The Boston Options Exchange has appointed Scott Morris to its newly created role of chief executive officer, effective immediately.

Morris joins the BOX from his most recent consulting role providing quantitative modeling and computational trading support to clients in the stock and options trading environment. Previously, he was managing director-automated trading & execution group at Goldman Sachs & Co. where he was responsible for a broad range of management and leadership tasks centered on improving the automation of the trading and execution businesses in the equities division.

“The options world is rapidly evolving and BOX is well positioned to take a leadership role in the new paradigm with its enhanced trading engine, SOLA, and strong commitment to provide the fastest, fairest and lowest-priced trading platform,” said Morris. “BOX has established itself as a serious player and as we enter the penny world, its competitive advantages will be further realized in the marketplace.”

The firm says that Morris joins at a time when BOX will be implementing its enhanced trading system, introducing additional trading products and meeting the new industry challenges of penny trading. “Scott is a significant addition to the BOX leadership team with his over 20 years of expertise capitalizing on emerging technologies and trends within the equity options trading environment,” said Kevin Murphy, managing director, Derivative Execution Services, Citigroup. “Scott’s focus on strategy, proven success in team building and strong industry relationships will bring great value to the BOX model.”

BOX was established February 2002 by the Boston Stock Exchange Inc., Montreal Exchange, and Interactive Brokers Group LLC. BOX is an all-electronic equity derivatives market and was created as an alternative to the existing market models.