NASDAQ Announces Nomination of Slate of Directors for Newly Formed NASDAQ OMX Group Board

NEW YORK, Feb 25, 2008 (PrimeNewswire via COMTEX News Network) -- The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. ("NASDAQ") (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced the composition of the Board of Directors for The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., effective March 1, 2008. As previously announced, the new Board nominees were selected from the NASDAQ, OMX and Borse Dubai organizations.

The NASDAQ OMX Group Board members include current NASDAQ directors -- Chairman H. Furlong Baldwin, NASDAQ President and CEO Bob Greifeld, Michael Casey, Lon Gorman, Glenn H. Hutchins, John D. Markese, Thomas F. O'Neill, James S. Riepe and Deborah L. Wince-Smith. New members of the Board include Urban Backstrom, Soud Ba'alawi, Birgitta Kantola, Essa Kazim, Hans Munk Nielsen, Michael Splinter, and Lars Wedenborn.

In connection with the proposed nomination of directors for The NASDAQ OMX Group Board, the Company has decided to reduce the number of directors of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC Board ("NASDAQ Exchange") from 16 to 9 directors. As part of this, several current directors of the NASDAQ Exchange Board will be resigning their positions effective as of the closing of the business combination of OMX AB and NASDAQ. H. Furlong Baldwin, Michael Casey, Glenn H. Hutchins, Thomas F. O'Neill, and James S. Riepe will resign from the NASDAQ Exchange Board. Betsy S. Atkins, Christopher R. Concannon and Michael O' Conor will join Daniel Coleman and Merit Janow on the NASDAQ Exchange Board. Ms. Atkins and Mr. Concannon were nominated by the NASDAQ Nominating Committee and Mr. O'Conor by the Member Nominating Committee.

Select individuals will serve on both the boards of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. and the NASDAQ Exchange. Those individuals include Lon Gorman, Deborah Wince-Smith, Bob Greifeld and John Markese.

Robert Greifeld will serve as Chief Executive Officer of NASDAQ OMX and Magnus Bocker will serve as President. Urban Backstrom will serve as Vice Chairman.

The background for each NASDAQ OMX Group director is highlighted below.

H. Furlong Baldwin was elected non-executive Chairman of our board of directors effective May 12, 2003 and has been a member of the board of directors since July 2000. Mr. Baldwin also served as a member of NASD's board of governors from 1999 until 2003. Mr. Baldwin served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Mercantile Bankshares Corporation, a multi-bank holding company, from April 1976 until March 2001. Mr. Baldwin retired as Chairman and member of the Mercantile board of directors in March 2003. Mr. Baldwin joined Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Company in 1956 and was elected President of Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Company and Mercantile Bankshares Corporation in 1970, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1976. Mr. Baldwin serves on the boards of W.R. Grace & Co., Platinum Underwriters Holdings, Ltd., The Wills Group, and Allegheny Energy, Inc.

Michael Casey was elected to the board of directors in January 2001. He is a Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks Corporation, a leading roaster and retailer of specialty coffee. Prior to his current position, Mr. Casey served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of Starbucks from September 1997 to October 2007 and Senior Vice President and CFO from August 1995.

Lon Gorman is the retired Vice Chairman of The Charles Schwab Corporation and President of Schwab Institutional and Asset Management. Schwab Institutional and Asset Management consisted of four principal business groups: Charles Schwab Capital Markets, Services for Investment Managers, Asset Management Products and Services, and Schwab Corporate Services. Together they represented over 30% of Schwab's revenues. Mr. Gorman was a member of the Executive Committee of The Charles Schwab Corporation. He served on Schwab's Global Risk Committee. Mr. Gorman joined Schwab in June 1996 following 16 years at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was Managing Director and head of global equity trading. Prior to CSFB, he was a partner at F. Eberstadt & Co. with responsibility for institutional sales and trading. Mr. Gorman currently serves on the board of directors of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. and NYFIX, Inc. (a leader in technology solutions for the financial marketplace). He served on the National Organization of Investment Professionals (NOIP) board, and was an Advisory Board member of Pace University's Lubin School of Business. He has also served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Securities Industry Association (SIA), Co-Chairman of the SIA Market Structure Committee, and as a member of the SIA Public Trust & Confidence Committee and the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ Quality of Markets committees. He attended Adelphi University.

