Amber Group Appoints Group of Ex-Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Executives

Leading gobal technology and trading company Amber Group has recently completed a string of appointments consisting of multiple seasoned executives who have previously worked with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Among the appointments is that of Dimitrios Kavvathas as Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) as well as of Todd Miller and Sotirios Kavvathas as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Americas and Europe, respectively.  The company has also appointed three managing directors for their European market.

Dimitrios Kavvathas has previously served as Chief Investment Officer of Harmony Advisors, CEO and Executive Charman of Nomimsa, and as a partner at Goldman Sachs, most recently serving as the Co-Head of Asia Pacific Securities Division Distribution. His role as CSO will include assisting CEO Michael Wu to formulate and drive the company’s global strategy with a keen focus on a leadership position, regulatory engagement, licensing footprint, and client business.

Todd Miller has previously served as COO for the Global Macro business department at Morgan Stanley. His experience also includes stints in senior positions at other notable financial firms such as UBS, PricewaterhouseCooper, and Chase Manhattan Bank.

Sotirios Kavvathas has extensive knowledge and experience in dealing with internal audit and risk management and has held leadership roles at BDO, KPMG, and Royal Bank of Scotland.  As COOs for Europe and the Americas, both Miller and Kavvathas will be in charge of designing and setting up regional legal and organization structures for spearheading the local implementation of global policies and procedures as well as overseeing and improving operational efficiency.

The three regional directors who are in charge of building institutional relationships in Europe and spearheading its regulatory efforts are mentioned below.

• Sophia Shluger has immense expertise in investment and analytics and has held positions in Santander Investment Securities, XP Investments, and Goldman Sachs.
• Olaf Ammermann is a derivatives specialist with stints at Goldman Sachs and HSBC, focusing on the intersection of business and product development.
• Francesco Adiliberti has held positions as managing director at HSBC and Goldman Sachs, as well as holding the CEO position for Nomisma and Swiss Crypto Exchange.

Amber Group CEO and Co-Founder Michael Wu is very pleased with the appointments and has opined that their rising interest in crypto coupled with their proven track record in the global financial industry will be valuable additions to the company.

The Future of Finance in Crypto

Dimitrios had founded fintech firm Nomisma Holdings prior to joining Amber, which was his initial foray into the cryptocurrency world. The three years he was engaged in the fintech firm contributed to his eventual decision to join Amber Group. According to Dimitrios himself, he has been following Amber Group’s founding team with “curiosity, intrigue, and increasing admiration from their very start.”

Unlike Dimitrios, this is Todd Miller’s first foray into the cryptocurrency space with Amber Group. He had been serving in the financial service industry for the past 30 years, holding leadership positions at Chase Manhattan Bank, UBS, and Morgan Stanley across the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He has closely seen the digital transformation of the global financial landscape, including the bank and finance industry which has experienced its own transformation from fintech to DeFi.

Amber Group – Providing the gateway to Crypto Finance

Many veterans and investment bankers of traditional finance are starting to migrate to the cryptocurrency space as the future of crypto finance gradually unfolds. According to CEO Michael Wu, this shift, complemented by growing institutional adoption is “even bigger and has been building for some time.”

However, it makes one wonder when one considers the recent flurry of appointments of ex-Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs veterans. This is not the first time the company has appointed executives from such banking giants, as Amber Group hired ex-Morgan Stanley Asia Derivatives Head Jeffrey Wang as Head of the Americas.

CEO Wu further added that these additions demonstrate Amber Group’s position as a destination for top talent as well as the traction crypto finance has gained as the future of finance. According to Wu, Amber Group’s traditional finance background and positioning to be the gateway to crypto finance make it stand out from the crowd.

Amber Group was started by a group of financial professionals from Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley in 2017. Since its inception, the group has focused on bridging the gap between traditional finance and cryptocurrency space by driving mainstream crypto adoption. The firm released ambitious plans for talent acquisition and global expansion after completing its $100 million Series B funding round earlier this year. According to CEO Wu, Amber Group has added more than 250 employees in the past eight months, including the latest additions, which has brought its total global workforce to 450. The group is actively positioning itself as a gateway to crypto finance for more individuals.