Kristi Ross

Kristi Ross is the co-CEO and President of tastytrade, the most-watched online financial network making finance fun and actionable. She is a co-Founder of dough, a visual front-end trading technology platform launched in 2014, which was ultimately combined with and rebranded when the team launched their own online brokerage firm tastyworks in 2017, a FINRA, NFA, SIPC member. The tastytrade and tastyworks collective offering focuses on empowering the do-it-yourself investor to engage more with their finances, through the unique combination of content, technology and fees. Ms. Ross also co-hosts the show Bootstrapping in America, where she interviews innovative entrepreneurs. Previously, Ms. Ross was the CFO of thinkorswim Group as a private company where she led numerous mergers, acquisitions and integration. thinkorswim sold to TD Ameritrade for $750M in 2009. Prior to thinkorswim, Ms. Ross was CFO of Automated Trading Desk Specialists, a stock specialist on the Chicago Stock Exchange. Ms. Ross started her career in public accounting, specializing in financial services industry clientele including individual traders, proprietary, market makers, specialists, discount brokerage and advisory firms and has been in and around the trading business for more than 25 years.

As co-CEO and President of tastytrade, Ms. Ross has been honored as the Illinois Technology Association CityLights’ Prominent Tech Woman, the Moxie Awards’ Woman in Tech, Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young, James Haugh Award and has been named to Innovate Finance Global Women in Fintech Powerlist, Crain’s Chicago’s Tech 50, the Techweek 100 list, Chicago Business Journal’s Women of Influence list and Midwest Women in Tech Award. Ms. Ross has spoken at Techweek, WiSTEM, Ms. Tech and Woman 2.0 and Chicago Ideas Week and has been featured by prominent publications such as Fortune, Chicago Tribune, and Crain’s Chicago. In addition, Ms. Ross is an active board member of companies in the technology as well as the trading industry, is an active member of the ChicagoNEXT Fintech Council of World Business Chicago, board member of CEC/1871, Economic Club of Chicago member, The Chicago Network member. Philanthropic passions include Midtown Educational Foundation, Rock the Street Wall Street, Entrepreneur Leaders in Philanthropy, EHC.