Virtu Financial Adds David Urban to Board of Directors

Virtu Financial, Inc., a high-speed trading firm and liquidity provider, announced this Wednesday that it has expanded its team by adding David Urban to its Board of Directors with immediate effect.

Urban joins Virtu with more than two decades worth of experience in senior leadership positions. He has a varied career, ranging from positions in the United States government, law and consultancy.
At present, he is the President of the American Continental Group (ACG), a company he has worked at for 17 years. Based in DC, ACG is a bipartisan government affairs and strategic consulting firm, which advises organizations across the financial services and technology sectors, among others, on a range of issues such as business, regulation, risk mitigation, acquisitions and mergers and more.
Urban’s experience to benefit Virtu acquisition of ITG
His experience in mergers and acquisitions, in particular, comes in handy, with Virtu set to acquire , a multinational agency brokerage. According to the statements released last month, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of next year. As  in November, the deal is worth around $1 billion.
Commenting on the latest addition to the Board of Directors, Robert Greifeld, Virtu’s Chairman said: “David’s deep experience as a business and governmental relations executive and demonstrated leadership acumen will add significant value to our Board of Directors. We look forward to benefiting from his expertise.”

Before working at ACG, Urban was the Chief of Staff for Arlen Specter, from 1997 until January 2002 during which time he was a US Senator for Pennsylvania. According to information from his LinkedIn profile, in this role, Urban was the senior advisor on all legislative, political, media, and administrative matters in Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.
As Chief of Staff, Urban also oversaw more than 60 staff members and all outreach and policy to the Senator’s constituents in Pennsylvania, Members of Congress, senior executive branch officials, ambassadors, and foreign governments. Prior to this role, Urban was an Attorney at Ballard Spahr LLP and an officer in the US Army.