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About Plia

Plia is a platform that allows financial industry participants to securely gather and share important information between counterparties.  Plia is offered globally and is currently utilized by asset managers who have over $28.5 trillion in AUM (assets under management). 

Plia's flagship product is KYB (Know Your Broker), which hundreds of broker-dealers use globally.  Additional products such as KYC (Know Your Customer), KYD (Know Your Data), and ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) are available to current and existing customers.

Plia is operated by Urvin LLC.

LEADERSHIP TEAM

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Bill Stephenson
CEO

Bill has over 25 years of experience in trading, capital markets, and fintech roles. He was previously the Global Head of Trading at Franklin Templeton and Founder of the AIR Summit events.

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Dave Lauer
CTO

Dave has over 15 years of experience in market structure, high-frequency trading, and technology development. He is the Co-Founder of Healthy Markets and CEO of Urvin AI.

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Anita Karppi
Chief Revenue Officer, Head of ESG and Strategic Advisor

Anita has 25 years of experience in the global financial markets.  She is the founder of the Buy-side Trading Community  - a global social initiative.

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Jeff Estella
Advisor

Jeff has over 20 years of experience at MFS Investments in trading, compliance, investment operations and risk management.  He is an Advisor to CalcGuard Technologies and Principal at Estella LLC.

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Pete Herzog
Advisor

Pete has over 20 years of experience in the info security industry and is an expert in security tactics.  He is the Co-Founder of Urvin AI and a consultant to large multi-nationals, governments and militaries.

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Gary O'Connor
COO

Gary has over 25 years experience in the financial markets including trading, risk management, compliance, investment operations, and enterprise technology consulting. He is the Founder of Amber Clear Resources.

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HISTORY

2012

The Plia counterparty management system was conceived and designed by a US buy-side trader with a vision to streamline the efficiency of the due diligence process and streamline the transfer of information between asset managers and brokers for risk management and best execution policies.

2017

Plia launched its first cloud-based counterparty management tool in Europe ahead of MiFID II regulation.

2018

Bill Stephenson and Dave Lauer launch NextEx to open more dialogue around transparency in the best execution processes.

2019

Bill and Dave spin-off from NextEx, to form Urvin LLC and develop better solutions for counterparty management. Urvin LLC's roots are in global trading, artificial intelligence, market structure, and data science.

2019

Urvin LLC acquires Plia from Trade Informatics Inc. and begins a re-boot of the technology.

2020

Plia and the Plato Partnership launched new initiatives in Europe as “Plia by Plato” to provide market participants with new features and an expanded focus.

2021

The Plato Partnership Invests in Plia to build a new KYC/AML platform.

2022

Plia launches the PliaESG division for asset owners, investment managers, vendors, and banks.

2022

Plia launches the KYC/AML platform, initially to Plato Partnership members, then to the broader marketplace.

2024

Plia expands due diligence to the alternative data arena with the launch of a standard questionnaire designed to assist data buyers.

2025

Plia joins the Investment Association's FinTech platform.
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