people
Matthew Miller, Partner
Matt Miller is a co-founder and managing partner of Shift Forex. Matt contributes extensive experience in forex management and IT strategy consulting. At Shift, Matt assists clients with enterprise-wide systems implementations; CRM management; systems training; sales optimization; organizational growth efforts from startup, through the value chain, to international expansions.
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At Shift, Matt has taken his understanding of large-scale, enterprise processes and applied them to the rapidly growing forex space, allowing Shift to offer scalable solutions to its consulting clients ranging from entrepreneurs to top-tier brokers in the industry.
Prior to founding Shift Forex, Matt was with Ernst & Young Advisory performing large-scale CRM implementations, change management projects and strategy design for Fortune 50 clients including Dell, National Grid, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Sony of America and Citizen’s Bank. Prior to E&Y, Matt worked for Accenture, a leading IT and strategy consulting firm. While at Accenture, Matt served clients on a variety of process improvement projects in data management, IT systems optimization, sourcing and data analytics.
Greg Berman,
Strategy and Valuation
Greg Berman is a director at Shift Forex, where he focuses on valuation of FX brokerages along with strategy and preparation for eventual sale. He also provides ad hoc internal consulting as requested by Shift Forex management. His deep analytical and capital raising background combined with a growing knowledge of FX industry trends and transactions position him as a leading advisor to mature FX businesses.
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Prior to Shift Forex, Greg worked in private equity and real estate development for nine years, with a focus on large scale project planning and execution, complex valuation modeling, and capital raising. Greg is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business.
Shelly Kaidar,
Project Management
Shelly Kaidar is a Project Manager at Shift Forex. Her experience in client relationship management and project execution ensures that Shift Forex delivers client work in an efficient and scalable manner. Shelly adds value throughout each project cycle, from designing road maps and benchmarking strategies, to project management and execution. Additionally, Shelly provides both internal and external vendor research and analysis.
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Leveraging her educational background in Business Administration Science, Shelly has served in various management functions throughout her career. In her previous experience most notably for the Diascience Corporation, she served as an operating manager and marketing coordinator, managing relationships with dozens of clients and overseeing multi-million dollar annual budgets. She has also cross functioned as a research and business development associate, creating market analysis and consulting on change implementation.
Dan Perry, Sales and Brokerage Setup
Dan Perry’s concentration at Shift is in launching and improving forex sales departments, and more recently in launching new brokerages. He strengthens and empowers sales personnel by identifying areas of weakness, untapped value or misappropriation of resources and advising accordingly. Dan works in both in an advisory capacity as well as hands-on with sales organizations, demonstrating his effectiveness through the achievement of performance-based milestones.
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After a nine year tenure at FXCM including six years in a senior management capacity, Dan joined Shift in April of 2012. While at FXCM Dan helped launch the retail sales desks in New York, Dallas and San Francisco. Following that, he was tasked with launching FXCM AU and building the firm’s Australian business from the ground up. Dan served as CEO/Managing Director in Sydney from 2008 to 2012, boosting volumes from 38 to 133 yards.
Justin Gilmore, Partner
Justin Gilmore is a co-founder and managing partner of Shift Forex. Justin brings a deep knowledge of FX markets from an institutional and retail perspective, as well as extensive sales process and marketing expertise.
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At Shift, Justin enables clients to more effectively leverage their CRM, increase conversions at each stage of the marketing-sales cycle, and integrate new products and services. He trains sales teams on compliance and sales tactics; and advises sales organizations on hiring, pay structure, and incentives. As a technology and liquidity expert, he advises brokerages on prime brokers, liquidity providers, reporting, and integration of supporting technologies. More recently, Justin has begun working with late-stage firms on valuation and other factors involved in successfully exiting a forex business.
Prior to founding Shift Forex, Justin was with FXCM, where he led an international sales team; sold liquidity to banks, brokers, and individual investors; developed strategies based on proprietary customer trading data, and helped build dbFX’s IB and Money Manager offerings.
