Ivette
Collazo
Ivette Collazo is
a Managing Director – Category Director Market Data at State Street Corporation within the Global Procurement, Finance division. Ivette
leads the procurement team responsible for overseeing its market data strategy
to align with the firm’s strategic objectives as it pertains to its financial
information requirements.
Ivette brings over 25 years’
experience in the data and technology industry. She started her career at
Bloomberg LP and ascended through the ranks to lead regional sales and account
management handling key institutional buyside clients. In addition, Ivette was
a part of Bloomberg’s intrapreneurial team that founded and launched
Bloomberg’s fixed income electronic trading eco-system, specifically Bloomberg
Bond trader.
In 2001, Ivette joined
BrokerTec, a cross industry fin-tech electronic trading venture led by the
world’s largest investment banks. There, Ivette oversaw Marketing, Media
and Market Data and executed on the marketing and data strategy.
Post-acquisition by ICAP in 2004, Ivette continued to oversee Marketing and
Media Relationships and led the Americas data business managing ICAP’s critical
channel partner relationships.
Most recently, Ivette was at
BlackRock within its Index and Data Solutions team as the Global Head of the
Relationship Management supporting enterprise, strategic data initiatives and
oversaw the management of the firm’s market data vendors in alignment with the
firm’s market data strategy.
Ivette graduated from West
Virginia University with a BSBA, emphasis in Finance.
Ivette is a member of the
Financial Information Services Division, FISD, and is on the Executive
Committee.
Throughout her career, Ivette has
been active in Diversity and Inclusion efforts and has participated in the
women’s networks as an advocate and mentor. Ivette is on the Board
of the Women’s Bond Club and is Co-Chair of the Technology Committee and was
recognized in 2004 as a WBC Rising Star award recipient.
#FridayFaces
Board Member Q&A
What made you want to be on the
board of WBC and how does the work inspire/motivate you?
As a Rising Star recipient, I
admired and was inspired by the women who were on the Board. Their ability to
balance their careers, as well as forge the path for women to be relevant in
their firms and across the financial services community, was admirable. In
2018, I was fortunate to be elected to the WBC Board. Being a part of a
collaboration with my fellow Board Members who are individually accomplished,
trailblazers, motivates me to continue the legacy and heritage of leading the
Club forward in its mission to enable and empower women in financial
services.
What’s a risk you’ve taken to get
to where you are today in your career?
I left a well-known, established
company for a startup. It was scary to take a leap of faith and go to a startup
but this move allowed me to stretch my skills and develop knowledge in areas where I had no previous experience. These
new opportunities really help me to expand my skills of strategic thinking,
business development and negotiation skills. Presenting to groups at every
level on product/development programs and thinking and researching what made
people in our business effective and successful was a valuable
experience. Taking risks can be daunting but focus on the possibilities
and take the risk. By taking a chance – and with the support and advocacy from allies and mentors – making this career change is what ultimately led me to the WBC.
What was your first job?
I started my career at Bloomberg
LP. Given I am fluent in Spanish, I was hired as a Senior Research and Data
Associate covering Latin American markets, global economic and index data.
Working at Bloomberg was the equivalent of achieving an MBA in Finance as it
allowed me to learn the markets firsthand, as well as appreciate the financial
services industry vertical. Further, the opportunity allowed me to be part of a
company that was in my view “an original Fintech” with a culture that embraced
innovation and allowed me to learn from strong women. I’m extremely thankful
for the financial market knowledge and business acumen I developed and how this
translated to other career and professional growth opportunities.
What makes you passionate about
financial services and what opportunities do you see for the future of the
industry?
The financial services industry
continues to evolve and it’s inspiring to see the innovation that is occurring
at such an accelerated pace. It is inspiring to witness how large, financial services firms are addressing and
taking leadership positions on environmental, social and governance challenges.
We see our WBC member firms taking actions to advocate and be a leading voice
to promote and adopt approaches to foster greater diversity and inclusion. My own
firm, State Street, has played a prominent role to advocate through the ‘Fearless
Girl’ campaign for increasing company board representation to include more
women and diverse talent. Over the last four years, State Street Global
Advisors - State Street’s asset management division -- has identified and
reached out to more than 1,486 companies in the US, UK, Australia, Japan,
Europe, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore that had no women on their boards
through direct engagement, a letter writing campaign or using our vote to
address their lack of board diversity.
We’ve seen real progress as a
result of these efforts — 862 (approximately 58%) of the companies we
identified as lacking a single woman director have added a woman to their
board, as of February 2021. While 862 companies have placed women on their
boards, there is still more work to be done. We will continue our engagement
and voting efforts in 2021.
Again, it’s a journey and we’ve
only started to witness the power of our collective community to promote women
to the highest levels. My hope is the term “breaking glass ceilings” will be a
phrase that is part of the past.
What is your golden advice for
emerging female leaders in the industry today?
Having been in leadership roles
for both large and small companies, I’ve learned its important to always stay
true to certain tenants:
·
Be clear with what you expect of people, equip them, and then
get out of the way.
·
Invest in yourself and take ownership and initiative to
develop your business acumen, be curious and acquire knowledge.
·
Build a foundation of the basic skills of finance: revenue/profit
and loss, weighing risk; leadership skills and develop your own leadership
style.
·
Develop strategic perspectives by knowing your industry, your
peers, the landscape of the industry where we operate and familiarize yourself
with technology and how it applies to you and enables what you do.
·
Learn to communicate effectively to convey your point of view
and do not shy away from owning your destiny and cultivate relationships and your network. It is what could land you your next
opportunity.
How have you made the most out of
the Virtual Office Environment this past year?
I am thankful State Street
responded to the public health crisis in an assertive fashion, and the made it
clear throughout the last 12+ months that all decisions being made were based
on ensuring the health and safety of all employees. My virtual office
environment has had its fair share of dogs barking and internet interruptions.
However, as Co-Chair of the WBC Technology Committee, it has also allowed me to
learn new ways to be connected for work purposes but also to participate in our
WBC programming virtually and appreciate new ways technology has enabled us to
be relevant and continue our mission!
Lightning
Round
One word
that describes you?
Passionate
One word
that describes WBC?
Leading
Dream
travel destination?
Maldives
Favorite
hobby?
Lately
skiing, biking
A book
that all WBC members should read?
Primal
Leadership
Happy
hour drink of choice?
Glass of
red wine