Our People
The d-cyphaTrade Team
From left: Thomas Schmitz, Melissa Tan, Catherine Ford, Dean Price.
Dean Price
General Manager
P: +61 2 9237 0911
Dean commenced derivative trading in 1991 as an options proprietary trader on the floor of the Sydney Futures Exchange. He has an extensive understanding of the participants and activities involved trading, risk management and intermediary services across (uniquely) both (i) Australian power and (ii) futures market systems generally. He understands the "trader's perspective" of futures and Over the Counter (OTC) trading gained from 13 years of proprietary trading. Dean was an options market maker in the SFE's highly competitive bond, bank bill and share price index open outcry options pits from 1991 to 1998 (for Fay Richwhite Merchant Bank and Deutsche Bank). From 1999 to 2004, Dean was Electricity Trading Manager for Duke Energy Australia (Duke), responsible for managing Duke's electricity trading team which actively and successfully traded OTC and exchange traded energy derivatives and physical power generation dispatch in the NEM. Dean joined d-cyphaTrade as General Manager in 2004 applying his extensive experience to direct the ongoing development of the d-cyphaTrade ASX Electricity Futures Market.
Catherine Ford
Business Development Manager
P: +61 2 9237 0900
Catherine Ford has been involved in the financial and energy futures and options industry dating back to 1987. Catherine’s expertise was enhanced through spending 12 years immersed in the active and mature European Energy Markets. After 7 years in Geneva, Switzerland, Catherine transferred to London in 1996 to Manage European Energy Broking for the large US commodity-trading house Cargill Investor Services. She has extensive experience dealing for institutional customers handling multimillion-dollar accounts, advising on market outcomes and an in-depth understanding of the specific requirements and technical characteristics of financial energy markets. Since joining d-cyphaTrade, in July 2002, Catherine has had direct responsibility for building the d-cyphaTrade ASX Electricity Futures market through developing and maintaining customer relationships, including extensive training and information initiatives for Market Participants. In addition, she has been instrumental in both the initial contract design and ongoing product development with the ASX 24 (formerly the Sydney Futures Exchange) in establishing the d-cypha Futures and Options Products.
Thomas Schmitz
Executive Manager
P: +61 2 9237 0913
Thomas started his career in 1992 in corporate finance with Deutsche Bank in Germany. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Melbourne where he graduated in 1999 before moving back to Europe to continue to work for Deutsche. Thomas joined Enron Europe in early 2000 working first in gas transmission and then trading physical power in continental European markets. From 2002 onwards Thomas traded and structured transaction in power and gas for Aquila Europe and BHP Billiton before joining BNP Paribas in 2005 where he was responsible for structured power, gas, coal and carbon transactions. In 2006 Thomas worked briefly for the Australian Energy Regulator before moving back to London to run the Continental European origination business for Constellation Energy Global Commodities with a product suite covering physical and financial power, gas, coal and carbon as well as renewable energy products. When Constellation closed down their European operations in the wake of the GFC, Thomas joined d-cyphaTrade as Executive Manager bringing unique expertise to the team, including over 5 years of experience in international carbon trading markets.
Melissa Tan
Client Services Manager
P: +61 2 9237 0912
Melissa Tan joined the d-cyphaTrade Team in July 2006 with tertiary qualifications in Economics, Marketing and Finance. Melissa actively contributes to product development and marketing support and is responsible for managing customer relationships and co-ordinating customer support services. Melissa manages d-cyphaTrade client services such as the online futures market data, training workshops and publishes weekly market updates and on-request information assistance for wholesale market participants.
To contact the d-cyphaTrade team via email please click Contact Us.