Witad Awards 2019 Write-Ups: Reference Data Professional of the Year—Louise Green, Bureau van Dijk

Having the right data, especially reference data, allows firms to make more judicious business decisions. Louise Green, managing director for marketing and communications at Bureau van Dijk, a Moody’s Analytics company, wins the reference data professional of the year category at the 2019 Women in Technology & Data Awards. 

Green, who has been at the firm since its inception in 1991, manages various functions, including thought-leadership creation, sales enablement, communications, knowledge management and demand generation. These functions provide clarity with respect to how reference data can be used to make faster and better business decisions. 

Orbis, the firm’s flagship offering comprising over 300 million entities spread across a large number of countries, helps capital markets firms to make more informed decisions. Green explains that the data within Orbis is standardized with cross-references so that it is easier for clients to compare companies globally. It also contains complementary data to provide a more holistic view of an entity, and has extensive information on how companies are linked and their ownership structures. This helps user-firms understand a company’s scale and its affiliations, which could potentially present them with unforeseen risks. Over the next few months, Orbis will grow its database by a further 30 million companies, according to Green.

In 2018, Green’s team led several successful campaigns and webinars that increased Orbis’ visibility, resulting in higher revenues and market interest in the database. She also played an instrumental role during 2017 as one of the firm’s key presenters to potential acquirers, before the firm was ultimately bought by Moody’s Analytics. 

One of the challenges Green has had to deal with during her career is the range of use-cases for reference data, which are constantly evolving. Agile learning, active listening and critical thinking are vital in this context, so she strives to ensure that her technical knowledge is up to date. “Bureau van Dijk has had, and continues to have, great leadership,” Green says. “The importance of data—quality, scope, depth, etc.—is central to the business, and Bureau van Dijk is all about delivering the best company and entity database. This company-wide aspiration and the range of knowledge in the business continues to inspire and motivate me,” she says, referring to those who have helped her over the years. 

Green learned early on in her career that the “why” with respect to clients is important. She therefore persists with her colleagues in the firm’s sales and product teams until she has the information she needs to understand what customers are trying to do and why.