Name: Daniela Peterhoff
Job title: Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Market Platforms
Organisation: Nasdaq
1. Brief description of nominee’s role and job.
Daniela Peterhoff serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer for Market Platforms at Nasdaq. Her role sits at the intersection of corporate strategy, product innovation and operational execution across Nasdaq’s global businesses.
She leads the development and implementation of product roadmaps that reinforce Nasdaq’s leadership in financial technology while identifying new market opportunities aligned with evolving client and regulatory needs.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, she has played a central role in integrating Adenza and supporting the launch of Nasdaq’s Financial Technology division, significantly expanding Nasdaq’s capabilities in capital markets management and regulatory technology. She also oversees the marketing function for the fintech business, ensuring strategic positioning and clear communication of value to a diverse global client base.
A major focus of her mandate is leading high-impact technology upgrades and advancing artificial intelligence initiatives across the organisation. Under her leadership, AI is not treated as an abstract innovation theme but as a strategic enabler reshaping how Nasdaq operates markets and delivers solutions to clients.
2. Short bio (career highlights, education, interests/hobbies).
Daniela has spent more than 20 years in the market infrastructure industry.
She began her career at Eurex in Trading and Clearing Strategy before joining Oliver Wyman, where she became a Senior Partner. At Oliver Wyman, she built and led the Global Market Infrastructure business, the EMEA Corporate & Institutional Banking practice and European strategy development. Her work covered strategy, risk and regulation, operations, technology and M&A across banks, buy-side firms, private equity and market infrastructure providers globally.
Outside work, she finds balance in sport and the outdoors – skiing, playing tennis and horseback riding – activities that reinforce discipline, focus and renewal.
3. What were your professional highlights and challenges of 2025?
2025 was a year of strategic acceleration at Nasdaq.
Cloud Modernisation and Strategic Partnerships Nasdaq’s partnership with AWS established a new model for modernising market infrastructure, combining deep operational expertise with scalable cloud capabilities.
Platform for Growth Transformation Significant progress was made in transforming Nasdaq’s technology architecture through its Platform for Growth initiative, creating more integrated, scalable and client-centric solutions.
The defining challenge was executing this transformation while maintaining the reliability, resilience and performance standards expected of a global market operator. Clients are navigating increasing regulatory complexity and technological disruption; supporting them through that transition while evolving Nasdaq’s own infrastructure was both a leadership challenge and a professional highlight.
4. Tell us about a few of your key achievements throughout your career?
Throughout her career, Daniela has supported the strategic transformation of major global banks and market operators, gaining deep insight into how large institutions navigate complexity while maintaining operational excellence.
Beyond her leadership in the Adenza integration and the growth of Nasdaq’s Financial Technology division, one of her most valued achievements has been building high-performing, converging teams.
She has consistently brought together diverse groups – across cultures, disciplines and organisations – and created environments where collaboration becomes a catalyst for innovation. Whether building new business lines at Oliver Wyman or leading complex integrations at Nasdaq, her experience reinforces a core belief: long-term success is driven by people aligned around a shared vision.
5. What and who inspires, and has inspired, you to achieve your professional success?
Daniela draws inspiration from multiple sources.
Sport has been a lifelong influence, teaching discipline, preparation and resilience – the understanding that sustained performance matters more than isolated moments of brilliance.
She is inspired by entrepreneurs who challenge conventional thinking, identify opportunity in uncertainty and take calculated risks. This entrepreneurial mindset informs her approach to transformation within large organisations.
She also credits several senior leaders – particularly women – whose leadership models demonstrated that strength and empathy, decisiveness and collaboration, ambition and authenticity can coexist. Their example reinforced that leadership does not require conformity to a single style.
6. How have you overcome setbacks, and what advice would you give to others dealing with setbacks?
Her approach to setbacks rests on three principles: perspective, balance and resilience.
Family provides grounding during difficult moments. Professionally, she focuses on process and incremental progress rather than becoming fixated on outcomes. Breaking challenges into manageable steps builds momentum and restores confidence.
Her advice is to avoid reacting impulsively. Take time to understand what happened, extract lessons and design a realistic path forward. Surround yourself with trusted colleagues who offer honest perspective – setbacks are part of leadership, not a deviation from it.
7. What advice do you have for other women who aspire to be in leadership positions? What is the biggest takeaway you want to leave with the reader?
Daniela’s advice centres on four principles:
Build networks deliberately and authentically. Strong networks are built on shared value and mutual support, not superficial connections.
Embrace collaboration as a strategic strength. Bringing diverse perspectives together is a powerful driver of innovation.
Be vision-driven. Leadership requires seeing beyond immediate tasks to articulate and shape a compelling future.
Remain open to unexpected pathways. Career progression is rarely linear; curiosity and courage often lead to the most meaningful opportunities.
Her own career – from strategy at Eurex, to consulting at Oliver Wyman, to executive leadership at Nasdaq – was shaped by curiosity and purpose rather than rigid planning.
The overarching takeaway: leadership is not defined by a fixed path, but by resilience, vision and the willingness to grow beyond comfort zones.