Witad Awards 2021: Trade execution professional of the year—Danielle Caravetta, Pragma

Danielle Caravetta describes herself as very much an “in-person” and “face-to-face” professional. And as the director of global sales for algorithmic trading solutions provider Pragma, building relationships is integral to the firm’s brand and sales pipeline. 

She is driven by the opportunity to meet with prospects and clients from different business areas, from both the buy side and sell side, and from all parts of the world. 

However, for most of 2020, meeting potential clients, and people in general, was not possible due to the travel restrictions and social distancing measures resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. “Not being able to travel and meet with existing clients and prospects was a major challenge to how I handle my sales process,” she says. 

Like the rest of the industry, Caravetta had to quickly move to video conferencing meetings to connect with clients. Although that doesn’t provide the same experience or impact as an in-person meeting, she found it useful. She also ensured that Pragma participated in some virtual conferences throughout the year. 

One of her primary responsibilities is creating awareness of how firms can use Pragma’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) execution algos. She works closely with Pragma’s quant team and software developers to discuss ideas on trading and market microstructure dynamics, which are then used to build new features and enhancements for clients. 

The biggest challenge she’s faced in her seven-plus years at Pragma was to build brand awareness for the company, she says. “We are based in New York, and without a large, previously established global presence, it took a tremendous amount of discipline, patience and persistence to create that global awareness and establish a client base across both Europe and Asia. That challenge became my biggest success,” she says. 

Caravetta’s goal is to continue building on that success among the broker-dealer, bank, hedge fund, exchange, and vendor community. “When a firm is looking for tools to enhance its algorithmic execution quality, I want them to contact Pragma first,” she says.