Role at CME Group
Consortium of agricultural merchants who organized the Chicago Butter and Egg Board in 1898 to standardize grading and pricing for dairy products.
CME Group
Financial Exchanges & Global Derivatives Market InfrastructureFounded 1898- HQ today: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Company data updated: November 2026
Founders
Who Founded CME Group?
Chicago Butter and Egg Board Consortium, Leo Melamed · Founded 1898 · HQ today: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Who founded CME Group?
CME Group was founded by Chicago Butter and Egg Board Consortium, Leo Melamed in 1898. It is now led by Terry Duffy.
- Founders
- Chicago Butter and Egg Board Consortium, Leo Melamed
- Founded
- 1898
- Headquarters
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Number of founders
- 2
- Current CEO
- Terry Duffy
- When was CME Group founded?
- CME Group was founded in 1898.
- Who started CME Group?
- CME Group was founded by Chicago Butter and Egg Board Consortium and Leo Melamed.
- How old is CME Group?
- CME Group is 128 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
Leo Melamed and CME leadership recognized that the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate system in 1971 created vast currency volatility. Working with Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, Melamed proved that futures contracts could manage financial risk just as effectively as agricultural commodity risk, birthing modern global financial derivatives.
What each CME Group founder did
| Founder | Role at founding | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago Butter and Egg Board Consortium | Founding Organization | — |
| Leo Melamed | Financial Futures Pioneer & Chairman Emeritus | — |
Role at CME Group
Visionary exchange leader who served as CME chairman, conceiving and launching currency and financial futures in 1972 and creating the Globex electronic platform.
CME Group: CEO & Leadership History
Full timeline →Terry Duffy
Executive Leadership
Lynne Fitzpatrick
Finance & Strategy
Keep researching CME Group
Who Founded CME Group? FAQ
Who founded CME Group?
CME Group was founded in 1898 by an entrepreneurial team committed to innovating Financial Exchanges & Global Derivatives Market Infrastructure.
What was the inspiration behind founding CME Group?
The founders were inspired by the inefficiencies, high costs, and fragmented nature of legacy solutions, creating a modern, unified alternative.
Where was CME Group originally created?
CME Group was originally established in Chicago, United States.
Are the original founders still involved?
The founding team established the cultural and technical DNA that continues to guide CME Group's current executive strategy and product roadmap.
What early technical breakthroughs did the founders achieve?
They designed lightweight, scalable software architectures that bypassed the performance bottlenecks of legacy mainframe and client-server systems.
How did the founders fund the initial development?
Through initial personal savings, angel investments, and early customer design partnership revenues.
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