The current chairman of the ISE and director on the board of Deutsche Boerse, Mr. Krell will provide valuable strategic advice as Sophis looks to consolidate and grow its share of the North American market.

Prior to founding the ISE, Mr. Krell was Chairman and co-founder of K-Squared Research LLC, a financial services consulting firm. He also worked at the New York Stock Exchange from 1984 to 1997, where he managed marketing, systems and new product introductions for the Options and Index Products division. Prior to this, he worked at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and at Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Krell was formerly an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University Graduate School of Management and at the Graduate School of Baruch College. He has also taught, coordinated and directed numerous seminars and workshops at the New York Institute of Finance.

Pascal Xatart, CEO of Sophis, commented on the appointment: "We are delighted to welcome David to the firm at such an exciting point in our development in North America. We are committed to expanding our business in the US and David has the skills and experience to help us to achieve our objectives. His appointment is the latest step towards implementing our strategy to increase our share of the North American risk technology market, which is estimated at $5.9 billion for 2008 by Chartis Research."

David Krell commented on his new role: "I am excited by the prospect of working with the management team and shareholders of Sophis. The board and investors are committed to growing the company on a worldwide basis by making key senior appointments, and I am keen to play my part in what will be a stimulating period of growth for Sophis. I have a long relationship with Advent in the US, given their active and ongoing investment interest in the securities industry, and I particularly enjoy working with companies like Sophis that have industry tailwinds and a strong value proposition for their customers."

Chris Pike, a Managing Director at Advent, continued: "Under David's leadership, ISE has changed the fundamental nature of the US securities markets, and in turn garnered over 30% market share in the US options industry. We are delighted to have a person of David's calibre joining the Sophis board as we seek to build the leading vendor of risk and portfolio management software globally."