CutterCast: AI and Technology Transformation Impacts on Market Data: Friend or Foe?

Angela Centeno has more than 25 years of experience in financial services. Prior to joining Cutter in 2015, Angela worked for The Northern Trust Company in multiple roles including sourcing and procuring enterprise market data, investment operations outsourcing, and vendor and custodian relationships. She previously held senior positions in operations management, project management, data management, and solutions implementation. Angela earned a bachelor of science in accounting and a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Kansas, as well as an MBA in finance from DePaul University. She is a registered CPA.

Recent research assignments and publications include the following:

• AI Use Cases in Investment Management: Infinite Possibilities
• Alternative Investments
• Client Reporting Systems
• Cutter Benchmarking: Alternative Investments
• Cutter Benchmarking: Derivatives and Collateral Management
• Cutter Benchmarking: Firmwide ESG Capabilities
• Derivatives and Collateral Management Solutions
• ESG Data Management
• ESG: It’s a Jungle Out There ─ A Look at the Data Provider Landscape
• ESG Investing: One Vision, Many Lenses
• Market Data Administration
• Private Debt

Kathy McDermott has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Kathy, who joined Cutter Associates in 2011, has authored multiple Cutter Research reports on a wide range of topics. She spent ten years as a consultant for a variety of asset management firms, with a focus on business analysis for front- and middle-office projects. Kathy was previously the senior business analyst, equity trading systems, at Wellington Management, specializing in the firm’s proprietary electronic and basket trading applications. Earlier in her career, Kathy worked for Thomson Financial Services (now Thomson Reuters), supporting FirstCall and PORTIA clients in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand, and later went on to manage PORTIA implementations. She also worked at LongView (now Linedata) as an account manager and then product manager of electronic trading. Kathy earned her bachelor of arts in mathematics from Hamilton College.

Recent research assignments and publications include the following:

• Alternative Data and the Expanding Universe of Investment Information
• Cutter Benchmarking: Data Management
• Cutter Benchmarking: Market Data Administration
• DataOps: In Theory and Practice
• Enabling Data Analytics
• The Evolving Front Office Support Model
• Evolving Data Governance: Building a Data Culture
• Making Snowflake Part of Your Modern Data Platform
• Managed Data Services
• Market Data Administration
• Order Management Systems
• Outsourced Trading: Has the Time Come?
• Reference Data Management Solutions

With over 20 years of market data management experience, Bernardo Santiago has held senior market data management positions within leading tier 1 and 2 financial institutions with the US and Canada. Mr. Santiago’s focus is in cost management, alternative vendor selection and contract analysis and negotiations.

Previously, Bernardo held senior market data management role at Franklin Templeton, Hutchin Hill, RBC Capital Markets, ITG, Wellington Management and WestLB AG where he defined objectives of the team’s effort to provide high quality cost effective solutions, strategic planning, vendor selection, service provisioning, financial reporting and inventory/cost review and control.

Bernardo holds a bachelor of business administration in Management Information Systems from Pace University in New York and a Master in business administration from Florida International University in Florida.

Recent assignments include the following:

• Performed a market data administration assessment for a Risk Management Advisory firm, including, technology, business process optimization, and best practices for vendor management and contract negotiations.
• Assisted with the consolidation of market data contracts across three boutiques that were merging
• Established the market data management practice for the largest hedge fund launch in history at $8B in AUM.

John is a recognized market data and reference data executive with more than 38 years’ experience across the market and reference data industry with strong expertise in procuring data for investment managers and FinTech along with developing effective commercial licensing policies for exchanges, index vendors, emerging alt-data suppliers and data centric Fin Tech. Until 2022, John served as CEO of 3d Innovations a market data products and consultancy organization with a strong 20+ year track record of assisting investment managers and banks identify alternative sources of data and optimize data spend.

His prior roles include serving as Managing Director, Global Head of Market Data, Distribution & Client Audit for the London Stock Exchange Group as well as senior level data management roles at State Street Global Advisors, Columbia Management Group and Wellington Management Company where he managed large market data budgets along with data operations and data quality teams.

In 2023, John founded Watchdog Data Services, LLC, a reference and market data management advisory firm with a unique approach in tackling a broad spectrum of data challenges experienced by investment organizations and data oriented FinTech. Watchdog Data Services provides investment managers FinTech and exchanges with advisory and programs that helps set data strategy, mitigates data usage risk and reduces data costs leveraging proven methods and skills. For exchanges, boutique data originators and FinTech, John leverages his broad experience to counsel these clients on revenue enhancing commercial policies coupled with strong distribution programs that create sustainable revenue growth and stronger client relationships. He also has developed formal partnerships with Cutter Associates, Substantive Research, S4 Market Data and DIACSUS to provide additional capabilities, expertise and scale for larger and broader data licensing engagements.