Green Exchange International has appointed Les Male as Managing Director, Head of EU/UK Office, and Henrik Hasselknippe as Managing Director, Global Product Development, further strengthening the team that will oversee Green Exchange's growth and development as a global environmental commodities exchange.

The Green Exchange, which applied for Designated Contract Market (DCM) status to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission last week, will be seeking overseas recognition in the UK and the EU shortly. Upon approval of its DCM application, Green Exchange intends to initially list the futures and options contracts that are currently listed, traded and subject to the rules and regulations of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

The new appointments signal Green Exchange's LLC intent to forge deeper inroads into the European carbon space. As head of the London, office Les Male will report directly to Tom Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of Green Exchange International and will be responsible for creating and leading European strategy, growth and sales efforts. He has more than 20 years experience in the European gas, power and exchange industry, with the past ten years spent focusing on trading, risk management and trading systems most recently as the Commercial Director at APX-ENDEX.

Joining as Managing Director of Global Product Development, and also reporting directly to the CEO, Henrik Hasselknippe will oversee the creation and development of new products for Green Exchange, head the product and advisory committee and be responsible for analyzing market trends and identifying growth opportunities for the company. With over ten years of experience in the energy and environmental sectors, Henrik was most recently the Global Head of Carbon Analysis with Point Carbon Trading Analytics & Research in Oslo, Norway.

Other members of the London based team include Henry Bakker, formerly of the European Climate Exchange, who assumes the role of Director of Communications EU/UK, and Wouter de Klein who is the Senior Manager for Client Accounts.

Tom Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of Green Exchange LLC, commented "We're very proud to have assembled a highly qualified team of carbon, energy and exchange professionals. Les, Henrik, Henry and Wouter all bringing with them tremendous insight and experience from diverse backgrounds within these markets. Having an office in London and a dedicated team working with the trading community directly involved in the EU ETS reinforces our commitment to the European marketplace, and to building a more robust solution for managing risk in the carbon markets."