Rainer Riess is Director General of FESE and an Independent Advisor to exchanges and financial services companies with more than 25 years of experience in the global exchange industry. He is a Member of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG) which provides ESMA with opinions and advice on its policy work. He is also a Senior Independent Director in the Supervisory Board of the Moscow Exchange, heading the Strategy as well as the Remuneration and Nomination Committee. He served for many years as Vice Chairman of the Board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and was responsible for the cash market business of Deutsche Börse AG.

In his tenure at Deutsche Börse he created and managed markets, drove changes in the European corporate governance and accounting practice, financial market regulation and supervision of market player. Major initiatives include running the cash market in a competitive MiFiD environment and financial market crises, the creation of DTB Deutsche Terminbörse / Eurex, developing European primary markets (Neuer Markt, indices, corporate governance and regulation), launch of the Xetra electronic trading system and the CCP as well as the creation of the European ETF and structured products markets.

He is a Member of the Board of Trustees of several academic and charitable organisations. He holds a Master in Economics from Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt and received an MBA from the University of Miami as a Fulbright Scholar.