John N. Tognino is the Chairman & CEO of Pepper Financial Group. Formerly Executive Vice President and Head of Global Sales and Member Relations for the NASDAQ Stock Market. Previously, President and CEO of the Security Traders Association and the STA Foundation. Prior to joining STA, he was the EVP of Capital Markets and Trading at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. He has been in The Securities Industry for 49 years. He spent over 35 of those years with Merrill Lynch and at the time of his retirement from Merrill Lynch in 1993 he was a Managing Director for Global Equities.

Mr. Tognino was a member of the NASDAQ Stock Market Board of Directors from 1984 through 1987 and in 1995.

Mr. Tognino is a graduate of Fordham University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics; Summa Cum Laude. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of Fordham University.

A native of the Bronx, NY, he is a Trustee and Vice Chairman of St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. He is also Chairman of the Board of the Union Community Health Center (UCHC), also in the Bronx. He is a member of the Columbia-Presbyterian College of Physicians and Surgeons Advisory Health Council and Co-Chairman of their Neurosciences Committee.

He has a long history of involvement in other education, community, and philanthropic organizations.