The 2013 Tech 50: Jim McGuire

Like Bradley Peterson, his predecessor as Charles Schwab Corp.’s chief information officer, Jim McGuire has served two tours of duty with the e-brokerage pioneer, with Silicon Valley experience in between. At San Francisco–based Schwab from 1997 to 2004, McGuire’s responsibilities included technology operations and infrastructure engineering. Then, at eBay, where Peterson was CIO, McGuire was responsible for workplace technology and business support applications, as well as the production site operations at its PayPal subsidiary. McGuire rejoined Peterson at Schwab in 2009, and when Peterson (No. 41 last year) departed for Nasdaq OMX Group in January 2013, McGuire was named executive vice president and CIO in charge of Schwab Technology Services, where innovation, development, infrastructure and operations are housed. “I love the critical real-time aspects of the financial services industry,” says McGuire, 58, who majored in computer information systems at Arizona State University and also worked for American Express Co. and Source Informatics. Beyond such current projects as enabling deposits via the iPad and access to the StreetSmart Edge trading platform via the cloud, McGuire is focused on ways emerging technologies can enhance the firm’s customer relationships (8.9 million brokerage accounts; $2.1 trillion in client assets) and Schwab Advisor Services network (7,000 advisers). “We’re in one of the most profound times of rapid change in my career,” he remarks.