Ned Johnson was CEO back in the mid-90’s when I worked at Fidelity Investments. Today the CEO is his daughter Abby. What hasn’t changed at Fidelity is its commitment to invest in technology to help give it an edge. John Tlumacki writes for the Boston Globe:
Johnson said that when her father, Ned Johnson, launched FCAT in 1999, the goal was to help clients and employees explore emerging technologies that could help spur Fidelity’s growth. Among FCAT’s more recent initiatives: a virtual reality experiment known as “Cora” — created in partnership with Amazon Web Services — that could provide assistance to investors.
“Back in the ’90s, my father was CEO, and he strongly felt there should be a cadre of people in the organization who were charged with researching the cutting edge of technology,” Johnson said.
The company in 2005 started Fidelity Labs to develop new products and services. Among the more recent successes: bSolo, which assists self-employed people with their finances, and an employer contribution program that helps employees pay off student debt.
“We didn’t get to where we are today without pushing ourselves and asking ourselves. . . what in the financial services arena can we reimagine? What can we do differently?” Johnson said.
Read more here.