Mike Conlon,
Forex Education
Michael Conlon is the Managing Partner of Blitzcap Partners LLC, a Forex Commodity Trading Advisor. Mike brings over 14 years of experience trading and educating in financial markets. In addition, he is a sought-after author, analyst, and speaker on FX topics with a focus on educating the general public.
Mike is Shift’s lead in-house analyst and trading instructor. He provides market commentary for clients and prepares educational offerings including written material, videos, webinars, and live one-on-one mentoring. His specialty is weaving a unique blend of fundamental, technical, and quantitative analysis in an easy to understand format, which helps bring new traders to market quickly and takes experienced traders to the next level.
Prior to Shift, Mike was Head FX instructor for FXEDU, a subsidiary of FXCM, where he helped create educational content and established a one-on-one mentor program that brought in hundreds of active traders. He was also Lead Editor and Contributor at www.forexnews.com. His market commentary has been featured on numerous websites and he has conducted many webinars for outside clients.
Mauricio Orantes,
Digital Marketing
Mauricio is a Digital Marketing Consultant for Shift Forex. In this role, he performs marketing assessments, strategy build outs and execution of marketing campaigns and collateral for Shift clients. In addition, he advises and executes internal company marketing initiatives including Search Engine Marketing campaigns, Email Marketing campaigns, branding and logo design, and web development. When necessary to achieve client deliverables on time, Mauricio oversees a network of external freelance developers and designers.
Prior to Shift, Mauricio spent more than five years working in both start-up and corporate environments, most recently consulting a variety of organizations, freelancers, and entrepreneurs on digital strategy, scalable marketing, and project management. Serving each experience in a technological capacity, he has crafted himself into a digital technologist. He holds a Masters Degree in Communications, Culture and Technology with an emphasis on Information Privacy and Security Policy from Georgetown University.
Ian McAfee, Partner
Ian McAfee is a co-founder and managing partner of Shift Forex. Ian brings a deep knowledge of FX markets in industry analytics and metrics, marketing strategy, and business development.
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At Shift, Ian enables clients to increase market penetration, build global business development strategy, increase conversions at each stage of the marketing-sales cycle, and integrate new products and services. He manages and optimizes large marketing budgets and advises on sales, marketing, and operations. He also established Shift’s Start a Broker program, working with many clients to plan, launch, and grow forex and CFD brokerages.
Prior to founding Shift Forex, Ian was with FXCM, where he led numerous large-scale business development initiatives; managed and optimized marketing campaigns; and worked on projects in sales, trading, and market research. In addition, Ian assisted in founding a global forex education operation.
Erich Grant,
Brokerage Setup and FX Technology
Erich Grant is a consultant focused on sales and business development for forex brokers and technology providers. Erich specializes in designing and implementing business development strategies, especially for small and medium-sized firms. Working primarily with MT4 and MT5, his focus is on mobile applications, plug-ins, web platforms, and alternative trading technologies.
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During his time at Shift, Erich spearheaded business development projects for numerous technology firms, helping them build their customer bases and expand their market presence. He also helped develop Shift’s Start A Broker program, working with clients to launch and build new forex brokerages. This experience provided him an extensive background in various regulatory jurisdictions, which he leverages to assist clients in obtaining the necessary government approvals to offer forex brokerage services.
Steve Palopoli,
Regulatory Compliance and
Strategic Development
Steve Palopoli is a consultant in the areas of regulatory compliance, brokerage setup and connectivity solutions. He assists clients in achieving registration and licensing for their operations in a cost-efficient and speedy manner. Steve also provides advisory services to clients seeking hosting and connectivity solutions to reduce execution latency and create price improvement.
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Prior to Shift, Steve worked in land development and real estate financing, executing on a range of projects from debt refinance of commercial real estate assets to development and financing of utility-scale renewable energy facilities. Steve holds an MBA from Temple University’s Fox School of Business.