Awarded posthumously, Sandra Villena is the inaugural recipient of the ‘Unsung Heroine’ Award

LONDON, MARCH 21, 2023 – WatersTechnology, the leading financial market technology information provider, has posthumously awarded Sandra Villena, Support Specialist at CJC, the ‘Unsung Heroine Award’ at the 2023 Women In Technology & Data Awards. The prestigious awards programme recognises and promotes women in technology and data roles across the capital markets.

Sandra is the inaugural recipient of the ‘Unsung Heroine Award’, a new category dedicated to individuals that go above and beyond to run operational activities and maintenance and provide support in the evenings and during weekends. In her memory, the award will be renamed the ‘Sandra Villena Unsung Heroine Award’ next year.

At the 2023 WITDA

Sandra joined CJC as part of the New York Support Centre in 2017. She quickly became an instrumental and valued member of the US and global operations team, who was constantly at the forefront of technical projects. In 2022, Sandra worked on a high-profile client project with 900 servers, working more than 13 weekends to coordinate and complete – a significant achievement by Sandra and the CJC team.

While Sandra was on annual leave to South America in October 2022, CJC received the devastating news that in a tragic act of domestic abuse, Sandra Villena was murdered. Her family and CJC felt it was important to recognise and remember Sandra’s dedication, hard work, and achievements.

Victor Anderson, Global Content Director at WatersTechnology, commented: “When I first heard about Sandra’s story, I knew immediately that we had to do something out of the ordinary. Not only to acknowledge the incredible contribution she had made to CJC and Refinitiv in the months prior to her passing, but also to use the award to ensure that she would be remembered in future years. We decided that awarding her a category posthumously this year would be a one-off and we didn’t want that. Therefore, we decided to create a new category along with a citation that would in future years provide us with an opportunity to remember her on the day of the Women in Technology & Data Awards. I never had the pleasure of meeting Sandra, but she sounds like an incredible woman who brought happiness to all those around her.”

Paul Massoni, Head of Managed Services (AMER) at CJC, said: “Sandra continually excelled in providing support to multiple disparate IT environments with thousands of high-profile and high-demand end users. In her 5 years with CJC, she tirelessly strove to provide the best-in-class support for Capital Markets, Forex, Equities, and FICC trading as well as for supply chain manufacturing. Her tirelessness and dedication were an inspiration to those who worked with her helping them to excel as well. Sandra showed tenacity and fearlessness in solving problems that allowed her to excel. She was unflappable in the face of pressure in a way that inspired others. Her cool and steady demeanour always helped calm any situation and allow the technical investigations to occur unimpeded. Sandra will be deeply missed.”

If you or anyone you know have been impacted by domestic abuse and would like to support a charity, or speak to someone, details of a few organisations that can help include:

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About Crown Jewel Consultants (CJC)

CJC is the leading market data technology consultancy and service provider for global financial markets. CJC provides multi-award-winning consultancy, operations support (OaaS), cloud solutions, and professional services for mission-critical market data systems. CJC is ISO 27001 certified, enabling CJC’s partners the freedom to focus on their core business.

About WatersTechnology

WatersTechnology is a leading publisher that focuses on data & technology challenges facing the capital markets; incorporating Inside Market Data, Inside Reference Data, Buy-Side Technology, and Sell-Side Technology.