Tradeweb Takes Home Two ‘Women in Technology & Data’ Awards
We are delighted to share the news with you that Lisa Schirf and Zara Pratley were recently named winners of the high-profile 2021 ‘Women in Technology & Data’ awards. Covering 34 categories and organised by WatersTechnology, the ‘Women in Technology & Data’ awards provide a launch pad for capital markets firms to recognise and foster their female talent through a focused technology and data awards programme.
Lisa Schirf, Managing Director, Global Head of Data Strategy at Tradeweb was named ‘Market data professional of the year’. Lisa began her role during the height of the global pandemic in May 2020, introducing virtual communications tools that quickly became the core channels used for team communications, and creating a comprehensive suite of data products to share information and insights in a careful and responsible manner. In less than a year, she has managed to drive innovation within Tradeweb and put in place data-driven measures that have acted as stepping stones in the path toward a more data-conscious organisation.
“Tradeweb has lots of different businesses and different teams, and there is a lot of knowledge stored in those business lines, where someone in one area may have an idea that could help clients in another area,” Schirf says. “Part of our job on the data team is to figure out how we can help clients—what problems do clients have, and how can data solve them? All questions, such as how to achieve better execution, lead back to data. People on the team were already working on this. I just formalised it.”
Zara Pratley, Managing Director, Head of European Sales at Tradeweb was named ‘Vendor professional of the year’. Zara is responsible for senior buy-side client relationships and for managing the sales function in Europe across fixed-income, derivatives, money markets, equities, and data products.
Constantly striving towards the outcome of changing the way in which people trade by helping them find efficiencies and cost savings, Zara has been fundamental in driving innovation in market structure at Tradeweb.
Zara is also co-founder and co-chair of Tradeweb’s Global Women’s Network, whose activities continued in a virtual format throughout the office closures forced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Pratley says, “Ultimately, the network is to support women and give them access to opportunities within the firm, but also to network, mentor each other, and sponsor each other. We get a lot of autonomy, and also a lot of support.”
“Tradeweb is already a great place for diversity and inclusion. We have a committee raising awareness and promoting diversity and inclusion. And the Women’s Network at Tradeweb is very important,” she continued.
Making voices heard
At Tradeweb, we take great pride in continued recognition of our staff and their contributions to our firm, and how their efforts have helped create a more inclusive environment for everyone. On International Women’s Day, our CEO Lee Olesky pledged to help the financial services industry carve out more space for women to have their voices heard. And it is such recognition, as well as from important award programmes like ‘Women in Technology & Data’, that will ultimately attract more women to our industry and help promote more female role models overall.
For more information on how Tradeweb provides resources and focus to help our employees develop themselves and our shared culture, please visit ‘Our Employees’ page.