< The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge

Amid sluggish economic and market conditions, revenue was flat across Thomson Reuters in 2014 as the financial data giant continued to reach for returns from Thomson Corp.’s $17 billion acquisition of Reuters Group in 2008. But the company said its Financial & Risk group, which accounted for more than half of its $12.6 billion in total revenue, had its “first year of positive net sales” since that crisis year, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rising 9 percent and operating profit 17 percent. “We’re finally turning back into a growth business,” proclaims David Craig, the London-based president of Financial & Risk since the end of 2011. The group has been focused for three years on streamlining 800 legacy products and consolidating its data and content offerings on three flagship platforms: the Eikon desktop, Elektron for data and trading applications and Accelus for governance, risk and compliance. With the integration nearing completion and the sales outlook brightening, “it gives you confidence to invest,” says Craig. The 45-year-old Reuters veteran and former McKinsey & Co. consultant envisions exchanges, banks, brokerages and content providers using Thomson Reuters’ platforms for their own innovation and product distribution. Craig points to an app built last year in Beijing for Thomson Reuters, now open to customers and third-party developers, showing all qualified instruments that can trade over Shanghai–Hong Kong Stock Connect (see Charles Li, No. 15) as an example of the type of agile development that will be the way of the future. With an eye on the fintech start-up explosion, Craig says Thomson Reuters is ready to take minority stakes in promising ventures. “A couple of years ago, I think the industry was in denial about fintech,” he says. “Now it has finally realized it’s a major shift.”

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The 2015 Tech 50

1. Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange 2. Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp. 3. Phupinder Gill CME Group II Communities on Infrastructure Sponsored by IFM Investors May 16, 2025 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