Lex Mercatus was founded on January 1, 2023, by Willem Sprenkeler

Before starting Lex Mercatus Willem gained broad supervisory, regulatory, advocacy and communications experience in EU financial markets.

Prior to establishing Lex Mercatus, Willem worked for over 12,5 years in various senior compliance and regulatory roles at Optiver, one of the largest derivatives trading firms globally, including a tenure as the firm's Head of Public Affairs in Brussels.

During his time at Optiver, Willem also served as an executive board member and vice-chairman for the FIA European Principal Traders Association (FIA EPTA) and as board member of the Dutch Securities Institute (DSI).

Currently, Willem presides as the chairman of the board of the Association of Proprietary Traders (APT), and as chairman of the Supervisory Board of Kemp Trading B.V. (Nino Options). Willem is also a member of the advisory board of BrightFunded B.V.

From 2005 to 2010 he was with the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (AFM), where he worked in the capital markets and trading supervision team.

Willem initiated his career between 2000 and 2005 as a stock market reporter for Betten Financial News, later acquired by Dow Jones Newswires.

Academically, Willem holds an MSc in Political Sciences from Leiden University and an MSc in Corporate Compliance & Integrity from VU University in Amsterdam. Furthermore, he has attended executive education at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin and SDA Bocconi in Milan.