Kirsten Wegner is the Chief Executive Officer of the Modern Markets Initiative (MMI), a non-profit education and advocacy group for innovation in today’s financial markets. Kirsten is a lawyer, speaker, and podcast host on financial technology and the markets, with a particular emphasis on how technology can democratize access to the markets for retail investors. She is also a prolific author of opinion commentary on the markets, with published pieces in the Financial Times, The Hill, Insider, Morning Consult and RealClearMarkets.
As MMI’s chief executive, Kirsten has testified before Congress on “Robots on Wall Street” before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Task Force on Artificial Intelligence. She is a frequent speaker at industry and university conferences, including the Milken Global Conference and Princeton Fintech and Quant Conference, on market automation and the role of innovation in saving investors money. Kirsten co-hosts a podcast, FintechStudyHall, on social justice and the future of money.
Before joining MMI, Kirsten served as Director, Government Relations for the International Securities Exchange, where she built the Washington office of the first all-electronic options exchange from the ground up. She previously worked as an attorney at a global law firm advising exchanges, brokers, startups, automated traders, and a variety of financial institutions on financial regulation and legislative policy. Kirsten holds a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. degree from Columbia University.
