Her Story: Eileen Smith

Cboe Blog
March 26, 2019

Though she’s spent her entire working life at Cboe, Eileen has never shied away from new experiences, pursuing leadership roles in technology, a space historically occupied by men. 

Eileen began her Cboe career in 1985 as an intern heading into her final year of college. Among other assignments, she was tasked with printing and organizing instructional materials for some of the very first Options Institute classes.

“It was a completely hands-on experience,” she says. “Everything has changed since then: there used to be 5,000 people on the trading floor and human quote reporters - there were hardly any electronics on the trading floor. Today, billions of quotes are automatically generated each day and there are only a few hundred people on the trading floor.”

 After graduation, Eileen joined Cboe full-time in the Research department, where she learned more about the industry, statistics, product development and the creation of new indexes. Then in 2000, Eileen moved into Systems Planning, with a focus on requirements gathering, project charters and enhancing technology for business teams and the trading floor.

 “Being in systems allowed me to understand the technology side,” Eileen says. “I’ve been really fortunate to have had a lot of exposure and opportunity at Cboe.”

 In her current role as Vice President of Data and Analytics, Eileen leads statistical analysis with the goal to “democratize data,” ensuring Cboe’s data is standardized and consistent. “It’s not lost on me that I’ve come full circle and returned to statistics,” she says with a laugh. “It was the first thing I did at Cboe after graduating from college.”

 Eileen remains an active Albion College alumna. Each year, she invites students from the college’s Investment Club to learn about investing, get a lesson from Ed Tilly and tour the trading floor. “I keep thinking, ‘how do they keep getting younger?’ …but that’s not what’s happening,” Eileen jokes. “I started working here when I was their age; I’ve grown up with my Cboe colleagues. It’s really been a fantastic place to work at all these years.”

Cboe is celebrating the women that make us great all month long. Follow along on your favorite social channel with #CboeWomen.