Swanson School Honors June Yee Felix as its 2024 Distinguished Alumna in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Above: June Yee Felix (center) with Department Chair Steve Little (left) and Interim U.S. Steel Dean Sanjeev Shroff.
The University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering feted its 2024 class of Distinguished Alumni on Wednesday, April 10 at the University Club. Recognized among this year's honorees was June Yee Felix BSChE ‘78, as the Distinguished Alumna in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.
“One hallmark of a successful engineer - as many of us know - is that engineering provides the foundation to be successful in almost any profession, regardless of the discipline of our degrees,” said Steve Little, Distinguished Professor and Department Chair of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. “June remembered that one of her most interesting classes at Pitt was an early biomedical engineering experience. This was in the 1970s, when some of Pitt’s engineers and medical doctors were intrigued with advances in artificial organs, specifically artificial hearts. June said that class challenged her design and creative thinking as she and her colleagues attempted to conceptualize now not new molecules or chemicals, but the creation of an artificial heart. Since graduating from Pitt, June has had a remarkable career path at some of the world’s top financial institutions: Booz & Company, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, IBM, Citi, and Verifone.”
About June Yee Felix
June served as CEO of IG Group from October 2018 to September 2023 as a non-executive director with the company since 2015. delivers dynamic online trading platforms and educational content to 380,000 retail and institutional clients with access to more than 19,000 markets through market-leading platforms and a range of risk management tools.
During her tenure, IG doubled revenues to exceed £1 billion and doubled profits. Despite market and regulatory challenges, IG has shown its strength in technology and innovation, and June successfully implemented a growth strategy that made it a more diversified, sustainable, and global business. IG successfully completed a $1 billion acquisition of US trading firm “tastytrade” to strengthen its US presence and grew its Japanese business five-fold, making it the leading international player in its sector.
In 2020, June became a non-executive director of RELX, a FTSE 10 company and global leader in information-based analytics and tools company - an “AI Powerhouse” according to Bloomberg. RELX serves institutions and professions across multiple industries including governments, healthcare, and corporations. June serves on the Remuneration Committee and the Audit Committee.
June's career has focused on leading and growing financial services and tech companies in Europe, the US, and Asia Pacific. From 2014-2018 she served as Verifone’s President of Europe and Russia and has held senior positions as the Global Head of Healthcare for a division of Citibank. In this role, she led the creation of a new business that received the Edison Award for Innovation. Previously she was Global Head of Banking and Financial Market at IBM Corporation in New York; and Head of Asia Pacific for Chase Manhattan Bank Global Payments and Treasury Services Division in Hong Kong. In 2000, June was CEO of Certco, a privately backed company providing leading-edge certification technology to the largest Broker-Dealers globally.
In March 2021, June was ranked Number 1 in the Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology in Europe. In 2019, she was a finalist in the business category of the Asian Women of Achievement awards and in 2017 she received the Edison Award honoring excellence in technology innovation. In 2016, she was recognized as the Most Influential Women in Payments by PaymentSource and SourceMedia, and elected to the Innovators Hall of Fame by Banking Technology News.
June is Regional Co-head of the International Chapter of C200, serves on the Board of Advisors for the London Technology Club, and is an active mentor to female senior executives.