CME Group has confirmed that Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy will step down from the CEO role on 1 March 2027, with current President and CFO Lynne Fitzpatrick set to succeed him. Duffy will remain with the company as Executive Chairman of the Board.
The announcement marks the culmination of more than 25 years of leadership under Duffy, who has overseen significant changes at the world's largest derivatives marketplace.
During his tenure, CME Group transitioned from floor-based to electronic trading, became the first US exchange to go public and completed landmark acquisitions of the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange.
More recently, the company has continued to diversify its business through initiatives including its 2025 partnership with FanDuel.
The agreement introduced CME benchmark products to a broader retail audience through FanDuel's prediction markets offering, reflecting growing interest in event-based financial contracts.
Regarding the transition, Duffy said the company was well positioned for future growth and described Fitzpatrick as "the right person at the right time" to lead its next phase of development.
Fitzpatrick joined CME Group in 2006 and has held a series of senior finance and corporate development roles before being appointed President and CFO in 2024.
Prior to joining the exchange, she worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse and UBS.
Commenting on her appointment to the new role, Fitzpatrick stated: “It is my privilege to have been able to work with and learn from Terry over the last 20 years, and I am honored to have the opportunity to succeed him as CEO next March.
“I appreciate the confidence that he and the Board have placed in me, and I look forward to working with our investors, clients and employees around the world as we grow our core business and create value for our shareholders."
The announcement comes amid a period of broader change across the wider betting and prediction markets sector. Flutter Entertainment, FanDuel's parent company, recently confirmed plans to delist from the London Stock Exchange, while FanDuel itself has undergone a change in leadership and several rounds of layoffs in the past year.
Whether CME Group's own leadership change reflects a similar broader shift, or a more straightforward planned succession, remains to be seen.
The CME Group-FanDuel partnership, announced in 2025, was designed to bring CME's benchmark products to a wider retail audience through regulated prediction markets
