2024 Advisory Board

CYNTHIA DIBARTOLO, ESQ. is the Founder and CEO of Tigress Financial Partners, the nation's only disabled & woman-owned investment bank, broker-dealer, NYSE floor broker and research provider. She guides the overall strategy and direction of the firm parlaying her extensive corporate and securities experience into a new generation of financial services firm. Stone X Group Inc., a Fortune 100 Company, owns a minority stake in Tigress Financial Partners.   Tigress is a Member SEC, FINRA, NYSE, MSRB & SIPC.  Cynthia has 30 years of accomplishment-laden experience aligned with Fortune 500 companies, driving achievements in revenue growth, brand expansion and new offerings. Her ability to set the overall vision and strategy for a company propelled her career at Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney-Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bear Stearns. 

Beginning her career as an institutional credit analyst with Bear Stearns, then an attorney with Merrill Lynch, Cynthia segued into a Compliance Director at Smith Barney. She earned a coveted position in management within the Private Client Group at Smith Barney. Upon the integration of Smith Barney and Citicorp, she transitioned to the bank platform spearheading the turnaround of under-performing “franchises". She is credited as a leader behind a plan between Smith Barney and Citicorp Investment Services to develop a Mass Affluent Offering, leading to the integration of the two broker dealers and later assumed a position as a Risk Management Director. 

Cynthia is a 9/11 survivor and became permanently disabled after battling head and neck cancer in 2009.  She then founded Tigress Financial Partners, a woman-owned and operated financial services firm sensitive to people with disabilities. Cynthia was profiled by Forbes CEO Series article entitled “A Tigress in a Shark Tank”. Forbes described Cynthia as "one tenacious Tigress...her father’s words inspired her to pick herself up from tragedy and start a business. Both the woman and her story are unique, amazing and forcefully inspiring." 

Cynthia is also the Member of the BNY Mellon Pershing Minority Business Enterprise Council; Member of the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP) Advisory Council;  Chairperson of the Wall Street Project Economic Summit; Chairperson of the Diversity Broker-Dealer Coalition; Vice President of the Women's Syndicate Association and Chairperson of the Financial Services Committee for the Rainbow PUSH Coaltion. 

Dharrini Gadiyaram is the Global Head of Enterprise Risk Products for Bloomberg, responsible for developing the business strategy across risk solutions including market risk, credit & counterparty risk and collateral management that are used by the sell-side and buy-side. Ms Gadiyaram joined Bloomberg in 2014 and has held various roles including product management for front office risk solutions and FX/commodity derivatives across the terminal, enterprise data and risk solutions. Prior to joining Bloomberg, Ms Gadiyaram led oil refined products and exotic derivatives trading for Credit Suisse, and has held roles in commodities quantitative research and risk technology at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers. She graduated in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Mary Fleisch, Deputy director of market data sourcing and vendor management, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Mary has established herself as an accomplished professional in her field with her expanse expertise in market data content and cost containment, contract negotiation, information technology, compliance, training, library services, record retention, and business continuity, to list a few. 

Investment professionals significantly trust and respect Mary's remarkable communication skills and ability to clearly convey technical information and processes. She is recognized for her ability to lead teams through changes in the workplace while maintaining a positive and productive environment.  She is recognized for being able to cut through the noise and get to the bottom of the issue and work towards a resolution.  

As the Deputy Director of Market Data Sourcing and Vendor Management, Mary manages a team of six professionals responsible for the full lifecycle of data vendor procurement and management that includes data negotiations, billing, and liaising with individual departments as well as acting as a liaison with compliance, audit, human resources, and technology. 

Mary is also Vice President of Cerebral Palsy of Nassau, a not-for-profit entity that assists individuals with disabilities from infants through adults by providing multiple services.  She has been an active advocate for people with disabilities as has also served as Vice President of FedAbility a resource network at the Federal Reserve.  She also understands the pull of life/work balance as she cares for her disabled brother who lives with her on Long Island.  

Marla A. Dans is Head of Data Management and Governance at Chicago Trading Company (CTC) – United States. Prior to CTC, Marla was Head of Data Governance at Tradeweb, consulted for data programs across multiple financial services firms, held a strategic position in JP Morgan Asset Management’s chief data office, and for nearly two decades worked for Morgan Stanley in executive director roles in information technology, across application development, DevOps, infrastructure, and information security roles. 

Marla is an active member of the global Enterprise Data Management (EDM) Council and co-founder of the EDM Council’s Women in Data Forum, a long-term member and former board member of the Women’s Bond Club of New York, and an active member of 100 Women in Finance. She is a keynote speaker and panelist on data and data analytics. 

Lory is a data science director for wealth management technology, responsible for leading global AI initiatives at JPMorgan. As a former law intern, software engineer, business intelligence analyst, research scientist and as "engineer one" of a start-up, she brings a unique perspective on data projects. This diversity of experience has driven her to make data science accessible for everybody. She holds multiple patents in AI applications, and is a published technical author and an international speaker for Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. Lory was named the 2021 Data Science Professional of the Year at the WatersTechnology Women in Data and Technology Awards. Lory holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the University of San Carlos in the Philippines.