche, NetRisk, AIG, Financial Security Assurance, RVI Group, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Santander Bank and State Street Corporation. Most recently, Sean was the Data Governance Officer for Compliance at Citigroup and the Research Director for Compliance, Fraud and Risk Management at IDC Research.
Sean currently holds the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) certification and has held both the Series 7 Securities License and Series 63 Securities License during his career. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and a Master of Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.
Anish Shah
Research Director
Research areas:
Core Banking Software RegTech Lending Operations SupTech
Having joined Chartis Research in April 2021, Anish’s focus is to lead and build out the offerings in the Core Banking & RegTech space. Anish has a unique skill set combining around two decades of Business -Technology experience within the Core Banking and RegTech software markets driving the Product Strategy, Partnerships, Business Solutions and Development. Before joining Chartis Research, he held senior level positions with market leading companies like AxiomSL (now Adenza), Temenos and Grant Thornton focusing in the domain of Core Banking, Regulatory Compliance, Risk Management, Financial Accounting & Regulatory Reporting. Anish is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a certified Systems Auditor from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Anish’s areas of interest being in the RegTech, RiskTech, DataTech and Core Banking Software markets, his specialisation is to turn the regulatory requirements into catalysts to drive strategic business outcomes, sustainable cost reductions through automation, data driven business insights, building reusable and scalable data models and defining joint value propositions for an end-to-end product offering integrating with the third-party products and services.
Michael Versace
Research Director
Research areas:
GRC Cybersecurity Risk and Cyber Services Physical and Infrastructure Analytics Digital Asset/Decentralized Finance Next Generation/Emerging Risk Technologies
Michael Versace has joined Chartis Research to lead governance, resilience and compliance research, bringing a decades-long career as a risk and cybersecurity practitioner and advisor to the company.
Before joining Chartis, Michael served as Global Analyst Relations Lead for risk and cyber markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he elevated PwC’s position as a leader in risk and cybersecurity solutions for the past 6 years. Prior to PwC, he served as Markets Lead for International Data Corporation (IDC)’s Worldwide Financial Services Risk Tech and Digital Consulting research.
Earlier in his career, Michael held the roles of Client Partner for ZEFER (an early-stage internet consultancy firm), Director of Corporate Audit for FMR Corp, Managing Director for the Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC, now Bank Policy Institute), and Senior Communications Security Engineer for the Federal Reserve Banks, with multiple assignments to accelerate payment system innovation and engineer next-generation cryptographic solutions with the US Treasury Department, FMS.
Throughout his career, Michael has been an advocate for industry and technology standards. He served as a two-term Chairman of the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee on Information Security Standards, with a focus on public key cryptography, key management and cybersecurity policy.
Philip Mackenzie
Research Principal
Research areas:
Financial crime Fraud Anti-money laundering KYC
Phil is the Research Principal for Chartis’ Financial Crime Risk Management pillar, focusing on anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, Know Your Customer, trade-based money laundering, trade surveillance and related areas. He is also one of the primary analysts on Chartis’ RiskTech100, has managed vendor-selection projects in international financial institutions, and has produced market analysis and return on investment projects, as well as leading Chartis’ Risk IT Expenditure report.
Ahmad Kataf
Senior Research Specialist
Ahmad Kataf joined Chartis Research’s London team in September 2021 and is now a Senior Research Specialist for Chartis’ Financial Crime Risk Management pillar. His research focuses on anti-money laundering, Know Your Customer, enterprise fraud and communications monitoring, and he also helps compile the Chartis RiskTech100® report.
Previously, Ahmad was a Specialized Enhanced Due Diligence Analyst at NatWest Group, conducting reputational and financial crime risk assessments for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and complex corporate clients. His earlier experience in London includes analyzing political and regional risk in the Middle East, using open-source intelligence research. Ahmad also worked in Dubai, UAE, where he evaluated credit risk and conducted loan restructuring at RAK BANK.
Ahmad holds an MBA from Kingston University, where he was elected the cohort spokesperson, a BSc in International Business from the Lebanese American University and a Diploma in Business from the University of East Anglia. Fluent in Arabic and English, Ahmad is a worthy opponent in a chess match.
Abdi Khadir Mohamud
Research Specialist
Abdi Khadir is a Research Specialist at Chartis, focusing on financial risk and GRC (governance, risk and compliance). For the past several years, he’s been a key member of the RiskTech100 and RiskTechAI analyst teams, specializing in analytics, market risk, asset liability management and credit risk. He has a keen interest in researching the adoption of AI within the financial industry and the associated risks.
Abdi Khadir holds a Bachelor of Arts in Information Systems from Middle Tennessee State University, with a concentration in Business Analytics and Programming, and is proficient in C#, Python, and R.
In his free time, he is a passionate student of history, economics and politics.
Jason Wright
Research Specialist
Jason is a Research Specialist at Chartis, having joined the firm as a Research Analyst in October 2022. He works in Chartis’ Financial Crime and Compliance pillar, collaborating with Research Directors and other research professionals on a range of financial crime-related topics, including anti-money laundering (AML) transaction monitoring, watchlist and sanctions screening, and fraud, as well as the Chartis Financial Crime and Compliance50 (FCC50). Prior to joining Chartis, Jason worked as a Financial Crimes Compliance Analyst at Protiviti, where he specialized in AML transaction monitoring alert analysis before transitioning into customer due diligence (CDD) reviews for high-risk institutions and individuals. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance with a minor in Economics from Wright State University.
When he’s not diving into financial crime research, Jason is a gear head through and through – if it has wheels and a motor, he’s interested in it. In his spare time, there’s a good chance you’ll find him in the garage working on one of his many projects, including his ‘68 Ford Thunderbird or ‘05 Ford Mustang.
Travis Crum
Research Analyst
Travis joined Chartis as a Research Analyst in October 2022, after completing a master’s degree in Comparative Political Economics at the University of Tennessee, where he also taught Intro to Political Economics. In his current role, he specializes in GRC and Climate Analytics markets, focusing on such topics as AI risk, model risk management, and physical infrastructure risk.
Kaylee Davis
Research Analyst
Kaylee joined Chartis as a Research Analyst in October 2022. She specializes in financial risk management, focusing her research on RegTech, RiskTech and core banking software. In addition to assisting the Research Directors with such day-to-day tasks as data collection, analysis and the preparation of background materials, she also supports the development of strategic insights through detailed research and information synthesis.
Kaylee came to Chartis out of Hamilton College, where she studied Neuroscience and Creative Writing. She has worked as a researcher in a neuroscience lab, as a journalist for BioSpace and as a swim coach for the national team at Excel Aquatics. On the weekends, you might find her singing on stage at her church or tearing through her personal library of books.