Tom Callahan, CEO of NPM: Unlocking Liquidity in Private Markets

(0:00) Intro. (2:05) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel. (2:52) Start of interview.  (3:36) Tom's origin story. (5:37) The start of his career with Merrill Lynch (1991-2008). (7:00) The financial crisis and his transition to the NYSE (2009-2013). (10:53) His time at BlackRock (2013-2022). (15:14) Defining private markets: "VC-backed pre-IPO private companies typically worth $1b ie. unicorns." Comparing public and private markets. Impact of the JOBS Act (2012). (18:47) About the Nasdaq Private Market (NPM). Why companies do tender offers in private companies. Managing secondary liquidity. (26:31) Distinguishing liquidity for employees, founders, and investors (cap table cleanup). Function of IPO. (32:40) On regulation of private markets ("private markets are under regulated"). Difference between public and private markets: information asymmetry. (41:23) Current private market dynamics (2021-2024). "We're optimistic that 2025 will be a great year" (45:32) On the role of AI: "it has been the story of the public markets and private markets in 2024." (50:26) Books that have greatly influenced his life.How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie (1936) Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss (2016) "Tactical empathy" (52:52) His mentors.  (54:47) Quote that he thinks of often or lives his life by: "Whether you think you can, or think you can't - you're right," (Henry Ford) (57:05) Cultural differences in venture between NY and Silicon Valley. (58:19) An unusual habit or absurd thing that he loves: he's a volunteer pilot for Dogs for Good. (59:38) The person he most admires. Tom Callahan is the CEO and Manager of the board of managers of Nasdaq Private Market (NPM). You can follow Evan on social media at: X: @evanepstein LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/  Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/ __ To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/ __ Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License