Robert Greifeld is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ), the largest U.S. electronic stock exchange. Greifeld has a 20-year history in technology, and as an entrepreneur created one of the first electronic stock order matching systems. Today he leads a stock exchange that is recognized as one of the most dynamic capital markets in the world, with leading edge technology and trading systems that set the pace for global markets. NASDAQ's growth as a company has been impressive, with 13 consecutive quarters of top line growth. The year 2007 was NASDAQ's most successful since it began reporting financials in 1997, and in 2005, NASDAQ's stock was the number one performer across all markets. Greifeld has been a strong advocate of modernizing stock markets to improve trading quality and performance for the benefit of companies and investors. Prior to joining NASDAQ, Greifeld led the sell-side businesses and the buy-side transaction routing businesses for SunGard Data Systems Inc. While serving as President and Chief Operating Officer of Automated Securities Clearance, Inc. Greifeld led the team that created BRASS and made it the industry standard trade order management system for NASDAQ stocks. Greifeld holds a Masters in Business from New York University, Stern School of Business and a B.A. in English from Iona College. His graduate school thesis was on the operation of The NASDAQ Stock Market. Greifeld is Chairman of the USA Track & Field Foundation and serves as a Vice Chairman on the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board. He is a member of the Partnership for New York City, an organization devoted to enhancing the local economy.

Glenn H. Hutchins is a founder and managing member of Silver Lake, the leading investment firm focused on private equity investments in the technology industry. Silver Lake seeks to achieve superior financial returns by investing with the strategic insights of an experienced industry participant, the operating advantages of a world-class manager, and the return objectives of a disciplined financial investor. He has spent his business career as a private equity investor in growth companies and large-scale buyouts. Prior to founding Silver Lake, Mr. Hutchins was a Senior Managing Director and General Partner of the Blackstone Group, L.P. ("Blackstone") and a Managing Director of Thomas H. Lee Company ("THL"). Mr. Hutchins is active in public and charitable service. Between his stints at THL and Blackstone, Mr. Hutchins served President Clinton in both the transition and the White House as a Special Advisor on economic and healthcare policy. After leaving government, Mr. Hutchins was appointed by President Clinton to chair an initiative on privatization in the former Soviet Union and by Secretary Rubin to serve on the Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on Financial Services. He is currently a member of the Advisory Council of the Hamilton Project. Mr. Hutchins is a director of the Harvard Management Company which is responsible for the management of the University's endowment. Mr. Hutchins is also a trustee of the Lawrenceville School, the Brookings Institution and the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Mr. Hutchins is Chairman of the Board of SunGard Corp., as well as a director of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. Previously, he was a director of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., Seagate Technology, and Gartner, Inc. Mr. Hutchins holds an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

John D. Markese was elected to the board of directors in May 1996. Dr. Markese served on NASD's board of governors from 1998 to 2002. Dr. Markese is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Association of Individual Investors, a not-for-profit organization providing investment education to individual investors founded in 1978.

Thomas F. O'Neill is a founding partner of Sandler O'Neill & Partners L.P. He began his Wall Street career at L.F. Rothschild in 1972. At Rothschild, Mr. O'Neill specialized in working with financial institutions in Rothschild's Bank Service Group. He was appointed Managing Director of the Bank Service Group, a group comprised of fifty-five professionals, in 1984. Mr. O'Neill joined Mr. Sandler in Bear Stearns' Financial Services Group in 1985, and became a Bear Stearns Managing Director and Co-Manager of the Group. Mr. O'Neill is a graduate of New York University and a veteran of the United States Air Force. He is also a Member of the Board of Directors of Archer Daniels Midland and Company, where he serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee.

