Witad Awards 2020: Technology innovator of the year (vendor)—Reeba Mathen, Cloud9 Technologies

As head of product management at Cloud9 Technologies, Reeba Mathen is responsible for the firm’s entire product vision. With the strong performance of Cloud9 this past year, it is no wonder that Mathen has won the technology innovator of the year (vendor) category in this year’s Women in Technology and Data Awards.

Mathen—the first project manager hired by Cloud9—has always been interested in technology, although even as an undergraduate, she saw the need to have a strong business background and bring these two worlds together. “When you’re in school, you end up doing a lot of projects and you learn how you want to architect a system, but it’s always difficult to learn the skill to translate what you’re trying to build,” Mathen says. “I was not as keen on writing code and architecting systems—I was more keen on saying I need this to work in the first year for a hundred users and in the second year for 10,000 users and this is how it grows. I want to have the tech side and communicate that with the business. I always loved tech, but I knew I wanted to be on the business side.”

Mathen has a double master’s in computer science and information systems. She decided to study information systems to help bolster her skills in translating architecture and technology to business people, she says.

In her position at Cloud9, Mathen is responsible for setting the company’s product vision. She designs and drives product strategy and communicates that to the rest of the firm, as well as with its customers. She was instrumental in pushing for additional functionality in Cloud9’s trader voice platform, including Presence, a feature that alerts traders if and when someone is available for a conversation.

For Mathen, the financial technology world has become more welcoming to women, but it’s more important than ever to lean on those who came before. “The landscape of women in technology is definitely changing,” she says. “There are a lot more avenues for women to be part of technical groups and organizations. I think women helping women is a big thing now, so one thing I tell people who want to get into financial technology institutions is to use their network and say yes, I can do the job.”