Rashid Shah
Managing Director at Optiver Foundation
Rashid joined Optiver in the year 2000 as the firm’s first internal software engineer - and only the 35th employee on payroll in Amsterdam. At that time, trading still happened on the stock exchange floor. But with his help, Optiver’s technological capabilities would rapidly accelerate.
After a year and a half, Rashid moved to the IT Operations side of the business to set up a global network framework. The aim of this Exchange Connectivity Team was to connect to a minimum of 10 new trading destinations per year. The goal was not only met, but exceeded, with a majority of Optiver’s global expansion taking place during this time.
In 2011, Rashid took on a yet another operational function: establishing Optiver’s first Cost Center. This project began with an audit of IT expenses before expanding to other departments and global offices.
In recent years, Rashid had operational oversight of Optiver’s Amsterdam office, managing everything from facilities to travel, events, etc. Now, Rashid has moved to the philanthropic arm of Optiver, where his storied Optiver experience will serve him well as Managing Director of the Foundation.