James S. Riepe was elected to the board of directors in May 2003. Mr. Riepe served as Vice Chairman of the board of directors of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., an investment management firm, since April 1997. He was also Chairman of the T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds. On January 1, 2006, Mr. Riepe retired from active management at T. Rowe Price and retired from T.R. Price Group in April 2006. Mr. Riepe continues to serve as a Senior Adviser at T. Rowe Price. Previously, he served on the firm's management committee and was responsible for overseeing mutual fund activities, including U.S. and global marketing and service operations. Mr. Riepe served as Chairman of the board of governors of the Investment Company Institute and on NASD's board of governors. Mr. Riepe joined T. Rowe Price in 1982 as Vice President and Director of the firm. He also serves on the board of directors of Genworth Financial. Mr. Riepe serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.

Deborah L. Wince-Smith was elected to the board of directors of NASDAQ in May 2004. Ms. Wince-Smith has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Competitiveness since 2001. In 2006, she was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a member of the Oversight Board of the Internal Revenue Service. She is an appointed member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy, serves on the Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory, and on the boards of several start-up technology companies. In 1989, she became the first Senate Confirmed Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy in the Department of Commerce. Previously, she served in the Reagan Administration as the Assistant Director for International Affairs and Global Competitiveness in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Michael R. Splinter has served as President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as a member of the Board of Directors, of Applied Materials, Inc., the global leader in nanomanufacturing technology(tm) solutions for the electronics industry, since 2003. Under his leadership the company has executed on its growth strategy in the semiconductor and flat panel display equipment markets and entered new markets for energy and environmental solutions, including the solar photovoltaic equipment market. An engineer and technologist, Mr. Splinter is a 30-year veteran of the semiconductor industry and has been at the forefront of many of the industry's most significant technology innovations and transitions. Prior to joining Applied Materials, Mr. Splinter was an executive at Intel Corporation. Mr. Splinter is chairman of the Technology CEO Council, a group of top high-tech CEOs dedicated to advancing policies to ensure and promote U.S. competitiveness through technology leadership. He also serves on the board of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), and is chair of the board of directors for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Mr. Splinter earned both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Urban Backstrom has been Chairman of OMX's Board of Directors since April 2007 and a Board member since 2005. Between April 2005 and April 2007, he served on the Audit Committee and in April 2007, he was appointed to the Remuneration Committee. He is currently, since June 1, 2005, also Managing Director of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, a pro-business non-profit organization representing 54,000 Swedish companies. Between 1991 and 1993, Mr. Backstrom was State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in Sweden. From 1994 to December 31, 2002 Mr. Backstrom was Chairman and Governor of The Swedish Central Bank. During that period he also served on the Board of Bank for International Settlement, as a Board Member from 1994 to 1999 and as Chairman from 1999 to 2002. He also represented Sweden as Governor of the International Monetary Fund, in the Group-of-ten, in the European Monetary Institute, a forerunner to the European Central Bank (ECB) between 1995 and 1998 and in the General Council of ECB between 1999 and 2002. Mr. Backstrom was, in accordance with the Swedish Central Bank Act, restricted from seeking employment for ten months after leaving the Central Bank. From November 1, 2003 he was Chief Executive Officer of Skandia Liv, one of the largest life insurers in Sweden. Mr. Backstrom received his Bachelor of Science in Economics from Stockholm University in 1979 and studied Ph.D. courses in economics at Stockholm University and the Stockholm School of Economics between 1979 and 1981.

