Banking Tech Awards USA 2022 Winner: Marinela Tudoran, Credit Suisse

We are delighted to have the opportunity to feature Marinela Tudoran, winner of the Women in Technology (W.I.T.) Award at the recent Banking Tech Awards USA.

Marinela Tudoran, Credit Suisse

Tudoran is a Managing Director at Credit Suisse and the Global Head of Investment Bank Technology, leading technologists in hubs which include New York, Zurich, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India.

Under her leadership, Credit Suisse built and sustained one of Wall Street’s most competitive electronic trading platforms, including Advanced Execution Services (AES®) suite and CrossFinder, one of the world’s largest Alternative Trading Systems. AES has proven itself as a resilient trading platform during extreme market volatility in the 2008 financial crisis, the 2010 Flash Crash, and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Tudoran began her career in academia as an assistant professor before securing research and product development positions at technology firms in Romania and Japan. She had a vision of the potential technology could realise in financial services, especially within trading. When the opportunity arose in 1995, she took an offer to join Credit Suisse in New York. This decision altered not only her career trajectory, but the industry, as Marinela and her small team would pioneer electronic trading as we now know it.

During many years of leading Equities Technology, Tudoran played a transformational role in empowering her organisation to deliver various platforms known for their performance, agility and resilience. These platforms have earned prestigious industry awards and helped to position Credit Suisse at the top of client rankings.

Recent investment bank technology team industry awards include the Banker’s 2019 Tech Award for the EMEA AES Enhanced Adaptive Framework, the Global Capital’s 2020 Electronic Platform of the Year Award for Sphere, and the Banker’s Innovation in Digital Banking Award (Investment Banking category) for SRE and Ai Operations Transformation in 2022.

Tudoran has been previously recognised by the National Organisation for Women (NOW), who awarded her the 2017 Women of Power & Influence Award, celebrating women who are pioneers and role models in their sectors. Previous winners include Gloria Steinem, journalist and social activist, Kimberley D. Harris, former Deputy White House Counsel and Mary Jo White, one time chair of the Securities and Exchange commission.

In early 2022, Tudoran was appointed Head of Investment Bank Technology and Regional Head of Americas Technology. This platform, in addition to leveraging her capability as a technology leader, expands her scope of influence as a powerful long-time champion of diversity and inclusion.

“At Credit Suisse, we are passionate about creating a culture of empowered engineering and are excited for opportunities to invest in the next great technological minds. Technology was once a facilitator. Now it is driving revenue and competitive advantage, and in some cases, technology has become the product. Women, and diverse technologists more generally, will play a crucial role in this evolution.”
Marinela Tudoran

By empowering women to excel into a male-dominated field, helping to build their industry knowledge, and elevating and enabling attributes of resilience, passion, and loyalty, she has also helped raise the profiles of many influential women in finance and technology. She served as a board member and Co-President of the Women’s Bond Club, the first female advocacy organisation on Wall Street.

She also co-founded the Credit Suisse IT Women’s Council, one of the first women-focused employee networks at the firm. Tudoran continues to support a growing pipeline of leaders through mentorship and sponsorship, making a lasting contribution to the D&I goals at Credit Suisse.

“Marinela brings true commitment to her work as evidenced by the implementation of market-leading technology solutions that intelligently answer the needs of the business. Her passion for purposeful partnership and collaboration, coupled with top technical skills and people leadership, make her an inspiration and role model to many. Marinela is not only an accountable leader I’m pleased to count as an executive technology team partner, but also a most deserving recipient of this year’s award.”

Laura Barrowman, CIO, Credit Suisse

“Marinela and her team have played an instrumental role in providing competitive advantage for Credit Suisse. Her dedication, drive and personal commitment to the business outcome has made her an outstanding partner to the equities business for many years. We’re very pleased to see her efforts recognised more broadly.”

Anthony Abenante, Global Head of Equities, Credit Suisse