Sharon Biran, MD, Chief Client Officer and Member of the Executive Committee at DTCC, won Excellence in Strategic Client Engagement at Markets Media Group’s 2025 U.S. Women in Finance Awards.

How does it feel to win this award from Markets Media?

It’s an incredible honor to be recognized by Markets Media and to stand alongside so many inspiring women who are driving innovation across the financial industry. This award is a testament to the collective efforts of our global team and the progress we’ve made in elevating client focus and delivering strategic value to the industry.

How has your background shaped your approach as Chief Client Officer at DTCC?

Throughout my 30 years in financial services, I’ve had the privilege of leading global transformation programs and driving value for large and complex clients spanning banking and capital markets. My experience has taught me the importance of aligning organizational strategy with client priorities. When you consider the most successful companies in the world, they all share one common attribute: clients are at the center of their strategy and decision-making, with client satisfaction and client needs prioritized above all else.

This is something I’m deeply focused on at DTCC. To deliver on our mission to be the industry’s strategic partner, we’re embedding client-centricity into everything we do, creating differentiated and seamless experiences. Our goal is to ensure that every client interaction strengthens trust.

Walk us through how your team is delivering on this client-centric focus?

We implemented a new client-centric operating model this year, which places a strong emphasis on owning client relationships front to back. Central to this model is the understanding that the most effective relationships are collaborative, prioritizing two-way engagement. We’re listening to our clients, learning from their insights and developing approaches for how DTCC can support their strategic goals. This might include ideas for how DTCC can power operational and financial efficiencies, growth opportunities, potential partnerships, thought leadership engagements, technology advancements, global strategy and more.

It’s been exciting to see the results of this new operating model come to life. We’ve received positive feedback from our clients, and I want to express my gratitude to the collective DTCC teams for leaning in, strengthening trusted relationships and consistently driving value through proactive account management.

How else is your team innovating to deliver more value to clients?

We place a premium on innovation, so there are many exciting initiatives occurring across the team. One of the most noteworthy is InsightsIQ, one of DTCC’s first GenAI tools, which automates insights generation by integrating disparate data and embedding robust access controls. Unlike traditional approaches that require users to manually gather data from siloed systems, InsightsIQ uses agentic AI architecture to intelligently aggregate, interpret and deliver client insights through a natural language interface. InsightsIQ is redefining how our client-facing teams engage, prepare and deliver value. What once took hours, and in some cases, weeks of manual effort can now be accomplished in no time.

That sounds incredibly impactful. How are you communicating value back to the client to ensure they understand what DTCC is delivering to them?

We’ve had a lot of success with a framework that emphasizes holistic value articulation. We are challenging ourselves to continuously improve the tangible value that we are delivering to our clients, as well as expanding the definition of “value” to not only our core processes but also additional dimensions such as tangible capital optimization, resiliency, and even culture and talent development. This framework has enabled us to better demonstrate how the differentiated, tailored offerings we provide can meet the unique needs of clients.

In addition, we’ve established new feedback loops to surface, prioritize and accelerate growth opportunities based on client insights. We are turning insights and data into actionable information to shape business strategy, increase client responsiveness and deliver new or enhanced products and services to the market faster.