Soud Ba'alawi is the Executive Chairman of Dubai Group, the leading diversified financial company of Dubai Holding. It is established to focus on Banking, Investments and Insurance, both at a regional and global level. Mr. Ba'alawi was previously CEO of Dubai Investment Group and played a key role in its foundation and growth. He has more than ten years experience in banking and investment with Citigroup, and was the Vice President of Gulf Treasury in Citibank Dubai. He has also served as Chief Investment Officer of Dubai Internet City and Vice President of The Executive Office. Known for his strategic insights and entrepreneurial vision, Mr. Ba'alawi has overseen the growth of Dubai Group and its local office network that spans from New York through London to Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. A UAE National, Mr. Ba'alawi is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK.

Birgitta Kantola is a member of the OMX Board. She has a Master in Law and is a member of the Boards of Fortum Oyj (Vice Chair), Nordea AB, Stora Enso Oyj, Varma Mutual Pension Company and Vasakronan AB.

Essa Kazim is the Chairman of the Dubai Financial Market. Mr. Kazim began his career as Senior Analyst in the Research and Statistics Department of the UAE Central Bank in 1988 and then moved to Dubai Department of Economic Development as Director of Planning and Development in 1993. He was then appointed Director General of the DFM in 1999. He holds a Master degree in Economics from the University of Iowa and a Bachelors degree in Mathematics, Economics and Computer Science from Coe College, USA. In 1998, he also achieved a Masters degree in Total Quality Management from the University of Wollongong in the UAE.

Hans Munk Nielsen is a member of the OMX Board. He served as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of TDC A/S. Mr. Nielsen is also Chairman of the Board of Collateralized Mortgaged Obligations Fonden. In addition, he is Deputy Chairman of the Board of Nordea Invest. He has also held various positions at the Great Belt Link, Carl Bro Group, Danske Bank and Danish Ministry of Finance. Mr. Nielsen holds a Masters of Science in Economics.

Lars Wedenborn, CEO of FAM (Foundation Asset Management) fully owned by Wallenberg foundations, is a Swedish citizen and has a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Uppsala. He started his career as auditor followed by an assignment as CFO at Cabanco. During 1991-2000 he was Deputy Managing Director and CFO at Alfred Berg, as Scandinavian investment bank. He served with Investor AB, a Swedish holding company, as Executive Vice President and CFO, 2000-2007. Mr. Wedenborn is Chairman of the Board of Novare Holding AB and also member of the boards of OMX and The Grand Hotel.

The following new directors have been elected to the Board of the NASDAQ Exchange. The other 6 directors include Daniel Coleman, Lon Gorman, Bob Greifeld, Merit Janow, John Markese and Deborah Wince-Smith.

Betsy S. Atkins has served as Chief Executive Officer of Baja Ventures, an independent venture capital firm focused on the technology and life sciences industry, since 1994. She previously served as chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCI, Inc., a functional food/nutraceutical company from 1991 through 1993. Atkins was a co-founder of Ascend Communications in 1989, where she was also a member of the board of directors until its acquisition by Lucent Technologies in 1999. Ms. Atkins currently serves on the board of directors of Polycom, Inc., Reynolds American, Inc. SunPower Corp., and Chico's FAS, Inc., as well as a number of private companies. She served as a presidential appointee to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. board from 2001 to 2003 and is a faculty member of the National Association of Corporation Directors, and a Trustee at Florida International University. She is a member of the British Telecom Advisory Board and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Christopher R. Concannon is Executive Vice President, Transaction Services for The NASDAQ Stock Market. In this role, he is responsible for the management and operation of NASDAQ's transaction services business. Mr. Concannon joined The NASDAQ Stock Market in May 2003 as Executive Vice President. As head of Transaction Services, Mr. Concannon has played a critical role in advising on NASDAQ's core trading platform and in obtaining regulatory approvals on significant business issues. He is responsible for numerous trading enhancements to our trading platform and for the introduction of the NASDAQ Market Center, a technologically advanced, high performance system for trading NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX securities all on one platform. Mr. Concannon also helped lead the Brut ECN acquisition, integration and NASDAQ's competitive positioning of the Brut ECN asset. More recently, Chris was a leading member of the acquisition of the INET platform and is currently overseeing the integration process of the newly acquired entity. Prior to joining NASDAQ, Mr. Concannon was President of Instinet Clearing Services, Inc., where he managed the clearing and execution services business offered by Instinet Clearing to numerous broker-dealer clients. Before the merger of Instinet and Island, Mr. Concannon was Special Counsel and Vice President of Business Development for Island. While at Island, he worked closely with the firm's strategic partners and investors, identified potential partners and managed Island's Business Development Department. Prior to joining Island, he was an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in their New York and Washington offices. Mr. Concannon began his career with the American Stock Exchange, where he served as a Legislative Analyst from 1992-1995, lobbying Congress and the Administration on a variety of securities related issues. Mr. Concannon received a B.A. from the Catholic University of America in 1989, an M.B.A. from St. John's University in 1991, and a J.D. from the Columbus School of Law, at Catholic University of America in 1994. He is a member of the New York Bar, New Jersey Bar and the District of Columbia Bar.

