Witad Awards 2021: Technology leader of the year—Lauren Dillard, Nasdaq

As a new generation of investors gets more involved in the market, it’s important to make investing and access to financial information more accessible. Lauren Dillard, executive vice president and head of investment intelligence at Nasdaq, has made this one of her key initiatives and is expanding the exchange’s data relationships with financial services firms and startups in the US, Asia, and other regions. 

The result of that strategy is the launch of Nasdaq’s NextGen Solutions and Cloud Data Services (NCDS), which provide firms and developers with access to a variety of datasets. The NextGen Solutions powers a range of financial and news organizations, while NCDS provides clients with access to real-time exchange data, index and fund data through cloud-based technology. Users can now access Nasdaq data through a suite of cloud-based APIs. 

Dillard strives to provide transparency, especially in traditionally opaque asset classes such as real estate and private equity. 

This is the second time in two years that Dillard has topped a category at these awards since their inception in 2018. In 2020, she was named exchange professional of the year. This year, she snags the technology leader of the year award. 

Dillard credits her team for the division’s success. Nasdaq’s investment intelligence division is a 900-person unit providing critical data, intelligence and technology solutions to over 2,100 asset managers, 1,000 asset owners and consultants, and 1,500 market data and index clients.

Some of her priorities moving into 2021 and beyond include continuing the development of Nasdaq’s data product suite with advanced cloud-based technology to meet global demand in real-time, historical and alternative datasets that substantiate investment theses. Her team is also focused on supporting the analytics and technology tools to meet investors’ needs in both public and private markets. 

As a leader, Dillard feels that leadership, boardrooms, and teams at all levels should reflect what society looks like today. She believes that an inclusive team environment will ultimately drive innovation and better decisions.