< The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge

Stressing low operating costs and minimizing brick-and-mortar from its start in 1975, Vanguard Group was “a virtual company before it was cool to be virtual,” says John Marcante, who has worked at the firm since 1993 and has headed its information technology division since 2012. He says that mind-set pervades the culture and informs his approach to IT management. To illustrate what sets the Malvern, Pennsylvania–based, $3 trillion asset manager apart, he points to Personal Advisor Services, a major initiative for retail investors in recent years, pairing automated advice with live assistance. “Computers today provide services like investment advice, asset allocation and rebalancing,” notes Marcante, who led the build-out of the PAS system. “But we combine that with a person to provide peace of mind around moments of truth.” PAS is challenging not only so-called robo-advisers but also traditional human guidance. “Technology is best when we bring the power of people to it,” the 50-year-old adds. On the institutional side, to better serve plan sponsors, his team has developed data analytics and visualization tools to track such defined-contribution-plan indicators as savings and participation rates. The firm is also marrying technology with behavioral finance concepts to help participants with retirement planning. The demand for product and application development requires the IT division to be nimble and test software quickly before going live, says Marcante, who studied business and computer science at Pennsylvania State University and has an MBA from St. Joseph’s University. In 1998, five years after joining Vanguard from General Electric Co., Marcante became head of technology for the institutional business. Three years later he took over global technology operations, focusing on disaster recovery and data center management in the wake of 9/11. In 2006 he switched over to the business side as head of asset management services.

See the full story, “The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge.”

 
The 2015 Tech 50

1. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange 2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. Corporate Defined Benefit Plans Did Better than You Might Think During Recent Volatility Sponsored by Fidelity Investments May 29, 2025 3. Phupinder Gill CME Group 4. Lance Uggla Markit 5. Robert Goldstein BlackRock

6. Shawn Edwards & Vlad Kliatchko Bloomberg 7. R. Martin Chavez Goldman Sachs Group 8. Deborah Hopkins Citi Ventures 9. Stephen Neff Fidelity Investments 10. Adena Friedman Nasdaq OMX Group

11. David Craig Thomson Reuters 12. Daniel Coleman KCG Holdings 13. Michael Spencer ICAP 14. Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. 15. Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing

16. Chris Concannon BATS Global Markets 17. Christopher Perretta State Street Corp. 18. Antoine Shagoury London Stock Exchange Group 19. Kevin Rhein Wells Fargo & Co. 20. Neil Katz D.E. Shaw & Co.

21. Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets 22. Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings 23. Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings 24. Robert Alexander Capital One Financial Corp. 25. Frank Bisignano First Data Corp.

26. John Marcante Vanguard Group 27. Joseph Squeri Citadel 28. Lou Eccleston TMX Group 29. Claude Honegger Credit Suisse 30. Chris Corrado MSCI

31. David Gledhill DBS Bank 32. John Bates Software AG 33. Michael Cooper BT Radianz 34. Gary Scholten Principal Financial Group 35. Sunil Hirani trueEX Group

36. Hauke Stars Deutsche BÖrse 37. Brian Conlon First Derivatives 38. Jim Minnick eVestment 39. Lars Seier Christensen & Kim Fournais 40. Tyler Kim MaplesFS

41. Jim McGuire Charles Schwab Corp. 42. Steven O'Hanlon Numerix 43. Sebastián Ceria Axioma 44. Yasuki Okai NRI Holdings America 45. Stephane Dubois Xignite

46. Mazy Dar OpenFin 47. Brian Sentance Xenomorph Software 48. Mas Nakachi OpenGamma 49. John Lehner BNY Mellon Technology Solutions Group 50. Jock Percy Perseus