Ben Mendoza - Chief Executive Officer

Ben founded MDSL in 1995 with a vision to provide financial trading organisations with the tools to drastically improve the management of their market data services costs, down to an individual user level. MDSL’s solution quickly became the de facto standard and today the company remains the world leader in market data expense management with the MDSL Market Data Manager software solution.

Ben's technology career began in 1974 and has included telecommunications engineering with British Telecom, applied electronics design with Marconi Space and Defence Systems, data network design with Timeplex and North Sea oil platform systems implementations with Marathon Oil UK.

Ben founded his first company in 1984. Digital Networks International (DNI) was an independent IT consultancy business providing network design and implementation services to customers such as Lehman Brothers, BAII and The Target Group. In 1987, he turned his hand to software, creating a Help Desk system called HDE. HDE customers included British Telecom, BP Oil, Barclays Bank, Robert Fleming & Co and Levi Strauss & Co.

Lesley Mendoza - Chief Administration Officer

Lesley brings an extensive background in financial trading and other markets. Prior to MDSL she worked with a range of large banks and brokers in the City of London, culminating as Head of Settlements for a US broker.

Lesley left the City to concentrate on her family and study for an MBA, returning to full-time employment initially as a director of Digital Networks International and subsequently as a founding director of MDSL.

Simon Bone - Director of Global Support

Simon is Director of Global Support. He joined MDSL in 2000 with 25 years’ experience in information technology, including senior positions at large European investment banks (Barclays and Swiss Bank) and at Micrognosis, a US-based trading systems integrator, where he specialised in operational support management for the European region.

Simon has extensive experience in the market data management business, specialising in analysis and market data cost containment, and brings an exceptional technical understanding of market data delivery technologies.

Simon Thomson - Chief Operating Officer (Americas)

Simon is Chief Operating Officer for MDSL USA. He rejoined MDSL in 2007 having previously worked for the company in 2002.

Simon has spent most of his career in the market data industry, first at Reuters where he held a variety of senior positions, including European Marketing Director, CEO of Lipper Analytical and Chief Administrative Officer for the Americas. He was subsequently an EVP at Hemscott during a period when the company was expanding its US business through acquisition and CEO of Trendprofile, a start-up company providing web-based services to financial advisors.

Mark Simmonds - Development Director (MDM) 

Since 1999, Mark Simmonds has been in charge of the core development of MDSL’s suite of Market Data Management (MDM) products, and has overseen their evolution to become the world’s leading market data expense management solution. 

As the product enters its third generation, Mark continues to liaise closely with MDSL customers to ensure MDSL Market Data Manager remains both relevant and forward-looking in what is a hugely dynamic and complex market place.

Prior to MDSL, Mark worked with Ben Mendoza at DNI and FMI in Support before moving into a senior product development role. 

Simon Dambe - Chief Operating Officer (Hong Kong)

After graduating from Oxford University with a BA in Mathematics and Philosophy, Simon began his career in banking auditing with Deloitte London. He has spent time travelling in China, where he learned Mandarin Chinese and developed a strong interest in the region. He joined MDSL in 2006 and has led a range of successful client projects across different parts of the business. Most recently, he worked in the Development Team alongside Chief Technical Officer Simon Mendoza, implementing best practice and driving efficiencies through a period of rapid team expansion, before moving to Hong Kong in July 2011 to set up MDSL’s new offices there.

Simon Mendoza - Chief Technology Officer

Simon joined MDSL in 2003 as part of the Development Team, having graduated from the University of Cambridge with an MA in Computer Science. He drove the development of a number of key technologies, including MDSL’s e-billing handler architecture, which led to the rapid growth of MDSL’s TEM offering.

He was instrumental in the design and implementation of the hosting architecture which plays a central part in the delivery of MDSL’s self-service product, and now has overall responsibility for aligning the company’s IT policy with its overall business direction. 

Simon often speaks at management and computing seminars, evangelising Business Intelligence as a key component of expense management solutions.

Philippe Lignac - Sales Director (TEM)

Philippe has more than 20 years’ experience of selling high-tech solutions to large organisations. Prior to joining MDSL he worked in France for a range of companies, including Computer Associates. After graduating with an MBA from Warwick Business School (UK) in 1992, he experienced significant sales success in the telecommunication market, where he spent seven years with Dimension Data.

Now based in the UK for over eight years, Philippe is focused on keeping MDSL at the top of the list of global TEM providers, a task which he enjoys enormously. His only regret is that he no longer has time for a proper round of golf.

Felix Lau - Global Practice Leader (TEM)

Felix heads the Telecom Managed Services and Audit group at MDSL. In 2003 he joined Union Square Associates, which was subsequently acquired by MDSL in 2007. He has provided advisory services to many Fortune 1000 companies to help uncover significant telecoms cost savings through a combination of audits, network optimisation and contract negotiations.

Previously, he was a management consultant at a leading expense management firm, where he focused on telecoms cost analysis and deployment of expense analytics solution for customers such as American Express.

Brad Firminger - Sales Director (MDM)

Brad began his career with MDSL in 1999 as an Implementation Specialist. He is now Sales Director for MDM across the Americas.

Prior to joining MDSL he was a Market Data Analyst working directly with traders at CIBC, Swiss Bank and Morgan Stanley, where he was introduced to the MDSL Market Data Manager product suite. Brad has successfully transferred his entrepreneurial skills to MDSL and views customer satisfaction as his primary measure of success.

Brad is a transplanted Canadian and is married to a working actress in New York City.

Mark Bellingham - Professional Services Manager (EMEA & APAC)

Mark joined MDSL in 2002 after graduating from university in Manchester.

He has worked across several areas of the business during his career at MDSL, starting in Support and specialising in Business Objects Reporting. Having successfully implemented a number of global MDM and TEM customer projects he moved into Professional Services in 2005, offering Managed Services and consultancy across both MDSL product streams. He is always looking for new talented people to join his growing team.