Business Intelligence Tools
Kathy McDermott
Managing Director
Kathy McDermott has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. She joined Cutter Associates in 2011 and has authored a number of 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
- Behavioral Analysis in Investment Management
- Client Reporting Systems and Practices
- Data Access for Business Users
- Managed Data Services
- Market Data Administration
- Mastering Client, Account, and Product Data
- Order Management Systems
- Outsourced Trading: Has the Time Come?
- Reference Data Management Solutions
Laura Jesson
Senior Research Analyst
Laura Jesson has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry as a project manager, business analyst, and consultant. She joined Cutter Associates in 2013. Prior to joining Cutter, Laura spent eight years at Wells Capital Management and Evergreen Investments, where she managed investment operations projects. She previously worked at Omgeo as a member of the Central Trade Manager (CTM) product design team. Laura started her career at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) as a process consultant supporting a variety of projects for clients in the financial services industry.
Laura earned her bachelor of arts in economics and psychology from Amherst College. She holds the Project Manager Professional (PMP) certification.
Recent research assignments and publications include the following:
- Client Reporting
- Corporate Actions
- Cyber Security
- Front Office Data
- Managing Operating Costs
- Managing Vendors and Service Providers
- Opportunities for External Sourcing
