Serge Pustelnik

Serge Pustelnik graduated from Rutgers University in 2007 with a BS in finance. He is a student at Harvard Law School studying international law. He is the co-founder of the Harvard Financial Regulation and Tax Law Student Association. He currently works for New Markets Lab in Washington, DC as a legal fellow and is a founder and partner at Algo Design, LP.
Career
Genesis Securities
Serge worked for Genesis Securities from 2001-2010. He had three different positions during his time there. He started as the NASDAQ Equity Trader and Team Leader. He was the youngest and top trader for the firm. He was also the Branch Manager and opened the first outside trading branch, which became the most profitable in Fort Lee, New Jersey. While being the branch manager, he was still Genesis’ top trader.
He was the managing director of global sales. With the position of managing director, Serge, maintained platinum ranking from NASDAQ every year for the trading platform laser. He established an institutional sales desk in the New York headquarters (50 Broad Street). Pustelnik hired, trained, and mentored institutional sales traders and the trade desk.
He oversaw the launch of the first international office in Shanghai, China in 2005. Then launched a second international office in Lviv, Ukraine in 2005 after visiting the country multiple times and understanding their economic and regulatory environment. After the first Ukraine office was successful, he expanded a second office in the capital, Kiev, Ukraine. When Russia moved its tanks into Georgia, Pulstenik was in charge of the team’s evacuation and loss mitigation.
Lek Securities, Inc.
From 2010-2015 Serge worked for Lek Securities, Inc., the number one sales firm globally by volume and revenue. He expanded the firms operations into Eastern Europe and Asia. Serge led on-site training and seminars on how to maximize profits by trading the U.S. markets for India, Russia, China, UK, and France. He was essential in identifying institutional and international investors, introducing them to the firm.
Pustelnik covered U.S. equity for: NYSE, NASDAQ, ARCA BATS, EDGA, and other ECNs and dark pools (Citadel, ITG, PDQ, etc.). Along with covering options for CBOE, NASDAQ, PHLX, NYSE, AMEX, BATS, MIAX, and other option exchanges and dark pools. He on-boarded and provided on-the-ground support to foreign banks and financial institutions like the largest retail brokerage in the Russian Federation: BrokerCreditService, Finam Holdings, Avalon FA, LTD.
Serge led the design and implementation of client’s business continuity plan in Ukraine. He covered inter-bank Spot Foreign Exchange, London Stock Exchange, Frankfurt, and other foreign stock exchanges. He also provided on-site support to foreign banks and financial institutions. He led client data security projects, identified vulnerabilities and investigated potential leaks. He lead the design and implementation of client’s business continuity plan in Ukraine, which was put into effect on the ground in 2014 during the Maidan Revolution achieving no down time. He also consulted on requirement features for another NASDAQ certified platinum platform ROX.
FINRA
Around the spring of 2013, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, FINRA instituted an investigation into the trading practices of certain clients of Pustelnik’s employer, Lek Securities. As part of that investigation, FINRA issued a request for the production of all of Pustelnik’s emails from his personal account. Pustelnik produced all emails in his personal accounts that pertained to Lek’s business, but he refused to turn over the personal emails between him and his wife and a copy of the .pst file from his Gmail account. Such communications were very personal and protected from production by spousal privilege recognized by the Supreme Court and all fifty states. FINRA still wanted copies of these emails. Rather than produce those privileged communications, Pustelnik voluntarily agreed to cease further association with FINRA member firms. He was permanently barred from acting as a broker or associated with firms that sell securities to the public. He was an acting broker for 14 years. None of Pustelnik’s clients were found in violation of any laws or violations as a result of this investigation.
Algo Design, LP.
In January 2011, Serge founded Algo Design. Algo Design consults financial institutions on market connectivity, risk management, and compliance protocols. Here he managed a team of eight developers and analysts that create algorithmic solutions primarily in the financial field. Pustelnik was the chief architect and designer of an automated option conversion platform.
At Algo Design, Serge designed and implemented high frequency trading algorithms, including statistical arbitrage platforms; NYSE and NASDAQ imbalance data feed handlers, and analysis programs. He also designed, developed, and currently maintains a full-circle trade back-office system with reporting, trade reconciliation, and regulatory process tracking.
New Markets Lab
At New Markets Lab, Serge is a volunteer legal fellow for summer 2016. Here he is the chief architect and developer of software that provide a global regulatory navigational system, with crowd sourced feedback: “waze” for regulatory pathways. Because he is experienced in working and living abroad, he has worked on regulatory toolkits for lesser developed countries and low-income countries. He identifies regulations and their effects within the transport sector, provide recommendations to be adopted by the least developed governments to bolster their economies with the least amount of trade-offs. He identifies gaps in regulations and business flow.
SERRA Artist Management
On February 13, 2010, Serge Pustelnik was part of a violin and piano concert and Carnegie Hall in New York City. He co-produced a series of charity New Year Tree plays at Officer’s Hall in Kiev, Ukraine, which benefitted local orphanages.
PILPG Syrian Negotiation Simulation Summer 2016
Here at PILPG, Serge represented the Government of Yemen in multi party negotiations and mediation simulations between the government of Yemen, General People’s Congress, Houthis, and the representatives of South Yemen.

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