Driven by curiosity and the joy of creating something new, Michael has been involved in research and development projects throughout his career. By starting Apollo in 2004, Michael realized his long-held goal to tackle one of the world’s most intriguing problems – finance – with the tools of systems science and engineering.

 

Before Apollo, Michael enjoyed a long career at the Canadian Space Agency, carrying out research in robotics and control, and managing many development projects with high technical risk. Michael worked 12 years on the International Space Station program, where he was responsible for Robotics and Systems Engineering for the $ 1.4B Canadarm2 and Dextre space robots. Launched in the early 2000s, they are now fulfilling their mission-critical role in the assembly and maintenance of the orbital outpost.

 

Michael holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and has 25 years of experience in financial markets.

N. Peter Lood, Chief, Trading Operations and Risk Management
Peter joined Apollo in 2004. He leads the trading operations and inspires the research and development activities. Prior to this role, Peter was the Chief Investment Officer and Head of Quantitative Development for the Quantitative Asset Management Group (QAMG) in Toronto; an asset management firm specializing in quantitative trading strategies. Prior to this, Peter was the Director of Currency Derivatives at Scotia Capital Markets in Toronto, Canada. He spent four years in Tokyo, Japan, where he held the position of Chief Trader, foreign exchange trading at the Bank of Nova Scotia.

Peter graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in Economics specializing in Monetary Theory. He is also a graduate of INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, with courses in Option Theory and Advanced Risk Management.

Jean de Carufel, Ph.D., Chief Scientist
Jean joined Apollo in 2006 and leads the research and development activities at Apollo.  Prior to this role, Jean had been involved in the space industry in Canada for more than 14 years.  He was responsible for the development of automatic control systems for payloads on the Space Shuttle, Mir and the International Space Station, and satellite attitude control systems for SCISAT-1, CASSIOPE, and the Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM).  Jean holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ottawa, specializing in automatic control. 

Brian Murphy, Chief Financial Officer
A co-founder of Apollo, Brian has more than 15 years of experience working with start-up companies ranging from high technology to retail, including a company which commercialized a consumer beverage in the United States and went public.

Brian obtained his CMA designation in 1988 and has over 30 years experience investing in equity markets.