Nick Howard

Managing Principal

Nick began his software development career at ZS Associates as a member of its Mapping and Territory Alignment (MAPS) development team. After several years at ZS, Nick entered the financial markets and joined O‘Connor and Associates as a member of the interest rate options trading group. This was the start of a 7 year period in which Nick traded Eurodollar options for O’Connor/Swiss Bank and several other trading operations.

While trading, Nick continued developing software as an independent contractor. During his time on the floor, he created options pricing programs for many of the brokerage groups at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Nick also developed an options pricing spreadsheet that was used by many of the broker groups at the CME and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) – the precursor to QuikStrike.

In 1998, Nick returned to full-time software development working at The Arbitrage Group hedge fund where he developed trading system support tools for the Equity Option group. Nick spent a year at a dot com called IQ4hire before moving to Zurich Insurance (ZNA) where he was one of the software architects responsible for the design, development and implementation of many of their enterprise level applications. In August 2003, Nick moved to Bantix as a full-time venture.

Nick designed and developed the initial version of QuikStrike as well as the Excel spreadsheet that started it all. He continues to tweak and refine QuikStrike’s functional specs and is intimately involved with all application design decisions.

Nick was an adjunct faculty member at the College of DuPage and the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) where he taught and developed the curriculum for both undergraduate and graduate classes.

Nick holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Northwestern University and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

Tony Andriacchi

VP of Application Development

Tony has over 20 years of experience developing custom business software applications. Tony’s ability to map software solutions to business problems, combined with his architectural and technical expertise have made him a key driver in the success of both our software and consulting practice areas. Tony Andriacchi, one of the founding members of Bantix Technologies, has over 20 years of experience developing custom business software applications. Tony’s ability to map software solutions to business problems, combined with his architectural and technical expertise have made him a key driver in the success of both our software and consulting practice areas.

At Bantix, Tony is one of the key architects responsible for the design and implementation of our second generation QuikStrike pricing and analysis system. Tony used his in-depth knowledge of jQuery and AJAX technologies to help completely revamp the user interface resulting in a responsive and intuitive experience for QuikStrike users. In addition to writing many of the improved tools, analysis features and administrative capabilities of the new QuikStrike product, Tony also designed and implemented the security framework, the UI framework and the database access foundation. Tony’s role at Bantix is not limited to his involvement with the new QuikStrike system. He was also a key contributor to the legacy QuikStrike application and has been involved with countless other projects ranging from enterprise Insurance systems, to eCommerce sites to adhoc trading tools and applications.

Prior to Bantix, Tony spent several years as a technical consultant and manager at ZS Associates where he played a lead role in the development and evolution of its flagship GIS application. Taking it from a rudimentary DOS program to a robust, Windows-based mapping and analytical package and ultimately to the web as a full-featured SaaS GIS product. Before launching into Bantix as a full-time profession in 2003, he spent a year working on Document Generation and Management software at Zurich Insurance as a lead Software Architect.

Tony has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Tony is also a Microsoft Certified Professional.

Mike Stanley

VP of Information Technology

Mike is an experienced professional with a unique mix of technical and business skills. Mike has a solid background in engineering, software design and mathematical analysis that provides him a strategic advantage when tackling complex software development problems. With over 20 years experience in software design and engineering and proven success in a number of project roles, he is a valuable member of the Bantix team.

Mike graduated from Northwestern in 1987 with a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering. He began his career as a business consultant with Andersen Consulting. After two years of developing software applications for manufacturing companies like Ryerson Steel and Pella Windows, he returned to Northwestern to pursue a PhD in Mechanical Engineering where his research efforts were focused on the real-time simulation of dynamic systems. After obtaining his PhD, he served as the head of the engineering department for Swiss Precision Machining, a high-precision manufacturer serving the dental, fiber-optic and automotive industry.

After five years at Swiss Precision, Mike worked for Zurich North American Insurance where he developed a number of software applications including a CAT-modeling application that was nominated for an A.M.Best’s E-fusion award which highlights outstanding and resourceful uses of Information Technology in the insurance industry. Mike joined the Bantix team in 2005, where he has been a major contributor to a number of development projects including a web-based enterprise management system for Arch Insurance, a variety of e-Commerce applications and QuikStrike.