Nasreen Quibria

Founder and Managing Director at Q Insights

Boston, Massachusetts

@nquibria | LinkedIn Profile

Can you elaborate on the ‘Q’ connection in your company’s name?

Back in the late 90s like everyone else I jumped on the tech bandwagon. I worked for a start-up firm focused on artificial intelligence. One of my colleagues and founders nicknamed me “Q” from the James Bond movies. Like the character I was an integral part of driving pioneering innovations – along with a last name beginning with Q for “Quibria”, the nickname stuck.

You noted your father has been quite inspirational for you. Why is that?

My dad has always believed my sister and I could accomplish anything as long as we “worked hard” – his constant drumbeat. He used his experiences to propel our own ambitions. He came from a poor village in Bangladesh. He won scholarships throughout his life; in his secondary-school board exam, he was placed number one in the entire country. He did equally well in college to go on to receive a scholarship to Princeton where he received his masters and PhD in economics. He did his post doctorate at Oxford. From there he was a visiting professor at Boston University before moving to the Philippines to join the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He remained at ADB, moving briefly to Japan, until he took an early retirement. Today he’s a professor as well as a consultant living in Maryland. All of those events helped shape who I am today.

He was always honest about his experiences. Nothing came easily. He learned a lot of lessons throughout his career, which he shared with my sister and me growing up. During our own challenging times he always had a story to help guide us…sometimes not always solicited!

He’s also always made us feel a part of his successes. Every time he published an article in a journal he’d excitedly share that “we” were published and point to the name “Quibria.” He’s driven, so it wasn’t surprising when I was younger to hear his assistants say what a tough and demanding boss he was, and yet he was also their favorite. He’s a fair man that believes in meritocracy, which earned him deep respect among colleagues at all levels. He’s very modest about his accomplishments. I have one recollection during one of his visits when I was in college; we sat at a bookstore having coffee and perusing magazines. He glanced at the Time magazine (it was very reputable in those days) and remarked that he had been interviewed by someone at the publication. He was so nonchalant about it, but I was beaming with pride when we discovered several quotes pulled from his conversation. Those are the attributes of the type of person I strive to be – accomplished, inspire confidence, work hard, with humility, and someone who people are eager and enjoy working with.

You spent your formative years growing up in the Philippines. How has that experience impacted you and in particular from a fintech solutions standpoint?

I absolutely loved living in the Philippines, but during those developmental years when we were growing up the political climate and general environment wreaked all sorts of havoc in our lives from coup d’états, earthquakes to typhoons and volcanic eruption. When you have bullets dropping on your roof or standing in front of several feet of ash that changes the way you approach things. Probably for that reason upheaval doesn’t deter me. Similarly, Fintech solutions can be complimentary, but they are also often disruptive to the industry, whether it’s a business model, the way of thinking…and those who can adapt and embrace change will ultimately come out ahead.

FinTech is a “marriage of your two passions: payments and tech.” Can you elaborate?

A common theme across all the positions I’ve held is my passion for technology, from my early days in financial services where I became the go-to-person when it came to the core company software (even though that wasn’t my day job); to when I became a programmer in a speech recognition start-up (one of the Founders suggested I try writing code and eventually ended up with two patents to my name); to become a follower of cutting edge technology as an industry analyst and later working with fintech products.

It was fortuitous circumstances that introduced me to payments when I was getting my MBA. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston sought someone who had a background and understanding of consumer behavior, which is what I focused on in my start-up days studying the impact of technology on behavior. I joined the Emerging Payments Research Group and thrived on learning about alternative technologies shaping payments including contactless, NFC (near field communication) and virtual currencies. Many companies have come and gone since that time, but that was the period in my life that I recognized these were the two areas that I wanted to focus in whatever role or company I was with – at the intersection of technology and payments.

You’ve worked in banking, for the Federal Reserve, and as the Director of Payments for a company. What influenced you to start your own company?

None of my decisions were ever made easily, especially when I’ve held senior roles. Yet, I was always spurred by different motivations at different points in my career –whether it was the desire to part of something bigger, or just personal reasons. But I’ve been fortunate to have maintained wonderful relations with those from my former workplaces, and I’m appreciative of all those experiences, and particularly the people I’ve met along the way.

I’m also lucky to have a very supportive spouse. For a few years he’s been encouraging me to start my own business. He saw the many hours I put in and realized I could have more impact if I were the boss.

A company I worked for was acquired. The culture subsequently shifted radically. I had three different bosses in four years as people kept departing. More work drowned on the few competent who remained. A new boss arrived and moved me into a higher role with significantly more responsibility, without a commensurate increase in salary. Sadly, voicing the topic was not met with the support that I had hoped. Nevertheless, I naively went along believing that merit would prevail.

