After forging a 15-year career in the Financial Industry, specialising in Data and Analytics, Anya currently leads the Analytics Sales team globally at Deutsche Boerse, the Frankfurt Exchange, as a Vice President. As well as writing several thought leadership articles for renowned publications such as The TRADE, Global Trading Journal and TradeTech, she dedicates time to mentoring junior women with the organisation Women In Banking and Finance (WIBF) to ensure they have the tools and advice to succeed in the industry. It is this work, alongside her recent promotion to lead the sales team globally, that led to her nomination by Deutsche Boerse and subsequent success at the European Women in Finance Awards held in October 2022.

Anya graduated from Loughborough University with an Ergonomics degree that centred on Biomechanics, Anthropometrics and Psychology.  Her first job was a sales role at an IT and Technology company called Freestyle IT. She explained: “I was immediately fascinated with cloud technology and virtual hypervisors which were only just emerging as a new and scalable infrastructure solution. It was not until three years later when I made the move to London that I fell into the financial world, when I joined a niche Hedge Fund private cloud provider known as ECI. It was here that I learned about the buy-side landscape and was successfully promoted after two years to lead sales in Hong Kong for the new office launch in the Asia-Pacific region. Upon my return from Hong Kong, I worked at large data providers such as Thomson Reuters and IHS Markit before joining Deutsche Boerse.”

She continued: “Since joining the firm in 2020, I have been instrumental in growing the European Analytics sales business. The company recognised this growth in revenues by progressing my career to the position of Vice President, with the responsibility for leading the Analytics Sales team globally. I have since hired a team across our global regions and have managed their induction, training and ongoing success.”

For several years, Anya has worked tirelessly to be a mentor and advocate to women in the workplace and gets a huge sense of satisfaction from helping others. She wanted to develop this further so she joined Women in Banking and Finance who match mentors with junior mentees on a six-month programme to guide them through a particular challenge or phase of their career.

Anya commented: “Like most women I speak with, navigating the financial world can be daunting and can throw up some difficult challenges. I would have benefited greatly myself from a mentorship during those junior years and so it gives me immense pleasure to help others in some small way.”

A good mentor will use a variety of skills or aptitudes and Anya believes that most importantly, mentors need to be able to listen, saying: “This is fundamental as most mentees need to vent their frustrations in a safe space. Most mentees I have worked with have been brave enough to voice their concerns within their companies and been disappointed at the lack of action or empathy to specific challenges they have faced. Having a cheerleader that can provide advice and build up mentees’ confidence is essential to ensuring they feel empowered enough to tackle the many obstacles that will come their way.”

Anya’s success follows on from that of Hannah Crompton (00-11) who won the Next Generation Leader of the Year at the Women in IT Awards: UK Edition, last year.  It is a pleasure to see such incredibly talented women being a driving force in an extremely competitive industry.

The Old Pocklingtonian Association recognises the importance of the mentor-mentee relationship through the OP Careers Network and Mentoring programme. The OP Careers Network provides access to OPs for advice and support in a range of business areas and professions. This might include insight visits, placements, work experience, shadowing or mentoring. The mentoring scheme gives younger OPs the opportunity to have a one-to-one connection with an older, more experienced OP in a relevant career sector.  The mentors are all OPs who wish to give something back to younger OPs and share their experiences of opportunities after school or graduation from university.  For more information about becoming a mentor or mentee, please contact the OP office or visit the careers section of the OP website .