Soon after graduating from Plattsburgh State University, a man named Mike Rose decided to roll the dice and gave me my first job out of college as a local sports reporter for the Journal News. I’m pretty sure he just needed a warm body to fill a seat.

About 18 months later, a woman named Holly Sraeel took a flying leap and hired me to report on the world of finance for US Banker magazine (now American Banker Magazine). I had no experience in the space, but I guess she saw something. Truthfully, I think she just liked the fact that I could hold my own when talking about baseball.

About two years later, a man named Phil Albinus took a chance and hired me to write about technology—something I hadn’t really covered before—for this here publication. Like Holly, I think he hired me simply because we share a similar sense of humor.

And a little while later, it was Victor Anderson, who had taken the reins as editor-in-chief of Waters, who put his faith in me. I’ll never forget that first conversation with my new boss. In his baritone, South African voice he said: “Tony, I want you to get three of the most influential technologists on Wall Street for the cover of our magazine.” I was about three months into the job here at WatersTechnology, and I needed a drink.

The Next Step

I hope these individuals who took a chance on me feel that I served them well. I know that I am forever indebted to them, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without their help and guidance.

Oh…and where I am today is taking over as the editor-in-chief of WatersTechnology. As many of you know, Victor Anderson has transitioned into a new role, now serving as global content director on the commercial side. It’s been a pleasure working with him all these years and I look forward to teaming up with him on big projects going forward.

Prior to being named editor-in-chief, I had carved out a role for myself as something called editor-at-large. I was the US editor for many years, but I wanted to simply focus on reporting on big, meaty stories. James Rundle took over as US editor and I like to think that we produced some really tremendous articles together, but then the traitorous bastard left to go work at a small publication called the Wall Street Journal. C’est la vie.

The editor-at-large role is an important one, though, because it allows for the time to work on deep-dive articles that are (hopefully) valuable to our readers. So who better than Mr. Max Bowie to take on the challenge?

Anyone who has ever been exposed to Waters and, specifically, Inside Market Data, knows who Max Bowie is—he’s damn near a legend in the world of market data. He will now get to focus on what he loves most: reporting on interesting, exclusive stories and providing guidance to the other reporters on staff.

And these aren’t the only changes taking place here at WT. You will also notice a new—but familiar—face: Jo Wright. Jo was a reporter on Inside Reference Data for about two-and-a-half years. She then joined sibling publication Risk.net, but we stole her back and this is a big win for us. Going forward, she will serve as our UK editor, overseeing the day-to-day operations of our London bureau, joining Wei-Shen Wong, our star Asia editor, Max and I as the core of our managerial staff for editorial.

I’ve been with WatersTechnology for almost a decade and I’m very excited to assume this new role. It will be challenging, but I am taking over something that has been on the way up for a long time. But the only way I will succeed—that we will succeed—is if we serve you well and deliver the kind of news and features that will help you do your job better.

So once more, I’m asking someone else to take a chance on me—you. I’d love to hear from you about how we can improve and serve you better. Please do not hesitate to call (+1 646 490 3973) or email (anthony.malakian@infopro-digital.com) with any thoughts, questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.