Terrence A. Duffy

Terrence A. Duffy (born August 15, 1958) is an American businessman. He is the chairman and, until March 2027, the chief executive officer of CME Group, a derivatives marketplace based in Chicago, Illinois.

Duffy began working at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1980. He joined the CME board in 1995. He served as vice chairman from 1998 to 2002 and as chairman from 2002 onwards. Duffy led the company's substantial mergers and acquisitions, including the acquisitions of the Chicago Board of Trade, New York Mercantile Exchange, and NEX Group. Duffy has served in the chairman and chief executive role since November 2016.

In 2003, Duffy was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), a position he held until 2013.

Early life and education Terrence A. Duffy was born on August 15, 1958, in South Side, Chicago, to John J. Duffy and Barbara Duffy. His grandfather, John J. Duffy, was a Chicago alderman who eventually became Cook County Board president. The neighborhood was home to many Chicago police and firefighters, and Duffy has said that while growing up he thought one of these positions would be his career path.

Duffy attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater from 1978 to 1980.

In 1984, Duffy bought a CME membership with the help of a $50,000 loan from his parents secured by a mortgage loan they took out on their home.

Vincent Schreiber, who had introduced Duffy to the trading world several years before, helped Duffy pay back the debt by offering his guarantee to the clearing firm. Duffy pushed for the CME to embrace electronic trading during this period. In December 2002, CME became the first publicly traded U.S. exchange.

CME Group In October 2006, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced a merger with the Chicago Board of Trade in an $8 billion deal. The combined exchanges would be known as the CME Group, and would represent the world's largest market for financial derivatives contracts. Duffy served as chairman of the combined company, and is credited with leading the CME Group's acquisition of the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2008. He began to serve as executive chairman and president in 2012, and in November 2016 took on an expanded role as chief executive officer. In 2021 he negotiated a deal to move CME Group's technology to Google Cloud to increase access to the company's products; the deal included a $1 billion investment by Google in CME.

Effective March 1, 2027, Duffy will resign as CEO and become executive chairman of CME.

Duffy also serves on the board of directors of World Business Chicago, the board of regents for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, the board of trustees of Saint Xavier University, and is co-chair of the Mayo Clinic Greater Chicago Leadership Council.

Duffy was appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2003 as a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), a position he held until 2013.

Personal life Duffy and his wife, Jenny, have twin sons. They live in Lemont, Illinois. and a Doctor of Humane Letters from DePaul University in 2007.