The etf.com Awards: Oh What a Night!

Imagine waiting years to see your friends at your favorite annual party. Thank you, COVID-19! 

When the doors finally opened to the 2023 etf.com Awards on Tuesday, May 2, the sense of reunion was in the air, as 250 industry colleagues, associates and friends poured through to party like it was 2019.  

That happened when etf.com hosted its annual awards gala at the Tribeca Rooftop in lower Manhattan. In addition to awarding winners in 15 categories, marshaled by etf.com Editor-in-Chief Sean Allocca, the event featured a sleek setting, succulent food, drinks aplenty, sweeping nighttime vistas of the Hudson and the soaring towers in New York and New Jersey.  

We were back! Just in time to acknowledge three decades since the launch of the first U.S.-listed ETF, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). Time flies…  

The chatter and vibe around the room was that people were thrilled to be out at a party, to see each other face-to-face. The event was tasteful, and well-paced. (Oscars, take note!) 

“It was a great event,” Ed McRedmond, founder and managing principal of etfEd Advisory. “It’s always nice to get together in-person to meet new people and catch up with old friends and colleagues.”  

He called the mood “pretty upbeat, not surprising given most of the attendees were there since they were nominated for an award.” That fact tells you they’ve been successful over the past year, he added. 

etf.com CEO Mike Morelli kicked off the dinner with a brief speech. “Tonight, we gather to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the ETF industry over the past year,” he said. Those achievements acknowledged the drivers of the industry, “innovators, pioneers, products and leaders,” he added, and many others who daily promote ETFs’ adoption and acceptance.  

This year also saw the relaunch of etf.com, designed to provide faster, more incisive information about the industry. 

The winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Joanne M. Hill, Ph.D., spoke with the enthusiasm of a beginner when she accepted her award. “I was there at the birth of the industry,” said the chief advisor of research and strategy at Cboe Vest. She noted that the first U.S.-listed ETF was a byproduct of a market crash and a bear market, which outlived its fix-it purpose. 

Hands down, though “the most fun,” she’s had, has been working as a co-founder of and a leader of Women in ETFs, an organization that includes thousands of women worldwide working in ETFs, with also a strong representation of men.  

Hill is not one to rest on her accomplishments. She’s now focused on a new era for the industry—fashioning packages in ETFs.  

Buckle in, ETF-ers. Another wild and profitable ride awaits. 

Follow Michelle Lodge on Twitter at lodgemich