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Erik Liik President and CEO FocusShares Erik is responsible for the general management of FocusShares and for directing its activities. In 1996 Erik played a key role in the launch of the first ETFs providing access to international countryspecific indexes. In May of 2000 Erik co?authored with FRC (Financial Research Corporation) "The Future of Exchange Traded Funds," a groundbreaking, insightful, and accurate analysis of the opportunities and challenges that the ETF product structure provides to both investor and issuer. "The Future of Exchange Traded Funds" clearly identified the ETF market opportunity and accurately projected the asset growth that ETFs have experienced since 2000. As a key member of the American Stock Exchange's (Amex's) ETF Marketplace, Erik provided product development and distribution consulting to most all ETF issuers as well as a significant number of traditional mutual fund managers seeking to understand the opportunities and challenges with the ETF structure. Erik also played a critical role in both the development and execution of Amex's global crosslisting initiatives with the Singapore Exchange and EuroNext Amsterdam. Erik served as Board Director of the Amex/Singapore Stock Exchange Joint Venture Company. Before joining the Amex, Erik was recruited to develop and direct sales and marketing plan for 17 country?specific Exchange Traded Funds known as World Equity Benchmark Shares (WEBS). As National Sales Director, he successfully led efforts to gain top?down sales/marketing support from a broad spectrum of financial intermediaries. He spearheaded successful Canadian and offshore distribution, doubling assets each year for 4 years. Erik was responsible for over two billion dollars in assets that were raised in the first four years and orchestrated research coverage for WEBS by major brokerage firms. Erik received a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Ramapo College of NJ. He is Series 7 and 63 licensed. |