Sonal Sakhardande

As the Executive Director of Technology, I was pivotal in transforming the technology organization into a high-performing team responsible for designing, developing, and supporting all products for our most strategic clients. At the helm of a team of 70 software engineers and solutions architects, my focus was building large- scale, proprietary, data-intensive products and applications for the world's largest brokerages and banks including Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and TD Canada, delivering exceptional results for our clients.

With a proven track record of negotiating contracts and service-level agreements (SLAs) and transforming client accounts into thriving growth partnerships, I thrived on building strong business relationships and driving mutual success.

During this time, I also established a new offshore location in Mumbai, India, further enhancing our operational capabilities and expanding our global footprint.

Highlights:
➥ Spearheaded development of a highly resilient and scalable trading and research services platform to accommodate an expanded customer base following the merger of Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade, maintaining exceptional performance and user experience.

➥ Led implementation of Natural Language Processing by leveraging Fincentric's SmartText model to provide advanced text analysis capabilities.
➥ Facilitated integration of MSCI's ESG ratings for over 8,500 companies and more than 600,000 equities and fixed income securities into Charles Schwab's research tool, providing investors with valuable insights into the sustainability performance of companies.

I delivered large-scale, data-intensive enterprise applications and products for some of the world's leading banks and brokerages, managing diverse cross-functional teams of 40+ software engineers, QA testers, and technical leads located across multiple global locations. Clients included Capital Group, Deutsche Bank, MetLife, Prudential Retirement, and Blackrock.
Highlights:
➥ Established and scaled new engineering and client delivery teams in London, Ontario from 0 to 75 in 3 months, creating a pivotal competency to deliver wealth management applications for Canadian clients like Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal.
➥ Developed and implemented a streamlined continuous delivery pipeline, allowing us to deliver updates and enhancements to our clients more frequently and effectively.

As Senior Manager, I led a distributed team of 25+ software engineers across multiple global locations to deliver a suite of Brokerage and Research Services' applications. I successfully onboarded over 100 clients within the first year post-launch, driving revenue growth and establishing strong relationships with key stakeholders. By aligning technology development with business goals and fostering a culture of continuous learning, I maximized client satisfaction and achieved impactful results.

Developed and maintained institutional products, collaborating with customers and product managers to provide technical solutions and participating in code reviews.

• Developed and maintained software solutions for loan processing, account management, and customer relationship management for the largest bank in the US.