Racheal Ankrah-Fosu has moved the New York Stock Exchange from measuring trading critical applications in minute increments to measuring in microsecond increments across 11+ global exchanges While she has spent a lot of time traveling to European financial centers, she balances being both a career executive and doting mother to two sons.
Ms. Ankrah-Fosu is active in her community and has actively helped raise money to help Africans cope with the spread of HIV. She has donated time, resources and talent to non-profit organizations committed to raising awareness and funding that will alleviate the plight of disadvantaged and deserving African communities/persons. She has spent time mentoring younger women through NYSE Euronext’s mentoring programs as well as volunteering time at Operation Hope teaching financial and entrepreneurial skills to children.
A child of Monrovia, Liberia, Ms. Ankrah-Fosu emigrated to the US at the age of 14 already an 11th grader. She had already written two college level economic theses in 10th grade at the College of West Africa. She was recruited by top Ivy league schools but had to return to Liberia to receive her “green card” before she could pursue her college dreams and secure those scholarships. Upon her return for what was to be a two-week trip to interview for her green card, tragedy struck. Borders were closed, and she found herself caught in the Liberian Civil War at the age of 16 with only herself to lean on after her father passed away during the war. Nearly losing her life, she emerged a year and half later forfeiting her scholarships. Not to be deterred she received two degrees from Rutgers shortly thereafter. During her time at Rutgers she received many academic achievements and was inducted into the prestigious Cap & Skull Honor Society.
During her time at Rutgers she co-developed, marketed and taught an entrepreneurial program for the Rutgers Cooperative Schools designed for at-risk youth. Upon graduation from Rutgers, Ms. Ankrah-Fosu was recruited to Andersen Consulting (Accenture) where she was promoted to Consultant before leaving 3 years later. She was recruited by the New York Stock Exchange’s technology arm in 1999 and was employed there until 2016, leading a global, micro second level, trading critical performance, latency and capacity management practice. Her role was at the heart of ensuring that NYSE trading critical systems could handle high volume trading days and record-breaking IPOs like the largest ever Global IPO, Alibaba.
She has received many acknowledgment and awards to include: Professional Woman of The Year by the National Association of Professional Women 2013 to 2014; Distinguished Leader by the International Women’s Leadership Association in 2014 and Top Female Executive designation award by the International Women’s Leadership Association in 2016. Ms. Ankrah-Fosu, as a Forte Fellow at Oxford University Said Business School, obtained her MBA in 2017.
Ms. Ankrah-Fosu now brings her Information Technology Management to $4B powerhouse Broadridge Financial as an Information Technology Management Executive responsible for developing the corporate aligned technology enablement strategy and growing the bottom line via technology optimization.
On a personal note, over a 3 period, Ms. Ankrah-Fosu supported her husband and life partner of 18 years through several severe hemorrhagic strokes that re-defined personal realities for her, her husband and her two sons. In May 2016, she lost her husband after a valiant battle to recovery and now is focused on raising their two sons through the challenges that come with losing a husband and father. She is more focused than ever before on following her dreams of succeeding as a global leader and setting a strong example of perseverance and success despite adversity for her sons.