Raj Fernando

Rajiv K. "Raj" Fernando (born July 8, 1971) is an American businessman, political fundraiser and donor, and philanthropist. He is the current chairman and CEO of Workstorm.com and the former CEO of Chopper Trading.

Early life and education Fernando was born to CK and Laura Fernando while the two were living in Denmark,

Fernando attended Beloit College, where he earned bachelor's degrees in economics and history.

In 2018, Fernando received the Distinguished Service Citation from Beloit College. The award recognizes alumni on the basis of overall achievements, personal growth in career, and outstanding civic, cultural, and professional/business service.

Career While in college, Fernando volunteered at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. From 1991 to 2001, Fernando worked in various roles including trading positions at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade.

In 2002, Fernando founded Chopper Trading, a Chicago-based proprietary trading firm that concentrated in the areas of fixed income, equities, and other products. Fernando became CEO of the company. During Chopper's development, Fernando designed, implemented, and managed sophisticated risk management, communications, trading, monitoring, and source code security systems. Since the company's founding, Fernando's work helped make the company a major participant on the world's largest global exchanges including the CME, Nasdaq, LSE, ICE, and Eurex with approximately 250 employees globally.

In 2010, Fernando was part of a staff roundtable discussion on disruptive trading practices for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In January 2015, Fernando sold Chopper Trading to DRW Trading Group in "a deal that [would] fuse two of the best known companies in Chicago's proprietary trading community."

In 2015, Fernando founded Workstorm, a technology company based in Chicago. Workstorm’s digital collaboration platform is built to be highly secure and includes videoconferencing, secure messaging, email and calendar integration, file sharing and custom integration capabilities. In 2020, Business Insider called Workstorm a “more secure Slack competitor.” Fernando is currently CEO of Workstorm.

Foreign policy Fernando is a board member of the Chicago Council of Global Affairs. He previously served on the boards of the American Security Project and the Foreign Policy Leadership Committee at the Brookings Institution.

Fernando was appointed to the State Department's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) during the tenure of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He submitted his resignation to Secretary Clinton on August 17, 2011, citing a self-proclaimed need to "focus my energy on the operations of my company" because of "unique, unexpected, and excessive volatility in the international markets." According to State Department emails later obtained by Citizens United and given to ABC News, Fernando submitted his resignation two days after an ABC News investigative team contacted the State Department asking about his qualifications to be a member of the ISAB and the procedure that led to Fernando's appointment. Retired Brigadier General Stephen A. Cheney, an ISAB member and CEO of American Security Project, said Fernando's "expertise in cyber-security [is] a great asset to [U.S.] national security."

Political contributions Fernando has made political contributions to Democratic candidates since 2003. He also fundraised for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. and the board of trustees for Beloit College. He previously served on the board of trustees for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has supported Wounded Warriors, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago. Fernando has also been a contributor to The Steppenwolf Theatre, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and the Illinois Holocaust Museum, among other organizations. He has donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation.