Charles Vice is an engineer by training. After earning his degree in that field, he went to work as an analyst for Electronic Data Systems — Ross Perot’s company — with General Motors, designing document management systems for auto, airline, and financial services industries clients.

When he completed his MBA at Vanderbilt, Vice’s career took a different direction. He became a principal of Energy Management Associates, where he provided consulting services to the electric power and natural gas industries.

Then, in 1994, he applied his IT skills to the energy field as a director for Continental Power Exchange, a startup that provided clients with electronic systems for trading electricity. There, he marketed and sold the first electronic energy brokering system to US and Canadian utilities, marketers, and industrial end-users.

After becoming vice president of CPEX, he reorganized the company under new ownership to develop an innovative electronic trading platform that could be easily deployed in different commodities and geographic markets. Along with a consortium of 13 of the world’s largest energy companies and investment banks, CPEX helped launch Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE — an internet-based platform that provides a more transparent and efficient market structure for over-the-counter energy commodity trading. With open, multi-dealer, 24/7 energy exchange, ICE made the old world of manual trading virtually obsolete, with better transparency, more efficiency, greater liquidity, and lower costs.

Vice became Chief Operating Officer of ICE in 2001 and then President in 2005. Now, as Vice Chairman, he oversees global technology, information security and operations. He is regarded as a leader in the application of information technology in the energy and financial services industries.