Meet the Team

  • A middle-aged man with dark hair, glasses, wearing a navy blazer, white shirt, and a polka dot pocket square, standing outdoors with historic European architecture in the background.

    Santo Volpe

    Founder & Principal Instructor

  • A middle-aged man with gray hair dressed in a dark suit with a striped shirt and a bow tie, sitting indoors near a window.

    Dr Kevin Connolly

    Senior Advisor

  • Group of four people, with three men in focus and one woman blurred in the background, at a formal event or conference, some holding papers or notebooks.

    Hilton Fay

    Instructor

  • A smiling man with short hair and dressed in a striped shirt, standing indoors near a window.

    Mike Hadley

    Instructor

Santo Volpe

For 35 years Volpe has been a financial derivates trader.  He began at the Chicago Board of Trade in the late 1980’s and then transferred to the LIFFE exchange in London.  He has managed derivates risk in every tradable market in the world as head of proprietary trading and then in the hedge fund industry. He uses options continually in his own portfolio. Throughout his career, Volpe has mentored and taught bespoke Options Trading Level I & II courses.  The courses were part of his training at the firm and all “graduates” were required to teach the course to newcomers. He has continued to teach the courses privately in London, Italy and in Asia. The participants not only learned how to understand the fundamentals of options trading during the course, but went on to utilize effectively this knowledge in the management of their own portfolios in equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, & commodities markets.

Background

Santo Volpe, KCSS (BA Northwestern, MSc University of London) started in Chicago in 1990 as an options market maker on the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). He moved to London in 1991 and traded on the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE). Volpe has worked in senior management for large banks in Europe. He as considerable experience in derivatives (credit and equity) and in structured finance. Volpe has advised and assisted in setting up several proprietary trading operations and hedge funds in Europe, the United States and the Far East. He has managed portfolios as Chief Investment Officer in excess of USD 5 billion comprising all types of asset classes, debt instruments, derivatives and physical commodities both in the listed markets as well as OTC.

Michael P. Hadley

Michael Hadley is a seasoned trader and financial markets professional with over 35 years of experience across global exchanges. His trading career began in New York in 1988, progressing rapidly from options clerk to trader/market maker and risk manager on the Coffee, Cocoa and Sugar Exchange. He later moved to London with Mondo Trading Group, where he traded German Bunds, UK Gilts, and Short Sterling on the LIFFE Exchange. In 1992, he relocated to Singapore, managing derivatives portfolios on the Nikkei 225 and Taiwan MSCI with Cresvale and then Refco Proprietary Trading Group. His work consistently included risk management and proprietary strategies.

From 2006 to 2013, Michael led trading operations at Transmarket Group and later his own firm, John Galt Trading Consultants, focusing on Asian equity index futures and options (Nikkei 225, SiMSCI, Hang Seng, etc.) as well as commodities such as gold and silver. His roles involved building and mentoring trading teams, developing proprietary systems, and managing risk. Throughout his career, Michael has had many years experience teaching options trading courses and coaching within the financial sector.

Hilton Fay

Hilton Fay has over 35 years of experience as an options trader across commodities, energy, bonds and equity indices. He began his career in New York in the 1980s, trading gold, silver, copper and soft commodities on COMEX and other exchanges. In the 1990s he moved to London, where he traded Brent crude, gas oil and Italian government bonds on IPE and LIFFE. Later, based in Hong Kong, he managed portfolios in Asian markets, including the Hang Seng, KOSPI and Nikkei. Since returning to London in 2013, he has focused on European equity indices, particularly the STOXX50.

Hilton started on the Commodities Exchange Center in New York and became one of the youngest members of COMEX. His career has spanned major global exchanges including COMEX, NYCE, CSC, IPE, LIFFE, HKFE and OSE. He traded through the transition from open outcry to electronic markets and has extensive experience in both floor trading and screen-based strategies. Alongside trading, Hilton has been active in mentoring and sharing his knowledge of derivatives trading with colleagues and younger professionals.

Book cover for 'Buying and Selling Volatility' by Kevin B. Connolly, published by Wiley, featuring a geometric abstract design with pink and blue colors.

Professor Kevin B. Connolly, Ph.D

During his esteemed career as options trader, researcher, professor, academic and author, Connolly was the head of Quantitative Research at James Capel & Co. He then joined Cresvale International Asset Management as Director responsible for instituting scientific risk management for Cresvale s principal Japanese warrants market-making section. He undertook research into complex volatility trading for Refco Overseas Ltd. He was a former lecturer at City University Business School and London Guildhall University, UK. Kevin has authored two published books Buying and Selling Volatility and Pricing Convertible Bonds.

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