The ultimate catalyst to move on was due to an eye opening circumstance. A year later I inadvertently learned that my compensation was 75% to that of my male counterpart. I was recognized as having made valuable contributions both internally and externally in the industry, so this reality was jolting. The apologies and overtures came too late. As I did more research into the organization, I realized that out of thousands of employees, even with a handful of women at the upper echelons, a global company of such magnitude lacked any diversity – not a single minority (in other words, person of color) were senior officers or at the Board level. This seemed to signal the lack of scope for mobility for individuals like me.

The easier decision would have been to join another firm, which I definitely entertained. I received very attractive offers, but in the end this was the best move for me. It has also helped that I have clients who told me that they would support whatever path I chose (unaware of the circumstances that prompted my decision). They recognize and value quality work and I’ve been grateful to be able to continue to be part of some forward-thinking efforts. Now I’m loving every minute, especially knowing that I’m in charge of my own destiny.

 

What has been your own personal experience as a women in the financial services space? Have you been aware or impacted by the gender gap?

I chose to tell the above story though I did hesitate, concerned - Will I appear weak? In the end I made the decision to share my experience because maybe it will help others in some way.

As a woman educated from Wellesley College I found it disturbing that my boss had been a woman and who perpetuated the gross inequities between gender roles. To be fair, I’ve had phenomenal women bosses in my career. One such person I admire, Cindy Jutras, I turned to when I was trying to decide if I should embark on my own. She had started her own business a few years earlier and learning that she has had even more success since then has inspired me. She’s provided invaluable guidance along the way and her enthusiasm is infectious.

It’s important for me to point out that I also had great men bosses. Unfortunately sometimes, we as women, are our own worst enemies. They gave me incredible opportunities, and it was my own fears that made me turn down some very significant roles. As women we make a lot of decisions trying to balance our personal lives with that of our career. I had an opportunity to move into a position of considerably more power and pecuniary benefits. Yet, I was concerned with the tremendous responsibility, the weight I would carry and the significant travel when I had hoped to have a family. Later I was given another opportunity to resuscitate a floundering business. In both scenarios I declined.

Other men took the positions and they sat around taking no initiative and certainly not helping the business. It was frustrating to observe. Frequently unqualified men will take (and be offered) positions in business. In the meantime, there are very competent women, but they choose not to move forward because of personal and other factors they face or angst that holds them back. Less frequently do you see unqualified women take positions in which they are not competent, though I’ll admit, I’ve seen this too.

Besides your father, who(m) do you believe has had the most influence with respect to your own career?

I’ve worked in many different types of companies and in different facets, where I’ve had to reinvent myself. So in each of those roles and periods, there wasn’t one single person that influenced my career (besides my father), but I’ve had a lot of champions along the way. My husband is probably my biggest cheerleader. However, I’ve also had those unexpected circumstances where I’ve met not only intelligent, but genuine and kind individuals who have provided support throughout different points in my career.

One such example is Laurence Selinick from Webster Bank and a Board Member of the local chapter of NACHA. We met while I was giving a talk at a conference in NY. We became fast friends. Although we haven’t ever found a way to work together we have mutual respect for one another. He’s always there to lend an ear and has become a mentor to me in the last few years.

Who do you consider to be strong women leaders in the FinTech space?

I struggle with this question. Unfortunately in FinTech there aren’t many prominent women that you can count beyond two hands. I’m certain there are plenty of capable ones, but highly visible ones are lacking. There are those women like Jan Estep of NACHA who are helping to shape the payments industry and Blythe Masters who is moving the industry in an entirely different direction. But these are the same names that many are familiar with. In contrast, with men it’s easy to come up with name after name after name which just speaks to the vast gap in the market that exists today.

As an industry we need to make a more concerted effort to broaden the landscape of women. Although started not that long ago, I love the notion of Women in Payments founded by Kristy Duncan, a platform for women to engage, encourage, and elevate other women.

What do you see as the 3 leading future trends for FinTech?

Great question. Clearly more disruption – certainly in the ways that we expect, but there are some things that will emerge I’m not sure we can even anticipate. The industry is moving so rapidly in many directions from the sharing economy from the likes of Uber and Airbnb, and we’re going to see even more companies emerge that displace the current industries and more unbundling of traditional services. The use of the blockchain, the underpinning technology of Bitcoin, will become more of a norm than the pockets of innovation that we see today. Biometrics is another area we will see a flurry of activity as more and more in the industry move to enhance security to thwart sophisticated fraudsters. Then there is technology that is more out there such as augmented reality. How this will necessarily shape the future, I can’t say, but I’m looking forward to seeing the innovations that unfold.

 

More about Q Insights:

Q insights is an independent woman-owned boutique payments research and consulting firm. Among the types of work we do is to conduct primary and secondary research (interviews and surveys), produce white papers and case studies to consulting engagements focused on leading edge thinking.