How Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman found her ideal job: ‘I realized I liked risk-taking more than risk management’

What does it take to lead one of the world’s largest financial marketplaces? For Adena Friedman, chief executive of Nasdaq, the answer has been equal parts curiosity, calculated risk-taking, and a career shaped by unexpected turns.

As CEO of Nasdaq, Friedman leads a workforce of roughly 10,000 employees worldwide at one of the world’s largest exchange operators, home to many of the globe’s most prominent technology companies.

“I really come to work every day with the right attitude; I have a lot of energy,” she said during a fireside chat with David Rubenstein at a dinner hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., on March 11.

Her career journey reflects that mindset. Friedman first joined Nasdaq in 2000 as executive vice president of corporate strategy and data products and later became chief financial officer in 2009. Two years later, a cold call from a headhunter redirected her........

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