When Cboe Global Markets launched its recent search for a new chief executive officer, Chicago was a priority.

The “C” in Cboe stands for Chicago, after all, and acting CEO Frederic Tomcyzk acknowledged that the company’s next leader would need to be a fixture along LaSalle Street. “A strong presence in Chicago is going to be important,” he said earlier this spring.

In May, Cboe tapped Craig Donohue, then-chairman of the Chicago-based Options Clearing Corp. and formerly CEO of Chicago’s CME Group. There’s “no doubt,” Tomcyzk said, that Donohue will “lead Cboe to new heights.”

But how, exactly? For all his Chicago bona fides, Donohue has a history of aggressive dealmaking, and Cboe is a perennial takeover target. It is much smaller than rivals like CME and the Intercontinental Exchange (

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