Elwood Technologies appoints Chris Lawn as CEO

By Gloria Methri

Elwood Technologies, a platform that provides institutional-grade access to digital asset markets and liquidity venues, has announced Chris Lawn as its CEO.

Lawn brings over 30 years of global macro trading and portfolio management experience gained at hedge funds and institutions like Caxton Associates, One River Digital and Coinbase.

He has been providing services and expertise to Elwood since January 2023 and has been instrumental in scaling its end-to-end SaaS products covering Execution Management Systems (EMS) and risk representation technology, known as the Portfolio Management System (PMS).

These comprehensive and sophisticated tools provide clients with functionality to access liquidity in digital assets and perform live position and exposure tracking, scenario analysis, and collateral monitoring.

Lawn is taking over from outgoing CEO James Stickland, who led the company through its $70m Series A funding round in 2022. The round was co-led by prominent backers including one of Europe’s largest specialists in B2B software investors, Dawn Capital and global investment bank, Goldman Sachs.

Lawn said, “I am honoured to be appointed as the new CEO of Elwood. I am confident that we can build on our strong foundation to continue delivering a market-leading end-to-end EMS and PMS technology for institutions trading digital assets. I look forward to continuing to work with our talented team as we develop and deliver institutional-grade infrastructure for digital markets.”

Mathew McDermott, Elwood board observer and Global Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs commented, “Chris brings a wealth of experience and leadership to Elwood and the board is confident he is the right person to take the company to the next level.”

James Stickland said, “It has been a privilege to lead Elwood through its startup phase, and I am excited to welcome Chris as the new CEO. He has already played a key role in Elwood’s evolution into a global, institutional fintech company and looks forward to the firm’s next chapter.”