Virtu Financial Congratulates Akshata Puri and Kayla Mortello for Winning Awards from Women in Finance Americas

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ: VIRT) a leading provider of financial services and products that leverages cutting edge technology to deliver innovative, transparent trading solutions to our clients and liquidity to the global markets, announced that Akshata Puri and Kayla Mortello have both won awards from Women in Finance Americas. These prestigious awards honor highly accomplished women whose entrepreneurial spirit and leadership have made a unique contribution to the industry.

Both based in New York and nominated by their peers, Akshata serves as a Product Manager for US ATS Venues and Kayla is a Senior ETF Operations Analyst.  

Akshata, who took home the Excellence in Trading Platform Award, manages Virtu’s US ATS products, including its flagship POSIT Alert, and services clients seeking to access Virtu’s liquidity. Beginning her career as an intern with ITG in 2008, her role has evolved from technology to business leader. Akshata holds a MS Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania and recently completed her MBA in Finance, Behavioral Science and Marketing Management from University of Chicago Booth School of Business, which required her to travel between NYC and Chicago every weekend for three years.

Kayla, who won the Rising Star award, joined Virtu as a junior analyst in 2017 and quickly emerged as a dynamic leader within the global ETF Operations team. Today, she and her team manage several key aspects of Virtu’s ETF execution and post-trade efforts to help manage the firm’s capital usage and exposure to risk. Kayla strategically understood that coding would be an important tool to expand her career opportunities and to better assist the firm—and having no prior experience—she taught herself this critical skill, which has proven invaluable to her role in automating systems and processes. She is also involved in the recruitment and the training of new hires, as well as serving as a mentor to interns and new hires.

“Both Akshata and Kayla are entrusted with some of the most challenging projects, both internally and externally facing, demonstrating how critical they are to the firm,” said Douglas Cifu, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Virtu Financial. “They are true examples of tenacity, client advocacy and self-initiative, serving as strong role models at Virtu and in our industry.”

“Akshata and Kayla represent the embodiment of excellence at Virtu, clearly demonstrated by their drive, actions and positive attitudes,” said Steve Cavoli, Global Head of Execution Services. “Highly valued by their peers and clients, they are true assets to Virtu and well deserving of their respective awards.”

Additional Virtu Financial women shortlisted for a Women in Finance Americas 2020 award: Christine Ma, Head of North American Client Coverage for Analytics; Diane Neligan, Client Relationship Manager; Ramona Espinosa, Senior Manager of US Clearing Operations and Erin Stanton, Global Head of Analytics Client Services and Coverage. The firm extends its gratitude and appreciation to all these women for the examples they set at Virtu and the financial services industry.

About Women in Finance Awards

Women in Finance (WIF) award winners were nominated by readers of MarketsMedia.com and TradersMagazine.com, and shortlists and winners were determined by the editorial staffs and WIF Advisory Board. The methodology in selecting nominees and then winners for Women in Finance reflects an extensive set of criteria and is based solely on the opinion of market participants.

About Virtu Financial, Inc.
Virtu is a leading provider of financial services and products that leverages cutting-edge technology to deliver liquidity to the global markets and innovative, transparent trading solutions to its clients. Leveraging its global market making expertise and infrastructure, Virtu provides a robust product suite including offerings in execution, liquidity sourcing, analytics and broker-neutral, multi-dealer platforms in workflow technology. Virtu’s product offerings allow clients to trade on hundreds of venues across 50+ countries and in multiple asset classes, including global equities, ETFs, foreign exchange, futures, fixed income and myriad other commodities. In addition, Virtu’s integrated, multi-asset analytics platform provides a range of pre and post-trade services, data products and compliance tools that clients rely upon to invest, trade and manage risk across global markets.