Pat Arbor has been the chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade since 1992, the world's largest and oldest futures and options exchange. Before becoming chairman, he served as vice chairman from 1990 to 1993. He has been a member of the CBOT since 1965. He is also the chairman of the board of the MidAmerica Commodity Exchange. In addition, he is a major shareholder of Sutter Gold, Arbor, Karlov & Co., and an independent trader.
As chairman of the board, Pat Arbor achieved three great achievements in 1997, ensuring that the CBOT would maintain its global leadership in securities trading in the 21st century.
First, from May 9, the London International Financial Futures Exchange and the CBOT linked the trading of two of the world's largest debt contracts. These two debt contracts are the 10-year German government bond futures and options contracts of the London International Financial Futures Exchange, and the 30-year U.S. government bond futures and options contracts of the CBOT.
Second, from June 5, Dow Jones & Company authorized the CBOT to provide futures and futures options trading of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. These contracts are considered the "last great futures contracts".
Third, the CBOT's new financial trading center was recently completed, costing $182 million, and is the world's largest trading venue.
Pat Arbor is a native of Chicago. After graduating from school, he first worked as a math teacher and then served as the mayor of Harwood Heights, Illinois. Arbor is very enthusiastic about public and community activities and is also very active in the fields of charity and banking organizations.
In 1994, President Clinton appointed him as a director of the Enterprise Fund for the Western Newly Independent States, responsible for promoting private enterprises in Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine, with a capital of $150 million in foreign aid grants. He is also a consultant director of the American Association of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Arbor serves on the executive committee of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University Chicago, overseeing a budget of $678 million and the welfare of 14,000 students, which is also the largest Catholic-sponsored medical center in the United States. He is a member of the Chicago Boys and Girls Charity Home Review Committee, the chairman of the Housing Development Committee, and a member of the Women's Charity Relief Counseling Board.
In October 1996, he was appointed by Archbishop Joseph Bernardin as the Catholic Charity Commissioner of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He successfully promoted the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, served as the co-chairman of the 1996 Committee, and was the main sponsor of the entire event. In addition, he has published many papers on finance in professional and academic journals.
Arbor served as a director of the First National Bank Trust Company of Park Ridge for 17 years, a bank holding company with a capital of $235 million, which was later sold to the First American Bank. He is also a director of the London Trust Company, a listed holding company based in London.
Chicago Board of Trade The main function of the Chicago Board of Trade is to provide a place for members and customers to trade, supervise the soundness of trading, and promote various trading markets. The CBOT mainly uses open outcry to trade, and traders buy and sell futures contracts face-to-face in the trading hall. The second function of the CBOT is to provide risk management opportunities, including farmers, large enterprises, small companies, and other market participants.
The Chicago Board of Trade was established in 1848 by 82 members to promote local business activities and provide a public trading place for commodity buyers and sellers. In 1865, the CBOT officially launched the futures contract for grain trading.
At present, the CBOT has more than 3,600 members, offering 57 different futures and options products, with an annual trading volume of 222.4 million contracts in 1996.
I first met Pat Arbor in his office at the CBOT. He was wearing a trading jacket and looked exhausted. We quickly set up an interview time, and then I rushed to catch a flight back to London.
A month later, we met again in London, had lunch together, and conducted a pre-arranged interview. The day before, he had just taken the Concorde from New York to London, and the contract authorized by Dow Jones was finalized. Similarly, he still looked exhausted.
But in fact, his achievements are mainly due to his vigorous energy and ambition. For a person in his 60s, his energy is no less than that of a young person in his 20s.
