I am pleased to announce the winner of this year’s Women in Finance Scholarship! Diana Laura Alvarez Vizcarra, a native of Mexico, will use the award money to pursue a MSc degree in Computational Financial Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.
The FINCAD Women in Finance Scholarship is focused on helping talented women pursue graduate studies and embark on careers in finance. A US$20,000 award is given to one woman annually to apply towards her advanced finance degree. We take immense pride in helping accelerate the winner’s successful path into the industry. This is especially important as we continue to face an uncertain macroeconomic environment due to the global pandemic.
“We are honored to offer this scholarship opportunity each year to one woman working to establish a career in the capital markets or fintech,” commented Mark D’Arcy, President and CEO of FINCAD. “This year, we saw a 60% increase in application submissions, resulting in a larger group of impressive and highly qualified candidates than we have ever seen. I believe I speak for all of my FINCAD colleagues when I say we wish Ms. Alvarez Vizcarra the very best in her studies. We are excited to see the amazing things she does next as she carves out a promising path in finance.”
in all things risk and
finance, Diana loves
to read, and learn
new languages. In
fact, she speaks
Spanish, English,
French, Norwegian,
German and is currently
learning Chinese.
Diana earned her BSc Degree, with high honors, in Actuarial Science from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. “What I enjoy most is quantifying financial risks, including any potential future costs that have a level of uncertainty,” remarked Diana.
Since graduating with her BSc degree in 2017, Diana has launched an impressive career in the capital markets. Some of her roles thus far have included Risk Analyst positions at the Mexican Stock Exchange, Mexican National Foreign Trade Bank and Deloitte. “My first career accomplishment was financial software that I designed to simulate asset prices in stress scenarios at the Mexican Stock Exchange. It was a great learning experience,” said Diana.
It wasn’t long before Diana was hired as a Credit Risk Manager at Grupo Financiero Banorte. “This was an exciting role where I developed credit scoring models from scratch and strategies to mitigate losses or frauds. It was rewarding to see my models put into practice and that consequently portfolio profits increased,” commented Diana.
Currently Diana works at Genworth, where she designs risk mitigation actions including integration of pricing, models, and methodologies. “My most relevant contribution has been implementing a new methodology for economic capital based on the Vasicek model. My next challenge will be modifying and validating the processes involved with adjusting to Basel III, in order to analyze and measure its impacts.”
Diana looks forward to her attendance at the University of Edinburgh this Fall. “I am thrilled to begin my advanced degree program in Computational Financial Mathematics. This is an important step in the journey to reach my goal of becoming a risk manager,” she stated.
Diana is hopeful that other women interested in forging careers in science and math will take the leap. “If I had to give advice to other young women coming up in my field, I’d say to persevere and never give up! If you remain focused and work very hard, you can achieve your goals.”
Learn More
Are you, or is someone you know, interested in applying for this scholarship opportunity? If so, check back with our FINCAD Women in Finance Scholarship web page in Spring 2022 for more details on applying next year. Please note that the scholarship opportunity is open to women of any citizenship who are studying finance in an accredited graduate-level or PhD program.
