Bruce Aust

Former Vice Chairman, Nasdaq

Bruce Aust is a highly accomplished Capital Markets Executive who delivered trillion-dollar growth for Nasdaq. Through 20+ years of Nasdaq leadership in Institutional Investor Relations, International Investment Markets, IPOs and Securities Offerings, Corporate Governance Best Practices, and Corporate Development, he delivered insightful value to boards, the C-suite and shareholders. His successful record leading M&A and Business Development diversification programs continue to deliver profitable outcomes. Bruce is recognized and respected for establishing and nurturing trusting relationships with an unmatched network of CEOs worldwide. He influenced IPOs through added value marketing, innovative services that assist companies navigate the public markets and a superior trading platform solution.

Bruce is the former Vice Chairman of Nasdaq, Inc., the American stock exchange with a $15B market cap, where he partners with Nasdaq’s Global Listing Services unit to assist clients and prospects worldwide. He relocated to San Francisco from New York to solidify Nasdaq’s lead in technology IPOs, which have since achieved a 73% win rate through attaining companies such as DocuSign, Dropbox, Stitch Fix, Coupa, Atlassian, and Lyft. During his 20+ year-tenure, Nasdaq has won some of the largest IPOs in Nasdaq history including Google, Facebook, Tesla, Carlyle Group, and Dunkin Brands. Bruce has assisted over 300 companies go public while developing relationships with leading Nasdaq listed company CEO's, such as Cisco, Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, and Starbucks, among numerous others.

Previously, as Executive Vice President, Bruce led Nasdaq’s new listings and capital market business as well as global business development and C-suite relationship management with 3,900 companies on Nasdaq’s 16 listing markets worldwide. He transformed the exchange industry through a successful battle won against rival, NYSE, obtaining an SEC ruling in favor of Nasdaq, allowing companies to keep their stock symbols if they switched venues, while also allowing Nasdaq stocks to have 1, 2 and 3 letter symbols – a victory making Nasdaq more competitive. This hard-fought win enabled NYSE company switches to the Nasdaq – delivering over $1T – on company switches that included Pepsi, Walgreens, American Airlines, Marriott, Mattel, Vodafone, United Airlines, DreamWorks, Newscorp, Viacom, Willis Towers Watson, TD Ameritrade, E-Trade, Principal Financials and others. Increasing diversity of industries traded on Nasdaq significantly increases revenues with these large market cap stocks.

Additionally, Bruce was a key executive team leader that transformed growth from $250M to $2.5B through diversification, including key acquisitions, such as OMX/Nordic Stock Markets, to companies in Investor Relations, Corporate Governance and PR/Newswire businesses.  Under his leadership, Global Listing Services revenue tripled from $160M to $530M through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, while continuing to improve margins and diversifying recurring revenue. He has been instrumental in leading Nasdaq’s international investor program, providing listed companies with exposure to institutional investors in Europe and Asia. Bruce has redefined what a Nasdaq listing means – while also maintaining relationships with C-suite of the largest companies listed – Alphabet, Microsoft, Amgen, Netflix, Amazon, Newscorp, and T-Mobile. 

Bruce served as a member of the Nasdaq Private Market and Nasdaq Corporate Services Board, advising on strategy and operations. He was the President and Board Member for the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, which he created and launched in 2015 to engage emerging entrepreneurs. Prior to joining the Nasdaq in 1998, Bruce spent 12 years at Fidelity Investments. As a change agent, he played a critical role in Fidelity’s transformative shift from reactive retail brokerage offices, to a more proactive Financial Consultant relationship. Bruce served as an Executive committee member of TechNet, where along with other committee members he lobbied on critical issues such as Corporate Tax Reform, Immigration Reform, The Jobs Act, which allowed for more IPOs in the U.S. He continues to lobby on key issues affecting public companies such as Proxy Reform, Short Sale Disclosure and overall stock market enhancements.