eSpeed has lost its global head of futures and options. James Stedman recently left the electronic trading platform company, where he had reported to Stephen Bookbinder, global head of sales. Bookbinder said Stedman has been replaced by Jonathan Cowan, co-founder of EccoWare, a financial software firm that eSpeed acquired last October. Cowan has taken over Stedman's duties in addition to being head of business development for EccoWare, Cowan confirmed. He reports to Paul Saltzman, chief operating officer, according to Michael Geller, eSpeed spokesman. Saltzman referred calls to Geller. Stedman did not return a call to his cell phone and his destination could not be determined by press time.
eSpeed late last month reported fourth-quarter profit sank 98% after it wrote down the value of a electronic trading program and took related charges, on the basis of a court ruling that the patent for the system was not valid. It could not be determined if or how Stedman's departure is connected to the broader corporate issues.