Options News Network

Matt is the CEO of The Options News Network. Prior to that, he was a decorated Navy fighter pilot for 15 years and flew the F/A-18 Hornet. He graduated from the Navy Fighter Weapons School ("TOPGUN"), has close to 400 carrier landings and flew 44 combat sorties over Iraq.

After leaving active duty and joining a reserve fighter squadron in Fort Worth, Texas, "Whiz" was scheduled for his first flight as an American Airlines pilot on September 11th, 2001. Instead, he ended up flying combat air patrol over the United States and went from piloting his first airliner to possibly shooting one down. He was furloughed along with thousands of others in the airline industry, and turned his attention to the business and financial world.

Matt is a nationally recognized speaker in the areas of leadership, business strategy and risk management. He has been trading options for himself for over 10 years and recently served as a Managing Director at PEAK6 Investments, L.P. in Chicago.

He is the host of "Mad About Options".

Jud is the Chief Investment Strategist for Options News Network. Jud started his career in finance in 1994 as a derivative analyst with SBC Warburg, now UBS Warburg. After 4 years with Warburg, Jud joined PEAK6 Investments, L.P. as an equity options trader and as chief risk officer.

As a trader, Jud traded on average over 5,000 contracts per day, and over 1.2 million contracts per year. He also built the stock group for all PEAK6 Investments, L.P. hedging, which currently trades on average over 5 million shares per day, and over 1 billion shares per year. Further, from 2004-2006 he managed the trading and risk management for PEAK6 Investments L.P.'s lead market-maker operation on the former PCX exchange, which traded over 10,000 contracts per day.

Jud is the "Mad About Options" Resident Expert. Jud is also a regular contributor to "Options Physics."

Kevin studied philosophy and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and wanted to become a teacher. Instead, he found his way to Chicago's commodity exchanges in the mid-90's and discovered the world of futures and options. Standing next to pro options traders every day for two years was an incredible opportunity for him to learn the essential dynamics of probability, risk, and long-term trading success.

He used this knowledge to leave the trading floor and gain a spot as an electronic trader on a high-volume, currency arbitrage desk. As a high-frequency market maker for 9 years, Kevin was part of the ground-breaking team at the CME that provided deep liquidity to global banks and funds in all time zones in order to establish a solid link on Globex between currency futures and the underlying cash markets and he traded $50 to $150 million worth of currencies per day to do so. That puts the total mileage somewhere around $150 billion in foreign exchange during his tenure, equivalent to well over 1,000,000 futures contracts. He thinks it added 20 years to his age.

During that intense training ground amidst the titans of the interbank, Kevin also dove into a detailed study of trading psychology and systems and the predominating odds of failure for most new traders. He gathered and organized key principles on the mental and mathematical "edges" of skilled discretionary and systems traders and then began sharing the results of his research in 2003 through writing and free seminars, coaching futures and stock traders to think with an emotionally-detached "probability mind-set" about risk and reward by replicating the option trader's approach to systematic rules execution and money management.

Kevin joined the Options News Network to build exciting options education for investors and traders, which brings him full circle to his goal of teaching. He believes options are more interesting and versatile and more fun than any other investment vehicle.

Kevin is the host of "Options Physics," where traders can learn the fundamental probability and risk mechanics of options trading in ways they won't find anywhere else.

In addition to being a part of the Options News Network team, Carrie Long also works with the CME Group's Broadcast Communication Department as an associate producer and editor. Previously, she worked as a wireless network technician for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and was a news intern for the ABC network in Chicago. As a graduate of Purdue University with dual degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Theatre Performance, Carrie has also worked independently as a media director, field producer and script writer.

Carrie is the host of "OptionsNews.."

Mac has traded stocks & options for himself for several years and presently serves as the director of Options News Network. Mac has a very diverse background, including a Desert Storm veteran as an Infantry & Special Operations Major in U.S. Army. He also worked for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals as a Neurology District Manager. Mac also served as CMO and CEO of an internet services company. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Campbell University.

Mac is the host of "Block and Tackle," providing novice traders with a fun look at the basics of options trading.

Joe Troccolo earned a PhD in theoretical mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He taught in the mathematics department of Cleveland State University, specializing in designing and teaching mathematics courses for students in non-scientific areas. For most of his time at CSU Joe taught in First College, a unique small college within a large urban university that was organized around an intense personalized approach to learning.

In 1987 Joe left the academic world to work with O'Connor and Associates, a closely held hedge fund based in Chicago. Upon joining Joe went through the same rigorous training that he would subsequently be responsible for delivering to the market-makers, traders and quantitative analysts at O'Connor. Soon after O'Connor was acquired by Swiss Bank Corporation Joe become the Global head of the Financial Markets Education department, responsible for the education of bank personnel in all areas of finance. FME typically delivered in excess of 1000 days of training each year.

In recent years Joe has spent a lot of his time delivering education to the bank's clients. He held this job, rising to the level of Managing Director, until 2007 when he left UBS, the entity created by the merger of Swiss Bank Corporation and the Union Bank of Switzerland.

Joe also runs an independent education consultancy through which he delivers courses and consults on educational programs to selected clients in hedge funds, investment banks and asset management firms. His specialization is in education on derivatives but his range extends through foreign exchange, interest rates, fixed income, equity valuation, structured products, convertible bonds and special topic areas such as hedge funds and behavioural finance.

Joe is the host of "Options Physics Professional."