The list of nominees for the FTF News Technology Innovation Awards 2016 has just been released.
The awards season to recognize the tops in ops has begun with the official unveiling of the nominees for the FTF News Technology Innovation Awards 2016, presented by Financial Technologies Forum and its news arm.
The nominees for the Ops Business Person of the Year, FinTech Person of the Year and Service Provider of the year reflect a mix of new and old school names and technologies and further proof that post-trade securities operations have risen in importance for financial services firms.
Among the new and established names to be nominated are Marianne Brown, chief operating officer (COO) of FIS’s Institutional and Wholesale business and Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, the Blockchain startup that has been getting a lot of attention lining up endorsements and investments.
Brown is a past award FTF News award winner as the readers named her as “Person of the Year” in 2011, an award she shared with Cris Conde, the former CEO of SunGard.
In fact in 2014, Brown left her position as president and CEO of post-trade services and systems provider Omgeo, part of DTCC, and became the chief operating officer (COO) of SunGard’s Financial Systems business. Banking and payments technology vendor FIS completed its $9.3 billion acquisition of SunGard late last year.
Masters spent 27 years at JPMorgan Chase, becoming a managing director at the age of 28, according to her bio on the Digital Asset website. She has served in many senior posts at JPMorgan including head of global commodities, chief financial officer (CFO) of J.P. Morgan Investment Bank, head of global credit portfolio and credit policy and strategy and other senior roles.
Among the other nominees for Ops Business Person of the Year are:
- Industry veteran and standards expert Karla McKenna who serves head of standards at the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) while also serving as a director for Citi. She has been at Citi since April 1984 and has also served as a trust officer for the former Manufacturers Hanover Trust, from August 1981 to April 1984. McKenna has decades of experience in guiding the standards that have optimized operational efficiency.
- Gary Probert, managing director, markets and securities services at Citi has been nominated for expertise in derivatives operations. In July 2009, Probert accepted a position with Citi Markets and Securities Services division, where he is a global product manager within the electronic markets team, according to Citi. He is responsible for developing synergies across Citi divisions, according to the bank. Probert joined Citi in 2000 and was responsible for the creation of the Equity Middle Office globally, which he managed for eight years.
- Louis J. Rosato, III, head of trade operations, North America, BlackRock, is a member of BlackRock’s Investment Operations Group, according to his LinkedIn page. “He is responsible for trading operations in North America and has oversight responsibility across the confirmation and settlements functions for all global products including cash securities and derivatives,” according to the web page. Rosato’s other credits include being co-chair of the Industry Working Group of the T+2 Industry Steering Committee (T+2 ISC) that is driving a shortened settlement cycle for U.S. markets.
On the technology side of the aisle, the following industry leaders among providers have been nominated for FinTech Person of the Year honor:
- Philippe Chambadal, CEO, SmartStream;
- Rohan Douglas, CEO, Quantifi
- Stephane Dubois, CEO and Founder, Xignite;
- Sunil Hirani, CEO, trueEx; co-founder, Digital Asset Holdings;
- Gary Norcross, CEO, FIS;
- Bill Stone, CEO, SS&C;
- And Neil Vernon, chief technology officer for Gresham Computing.
For the Service Provider of the Year prize, the following have been nominated:
- Eagle Investment Systems
- Eze Software Group
- OpenLink
- RIMES Technology
- Smarsh
- SmartStream
Qualified industry participants nominate their peers for the FTF Awards honors and ultimately pick the winners in each category.
The full list of nominees is here.
Voting starts Feb. 24 and ends on March 21. Winners will be announced on April 18.
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