Michael Lepa

Michael Lepa is Head of Technology Ecosystem & Innovation and Principal Strategic Investments at Optiver, based in Chicago, Illinois. He has held this title since November 2025, running alongside his concurrent role as Lead for Digital Assets Strategy and Principal Strategic Investments (US Lead), which he has held since August 2023. Within that mandate, he is responsible for Corporate Strategy and leads Optiver's digital assets strategy. His Principal Strategic Investments remit is described as technology and crypto-focused.

Prior to his current configuration of roles, Lepa spent nearly five years as Corporate Strategy Manager at Optiver's Sydney office, from October 2018 to July 2023, where he focused on APAC exchange relationships with an emphasis on Japan and Singapore, market structure, business development, digital assets, and principal strategic investments. Before joining Optiver, he worked at BHP in Melbourne and Perth across two roles: Analyst in Risk Assessment and Assurance from January 2017 to March 2018, and Business Analyst in Business Planning for Minerals Australia from March to October 2018. Earlier, he held a short-term position as a camp counselor and hiking and tennis instructor at Camp Cody in New Hampshire. Source content references a degree from CFA Institute's Chartered Financial Analyst Program, completed in 2017, and a degree from the University of Melbourne, though specific fields of study are not stated in the source material.