The wizardry that happens after a securities transaction is executed is much more than pushing a few buttons and hoping for the best.
As one of our current Premier stories points out — “Getting Hired for Ops Gains New Respect,” the work that Ops and middle office staff members have to do has earned them new respect among executives and front office staff, especially during this post-Great Recession era when any false move could prove very painful or fatal. As a source for the story notes, “Operations will never make money, but they can probably blow up the firm faster than any trader can.”
The quote underscores the vital role that Ops and middle office staffs play behind the scenes. But they don’t work alone. They have developed relationships with a variety of counterparties, financial technology vendors, consultancies, custodians, and service providers. They have also had to reach out for support from industry bodies and have had to learn how to work with regulators.
All of this effort deserves special recognition, which is why we developed the FTF News Technology Innovation Awards, an event that has taken on a life of its own.
We do not hand pick the winners – qualified voters do. For our current set of nominees, time is running out and you have only one week left to pick the winners as voting will close on May 9. The rules and regulations for the voting process are on the website, and winners will be announced on May 19.
We have more categories this year and we will be honoring individuals as well as advances in financial technology. The people we have nominated reflect the dynamic diversity of the industry:
FinTech Person of the Year
- Bill Stone, CEO, SS&C Technologies
- Ram Nagappan, CIO, Pershing
- Steven O’Hanlon, President & CEO, Numerix
- Marion Leslie, managing director, pricing & reference services, Thomson Reuters
- Steve Marsh, CEO, Smarsh
Ops Business Person of the Year
- Diana Shapiro, vice president, Citi
- Matthew Lyberg, CFA, CIPM, Vice President, Manager, Performance Attribution, Currency Specialist, Acadian Asset Management
- Roger Cowie, vice president, J.P. Morgan
- Dennis Goodenough, director, industry relations, Volante Technologies
- Cynthia Meyn, executive vice president, operations, PIMCO
We have recently announced that the awards ceremony will be held Monday, June 16, aboard a yacht, the Hornblower Infinity, which will taking off from Pier 40 for a Manhattan night cruise. We are also working on several surprises to be revealed on the night of the event.
So, with more than 7,000 of your peers having already voted, don’t waste another minute. We would like as much participation as possible.
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