Michael Birshan Joins IHS Markit after Two Years with Symphony

IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a comprehensive provider of information, analytics and financial markets solutions, has made its newest appointment, installing as sales director of its EMEA Corporate Solutions.
The former Bloomberg exec will be reporting to Kelly McGeehan, Global Head of Sales at IHS Markit Corporate Solutions. Following a lengthy career spanning over 17 years, Michael will be tasked with promoting IHS Markit’s products that help businesses with its decisions related to investor targeting, advisory and workflow needs.

Birshan told Finance Magnates he’s very excited to be joining the EMEA team and look forward to meeting their clients in the region.
“I am delighted to be joining IHS Markit’s Corporate Solutions division, which serves thousands of companies globally with critical data, analytics and workflow. It is fascinating to see the amount of knowledge and expertise at IHS Markit across global industries and how it is leveraged using data science and smart technology to help corporates to make better informed decisions,” he added.
Birshan is joining IHS Markit in London where the company has recently taken an undisclosed minority stake in the City-based technology business , which aims to modernize transactions settlement in the FX market.
A lengthy career with Bloomberg
Birshan is no stranger to the financial industry, having held several senior level roles across relevant sectors since 2002. He joins Markit from Symphony, which offers secure messaging and other collaboration tools for financial firm, having worked there for over two years. His tenure with Symphony, which has been recently valued at $1.4 billion, saw him leading EMEA account management team.
Birshan joined the California-based start-up to help accelerate adoption of its encrypted, cloud-based messaging system back in 2017. At the time, Symphony was seen as being in a direct battle with Bloomberg with its messaging system for traders – thus, this appointment has heightened significance.
Mr. Birshan worked as a regional sales manager at Bloomberg for four years, and had been with the group for around eleven years in various capacities. He also managed the media distribution revenues of Bloomberg and worked as a sales manager.