Markets Media Group is pleased to announce that Anushree Laturkar of Instinet, LLC will win the inaugural STEM Champion Award at the seventh-annual U.S. Women in Finance Awards, to be held Thursday, November 18.

By way of background, women comprise only an estimated 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and math, and men vastly outnumber women majoring in most STEM fields in college. Gender gaps are particularly wide in some of the fastest-growing and highest-paid professional occupations, such as computer science and engineering.

The STEM Champion Award is meant to recognize a woman with an exemplary STEM background, and who continues to distinguish herself in the discipline as an outstanding woman in finance.

Lorna Boucher, Instinet’s CMO and Global Head of Social Responsibility, said: “We’re so pleased that Markets Media has created recognition for women professionals with STEM specializations as part of their Women in Finance Awards program. Instinet has always been a tech firm every bit as much as a financial firm. Our success is a function of our ability to process and analyze data, build savvy quant models, and engineer technology that increases efficiency and serves our clients’ needs.”

“Virtually every part of the capital markets landscape today depends upon STEM skillsets,” Boucher continued. “So this new award is a welcome addition to an already important industry event. Plus, we could not be prouder that Anushree Laturkar is its inaugural recipient. Those of us fortunate enough to know and work with Anushree see her astonishing skills, as well as her grace under pressure, every day. This honor is very well-deserved.”

As Head of Americas Execution Consulting, Laturkar works extensively with the firm’s sophisticated execution clients to provide bespoke performance analytics and deliver consultative insights related to their trading strategies. In her role as a senior member of Instinet’s global Quantitative Trading Strategies team, she helps to guide research that drives the algorithmic trading models, and works closely with the firm’s software engineering teams to implement quantitative solutions. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in engineering and computer science from the Pune Institute of Computer Technology, and a Master of Business Administration in finance and capital markets from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

“It’s humbling and thrilling at the same time to be this award’s first recipient,” Laturkar said. “The fact that Markets Media created a STEM category for the Women in Finance Awards is cause for celebration. Was it often the case that I was the only woman in the room both at university and in the early years of my career? Sure. And it wasn’t easy to find female role models in my field of specialization. But that never slowed me down, because I’ve always been passionate about this work, and I was lucky to find my way to Instinet, where I enjoy a tremendous level of support, growth and opportunity.”

“The trend for women in STEM – especially in this industry — seems to be moving in a very positive direction,” Laturkar added. “That delights me both as a professional, as well as a mom to school-aged children. I’m very thankful for this honor and I look forward to watching this trend continue to evolve.”

Markets Media Group’s WIF program recognizes and celebrates the most talented and accomplished women in multiple categories across finance. WIF nominees are put forth by readers of MarketsMedia.com and sister site TradersMagazine.com, and shortlists and winners are determined by editorial staff of the two platforms, in conjunction with the WIF Advisory Board.

Last year’s winners included Sylvia Yeh of Goldman Sachs Asset Management for Crystal Ladder; Cheryl Nash of Tegra118 for CEO of the Year; Lucille Protas of MacKay Shields for Lifetime Achievement; and Nancy Reyda of BNY Mellon for Positive Impact.

This year’s WIF program will be broadcast virtually at 4:30 pm New York time on Thursday, November 18. Click here for more information.