Rod began his financial services career in the mid-1990s as a full-service Registered Representative (Series 7) and Registered Principal (Series 24). In 1998, he made his first move into FinTech when he joined CyberTrader, a direct-market-access broker/dealer startup built for active and hyperactive traders. CyberTrader's platform became the dominant trading software for self-directed traders, and Rod was tapped to lead Operations and Brokerage Technology, overseeing order flow management, risk management, and all back-office functions. When Charles Schwab acquired CyberTrader in March 2000 and rebranded it Schwab Active Trader, Rod stayed on as Director of Operations through 2005. He then left Schwab to launch a FinTech vertical for S3 Matching Technologies, a data management company, where he built and scaled S3's Equities and Options Best Execution and Transaction Cost Analysis business. S3 remains the leading regulatory best-execution analysis and reporting vendor for broker/dealers, banks, and other financial institutions. During this period, from 2006 to 2010, Rod also served on the Board of Directors of the Dallas Security Traders Association. In 2011, Rod joined Cyfeon Solutions to launch a FinTech vertical focused on software development for operational and regulatory compliance. In 2014, he co-founded Switchback Partners, a software development firm specializing in transaction and matching engines across several verticals, primarily financial services. Then in 2018, he was recruited to launch Covestec, Inc., an IDFund technology subsidiary formed to build and deliver a fully transactional environment, spanning front end, middle office, and back office, to automate buying and selling in the private markets. Today, Rod serves as Head of Technology at Barramundi, where the systems he oversees have processed more than $500M in transactions for late-stage private companies, representing over $2B in valuations for the firm's investors.