Chief People Officer at Nasdaq
Bryan Smith
Employee Networks
Nasdaq’s Employee Networks play an important role in strengthening inclusion, connection, and community across the organization. These networks bring employees together around shared professional interests, cultures, and lived experiences, fostering dialogue, learning, and collaboration across teams and regions.
Uniting our Workforce with International Women’s Day
Our Women In Nasdaq (WIN) employee network observed International Women’s Day in 2025 with a Technology Forum on the theme of Women Breaking Barriers on the Forefront of Innovation. During this conversation, WIN invited inspiring leaders to speak about their career journeys, challenges faced, the importance of women in technology, and how innovation is driving their businesses. WIN also supported Nasdaq’s purpose by hosting local volunteer events to create STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) kits for aspiring young women looking to enter one of these fields.
Honoring Legacy with Black History Month
Each year, in honor of Black History Month in February, Nasdaq’s Global Link of Black Employees (GLOBE), hosts educational and cultural events to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Black Americans. In 2025, GLOBE hosted their second annual Employee Network Symposium, focusing on the theme of African Americans and Labor. During this keynote event, Nasdaq invited the Blacks at Microsoft (BAM) employee resource group to join our employees for a full day of inspirational and informative panels celebrating the Black experience, concluding in an exciting bell ceremony. For Black History Month in 2026, GLOBE hosted an employee wellness challenge, a volunteering event with HBCU (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) Heroes to answer students’ career related questions, and a special Fireside Chat with Martin Luther King III.
Appreciating Global Cultures with APAN
Every year, our Asian Professionals at Nasdaq (APAN) network spotlights holidays from all over Asia. In 2025, APAN celebrated over a dozen unique holidays globally and locally, including Holi, Lunar New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and many more. For Diwali, global offices enjoyed traditional treats and explored the significance of the Festival of Lights. For Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, APAN brought employees together with the theme “A Legacy of Leadership and Resilience,” offering volunteer events, networking, and webinars led by Asian leaders sharing their career experiences and cultural perspectives in finance.
Parents & Caregivers Network Welcomes Families to Our Offices
Nasdaq’s workforce is filled with mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and others who work hard to support their families. Each year, our Parents & Caregivers Employee Network hosts Take Your Children to Work Day in Nasdaq offices around the world to show appreciation for these individuals and help their children visualize our workplace. In our New York headquarters, over 75 children and their parents were invited to sessions on topics including cybersecurity awareness, sustainability, stock market basics, and exploring new technologies. Similar events were hosted in our Sydney, Chicago, Boston, Mexico City, Montreal, Pune, St. John’s, and Toronto offices.
Global Workforce by Gender
Male | 63.3% |
Female | 36.1% |
Undisclosed/ Not Available | 0.6% |
| Total Number of Employees1 | 9,525 |
1 Total includes employees of non-wholly owned consolidated subsidiaries excluded from percentage calculations.
U.S. Workforce by Racial Ethnicity
White | 61.6% |
Asian | 18.0% |
Black | 6.9% |
Hispanic | 5.7% |
Two or More | 0.2% |
Pacific Islander | 0.1% |
Native American | 2.2% |
Undisclosed | 5.3% |
Note: The U.S. reporting on race and ethnicity follows the U.S. Department of Labor’s EEO-1 reporting standards. The races and ethnicities reported are American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Two or More Races, and White. Please note that totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding to the closest tenth decimal point.
Empowering Workforce Success
Our people are the driving force behind our success. Nasdaq’s ability to attract and retain top talent depends on fostering growth, engagement, and wellbeing. We invest in our employees by providing meaningful development opportunities, recognizing their contributions, and creating a supportive workplace.
Accelerating Manager Potential (AMP)
Introduced in 2025, the AMP program is Nasdaq’s company-wide manager effectiveness initiative designed to strengthen leadership capability, reinforce a shared culture, and support long term employee engagement. AMP focuses on building people manager skills across the organization, with emphasis on managing results, people, and processes. Developed and delivered by the Nasdaq People Team, AMP combines live training, practical application, and ongoing peer connection to help managers lead with clarity, accountability, and empathy in a dynamic global environment. In 2025, nearly 50% of our managers attended the program.
Key Program Elements
The content on coaching and delegation provided actionable insights, giving me perspectives and tools that I as a manager can use directly in my interactions with the team.”
Employee Engagement
We engage with our workforce throughout the year, ensuring timely notification of significant operational changes to maintain employee satisfaction and support our culture and engagement strategy. Our engagement scores demonstrate Nasdaq’s high level of employee engagement, and we regularly review our initiatives to identify opportunities to improve.
95%
of employees responded
to the biannual survey in 2025*
*March and September 2025 Employee Surveys (average)
90%
are proud to work for Nasdaq
86%
understand Nasdaq's purpose
88%
would recommend Nasdaq as a great place to work
85%
Culture of Belonging score
(average of “I feel I belong at Nasdaq”, “When I offer my ideas, I feel I am heard," and "I feel respected at Nasdaq”)
92%
feel their manager genuinely cares about their wellbeing
81%
overall engagement score
Health and Wellbeing
At Nasdaq, we understand the impact health and wellbeing has on productivity and employee engagement. We also recognize the important role that our leaders play in creating a culture of wellbeing and belonging. We offer a holistic suite of programs, benefits and resources, known as You&Q, to meet our employees where they are – in their lives and career journeys.
To learn more, visit Nasdaq’s Careers
Prioritize Your Health
- Health care, such as medical, dental, vision coverage, and flexible spending accounts
- Risk insurances, such as short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance
- Hybrid work schedules
- Flex days for employees to care for their mental health and wellbeing
- Paid time off for full and part-time employees including sick leave, vacation and personal days
- Preventative care programs, such as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for wellbeing and mental health
- Access to virtual fitness programs and on-site fitness classes or facilities
- Stress management training and access to a sleep improvement program
Care for Your Family
- Globally, the Company meets or exceeds the local statutory maternity, paternity, parental, and family caregiver leave requirements
- U.S. paid parental leave for employees scheduled to work 20+ hours a week (12 weeks for birth, non-birth parents and adoptive parents, plus an additional eight weeks of disability leave for birth parent to recover from childbirth)
- Canada Employment Insurance/ Quebec Parental Insurance Plan top-up to weekly pay (26 weeks) for parental leave for employees scheduled to work 20+ hours a week
- Canada Employment Insurance/ Quebec Parental Insurance Plan top-up to weekly pay (up to 17 weeks) for compassionate care leave for employees scheduled to work 20+ hours a week
- Subsidies for regular, emergency, and back-up family care (children and elders)
- Paid bereavement leave following the loss of a loved one, family member or friend
- Fertility coverage and adoption/surrogacy assistance
- Dedicated lactation on-site facilities and breast milk shipping (U.S.)
- Pet insurance (U.S.)
Build Your Wealth
- Employee stock purchase plan
- Student loan program (U.S.)
- Retirement plans
Connect with Your Community
- Employee resource groups
- Charitable matching program
- Paid time off to volunteer
Grow Your Career
- Tuition reimbursement for academic degree-granting programs
- Robust learning opportunities
Providing a Safe and Healthy Work Environment
Nasdaq is committed to providing our employees, contractors, and office visitors with a healthy and safe work environment.
2
Work related accidents for employees and contractors¹ ²
0
Days lost to work-related ill-health, injuries, or accidents
0
Fatalities from work-related ill-health, injuries, or accidents
¹ Includes contractors with direct contracted agreement with Nasdaq.
² Two minor work-related accidents related to slip and falls that did not result in lost work time.
For more information, see our Commitment to Occupational Health and Safety statement