SPEAKER_01: 0:10

Gentlemen, the time has come. The time has come. I I would be remiss. It would be I would be remiss in not explaining and expressing my deepest gratitude on behalf of Idea Gen, personally and professionally. To one of the greatest human beings that I've come across, a dear friend and mentor. And you know, what can you say about David Wicks? David, David, come on up, please. David, David, David, David is vice president here at the NASDAQ. You've seen him over the years. He's you're in the most iconic photos of at the Nasdaq. And David, your support of Idea Gen will never be forgotten. Let me just make that clear. I wanted to throw that out there before this interview because and and David recently got married. Let's give him a big hand here. He's got a beautiful wife, Stephanie, and we want to, I want to heartfelt congratulations to you and Stephanie for a life of bliss forever. Thank you. I'd also like to, and would be remiss, if I didn't say the same things for Elena Finn. Elena, come on up, please. Elena. Elena is events marketing specialist here at the NASDAQ and is a believer in idea gen like most of you. I mean, it's incredible. And I love the fact that you all appreciate everything that we're doing. We bring cross-sector folks together talking about leadership in this case today with a lot of NASDAQ listed companies, like Microsoft, Brian Galaccia here today. Let's give him a hand. I know you guys like to see listed companies. And so I just want to say it's an honor and a privilege to be here with you all today. Thank you, John. And to be able to truly say thank you.

SPEAKER_03: 2:06

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 2:07

Before we launch into our interview. You're welcome. Here we go. Please. And so with that, I know we got all emotional, and we begin with the gratitude. I mean, how can I how can you express gratitude to two incredible human beings that you know believe in what you do? And it's really hard to articulate it. But and I won't get emotional about it here. But NASDAQ's a global leader in financial markets. David, how would you describe the Nasdaq and its mission?

SPEAKER_02: 2:36

Yeah, so our mission is really to be the trusted fabric of the world's financial system. So it's pretty ambitious. And I would say, how do we go about doing that? So currently we operate over 130 exchanges, exchange technology around the world. And if I just even pause there and take that in from Asia to China to South America to Mexico, people rely on our technology to bring investors in to provide liquid markets and capital formation. On top of that, we have a state-of-the-art trading system called SMARTS that surveils those markets. In 2021, we acquired a company called Verifin, which is involved in helping protect fraud and AML for financial institutions. And then in 2023, we acquired two companies, Axiom and Calypso. Calypso is more on the kind of cash management, treasury risk management. Axiom is more again for financial institutions in understanding their regulatory reporting obligations across different requirements around the globe. So I think if when you look at all of those together, it creates this trust in when you see NASDAQ, when you hear NASDAQ, there's a level of integrity uh that comes with that.

SPEAKER_01: 4:21

And I think Brian would agree with Microsoft here as a listed company. Yes, absolutely. And we love hosting.

unknown: 4:30

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 4:31

And so I'd like to ask Elena now. So your events marketing specialist, look at today. I mean, extraordinary what you've done and what you do. Tell us a little bit about what your day looks like. What is that? I mean, you're constantly moving, it's such a critical role.

SPEAKER_03: 4:45

No day is the same. A lot of days here when we have events on site, we have a great connection between our clients and our hosts, like David. And then I would say we also do a lot of our events off-site. So for those, you know, the prep that goes into making sure that our clients feel heard and engaged on those off-site experiences, it's really the day to day.

SPEAKER_01: 5:09

Incredible. And I've seen it in action, and we're about to see it now with the closing door ceremony, so we could not be more thrilled. And NASDAQ has a history of issuer advocacy for its members. David, perhaps can you talk a little bit about your efforts here?

SPEAKER_02: 5:22

Yeah, so you know, it really dates back to 2017, and and when Adina became CEO, one of the first things she did was something called Project Revitalize. And what we saw was a trend in the markets where the number of public companies was going down, and the time that private companies were going public was taking longer and longer. So what we found is that job growth, job creation often happens when a company goes public and has that capital to expand and invest. So Project Revitalized was launched, and it was really a blueprint for the financial markets. So it dealt with ways to modernize things. And there were some, you know, certainly some wins around the Jobs Act and reporting for smaller companies and uh around uh ISS in Glass Lewis. COVID happened, and like all good things, uh things got sidetracked. Last year we announced kind of our next generation of that revitalizing, uh, and we call it Project Elevate. And Project Elevate again is meant for how do we help bring down the regulatory burdens, how do we make it easier for private companies to go public, and how do we reduce the cost to be public? So it's a whole uh you can go online and look at it. Uh, if you just look at NASDAQ Project Elevate, uh, you can see kind of some of the areas that we're working in.