Michael O'Conor is a senior consultant with Jordan & Jordan. Since joining Jordan & Jordan, he has worked with broker dealer clients in reviewing, analyzing and recommending changes to their U.S. Equity trading operations with specific focus on order routing and execution. Mr. O'Conor is also the director of Jordan & Jordan's Reg NMS practice. He is recognized as an industry leader in promoting electronic trading, buy-to-sell side connectivity and the use of standardized messaging. Mr. O'Conor's expertise in electronic trading platforms for Cash Trading, Program Trading, IOIs, Allocations, Fixed Income, Financial Futures & Options, Algorithmic Trading and Direct Market Access provides deep insight into trading platforms and market practices for many types of instruments. He served as the Sell-Side chair of the Americas FIX Committee and was the inaugural chair of the FIX for Fixed Income Committee and the Inaugural Chair of the Global Steering Committee of FIX Protocol Ltd. Mr. O'Conor joined Jordan & Jordan after holding the position of Senior Vice President, Director of Electronic Services for Chapdelaine Institutional Equities. Prior to Chapdelaine, he was Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., where he was responsible for design, development and deployment of electronic services connectivity to support Merrill's institutional trading clients worldwide. Mr. O'Conor received a B.S. in Management from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY and a MBA from Adelphi University.

Daniel Coleman was elected to the board of directors in May 2005. Mr. Coleman has served as Joint Global Head of Equities at UBS Securities, LLC, a broker-dealer subsidiary of UBS AG, since July 2005. Mr. Coleman chairs the Equities Management Committee and is a member of the UBS Investment Bank board. Mr. Coleman has been with UBS Investment Bank and its predecessor firms since 1986 and has held several executive management positions, including Head of Equities for the Americas from October 2004 to July 2006 and Head of Equities Trading from June 2000 to October 2004. Previously, he served as Head of Client Trading from September 1997 to June 2000.

Merit E. Janow was elected to the board of directors in May 2005. Professor Janow has been a Professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) since 1994. Professor Janow teaches advanced courses in international trade, World Trade Organization (WTO) law, comparative and antitrust law at Columbia Law School, and international economic policy at SIPA. Professor Janow served as one of seven members of WTO's Appellate Body from December 2003-December 2007. Since 2001, Professor Janow has served on the board of directors of the Capital Income Builder Fund and, the World Growth and Income Fund of the American Funds family. For both funds, she serves on the audit, proxy, and contracts committees. In 2007, she joined the board of another mutual fund of the American Funds, the American Funds Insurance Series (AFIS) and the American Fund Target Date Retirement Series (AFIS).

The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. is the largest U.S. electronic stock market. With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, its systems trade more shares per day than any other U.S. market. NASDAQ is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology. NASDAQ is the primary market for trading NASDAQ-listed stocks. For more information about NASDAQ, visit the NASDAQ Web site at http://www.nasdaq.com or the NASDAQ Newsroom at http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/ .

NDAQG

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