SPEAKER_01: 6:56

And so just a quick follow-up to that, what are the trends you're seeing among these companies seeking to go public? What is that trend line looking like right now?

SPEAKER_02: 7:04

So I hosted a dinner last night, and I just I started by saying, you know, on a good year, 140, 150 companies, NASDAQ would be like, oh, that's you know, that's a good healthy year for IPOs. When I asked the group, and it was you know a group of about uh 16 people, I said, How many IPOs do you think NASDAQ had? So I'm not gonna ask this group, but think in your mind how many we had. It ranged from 10 to 70. So maybe it's in the range that you all are thinking. We've had over 220 IPOs to date, which is great. So I think the trend uh is definitely where companies are accessing public markets. I think you know they're navigating the kind of geopolitical, the tariff situation, and certainly things, policy decisions, and things like that. But the market is definitely one where we're seeing technology, AI infrastructure, healthcare, uh, and even financials, where they're you know tapping public markets, which is great. That's great. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01: 8:14

Elena, events, they play such a critical role in the work you all are doing here. And it's about connecting investors and businesses, right? So, how do these events and initiatives support the corporate growth and engagement in such a fast moving global economy?

SPEAKER_03: 8:34

Yeah, absolutely. Like David mentioned, the dinner that he hosted last night was something that I had planned. So I think that really working very closely with our internal stakeholders to provide a platform that they can make those connections with, whether it's our listed companies or companies that are looking to go public. I think that there's great opportunities with our retention companies to sit down and to have a dinner and to be able to go over, explain those things, and ask those questions. But we do also find a lot of great engagement from our off-site events and creating those really unique and far beyond what the standard corporate event would be. And I think that those moments resonate and create more of an authentic connection.

SPEAKER_02: 9:21

Got it. And that's they're so powerful. And I'll give you a perfect example. We held a climate week event this week, and one of our CEOs reached out to me and said, Oh my gosh, like I know you guys are having this climate week, can I go? And and that sense of community and finding the purpose that drives that CEO to want to be here is knows we're doing something right.

SPEAKER_01: 9:44

Exactly. 100%. And so we're here talking about global leadership today. And so I'd like to ask both of you what you you see, all these global leaders, these companies, they're launching. It took it took leadership to get there. My gosh, everything it took until they're listed is a journey, as you all know. What are those, what what are the key elements of leadership that would you that you would say the thread that you've seen that's been visible to you in that journey and necessary?

SPEAKER_02: 10:20

So I would say first and foremost, it's you know, I look at the companies that were with us last night. It it is true grit sometimes just to get through that life cycle, right? So NASDAQ just doesn't say, like, oh, we want to hug Microsoft now that you're a public company. We want to be part of that life cycle when a company is private, assist them with growing best practices, growing their board, growing what they that infrastructure they need for that day when they become public, and then help them on that journey. So I I think it's you know, it's a relentless focus that when these companies wake up every day, they they are working to build something great. And you look back when Microsoft listed, you know, from where you were then to today, uh we're like we're in awe, right? Uh, and just a wonderful partnership and wonderful story.

SPEAKER_01: 11:20

What a story. What an incredible story. And I know again, I've seen you in a lot of the photos. Haven't changed at all, David. And what a journey. And so, what is your call to action if for global leadership? And for those, let's make it specific about NASDAQ. What is your call to action for those looking to list in the NASDAQ potentially?

SPEAKER_02: 11:41

So I would say if you are looking to list, if you are thinking about tapping the public markets, it's so important to start before you, you know, the journey doesn't start at the IPO. The journey starts years before. So the call to action would be engage, let us share, let us help, let us, you know, get you in a position where on that day one, uh, you know, it's it's a wonderful experience.

SPEAKER_01: 12:19

Incredible. Incredible. And Alena, you have the last word here. Uh, what is your call to action? For those looking to join the NASDAQ to host events here to do all the above.

SPEAKER_03: 12:31

I would say for those looking to join and list on NASDAQ, like David mentioned, to engage, we have so many great opportunities to connect with private companies, both here at MarketSite and at our off-site events. I think that private companies typically see so many invitations coming in, and while they're prepping on their own, you know, it's hard to find that time, but to make that time, make those connections and really learn from all of the great resources that we have here, whether that's David or Jay Heller, ahead of capital markets. I watch, you know, so many private companies in awe of all of the knowledge that he has to share. So I think first, you know, for those looking to list on NASDAQ, engage with us beforehand and for those looking to host events here, contact us. Contact us, we're happy to chat. And I think that you know, having events here, it's we're in the heart of Times Square. It's the crossroads of capitalism, and it's a great spot to provide visibility, especially on our seven story tower.

SPEAKER_01: 13:37

You know, you could not have said it better. I love it. Well, thank you, thank you both so very much. Thank you for for your