The 2014 Tech 50: Catherine Bessant

< The 2014 Tech 50: Moving Out of the Lab and Into the Cloud

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Catherine Bessant

Global Technology and Operations Executive

Bank of America Corp.

Last year: 4

Reflecting on one of the biggest jobs in financial technology — or anywhere in banking, for that matter — Catherine Bessant waxes philosophical: “Is technology a supporting element of banking, or is it what we sell?” Bank of America Corp., of which Bessant has been global technology and operations executive since 2010, had 238,560 full-time employees as of March 31. Today, with a $17 billion operating budget, Bessant’s group consists of some 124,000 staff and contractors, 40,000 of whom came on in April, indicating how the balance is tipping at $2.1 trillion-in-assets BofA. “We still have to deliver on all the traditional fronts, reducing the cost of providing services, [ensuring] stability and platform performance,” says Bessant, 54, who previously served as BofA’s president of global corporate banking and chief marketing officer. “But innovation is increasingly about technology capabilities,” which will be critical to growth and competitiveness. Emphasizing the importance of intellectual property, the Charlotte, North Carolina–based bank obtained 265 patents last year, 62 percent more than in 2012. “Think about the transformation of our business model against a backdrop of serving 30 million active online customers and 15 million mobile customers,” Bessant says, noting that delivery channels are changing and customer loyalties can swing in a world of handheld devices and social media. She regards regulatory change as “an opportunity to make our work better. You can’t motivate a large technology and operations organization if you classify a significant portion of the work as a burden.”

The 2014 Tech 50

1 Dave Cross	1	3 IAN CURCIO 2011	4 FayFoto/Boston	5 Teri Pengilley
Thomas Secunda Bloomberg	Jeffrey Sprecher Intercontinental Exchange	Catherine Bessant Bank of America Corp.	Stephen Neff Fidelity Investments	Lance Uggla Markit
6	7	8 Photographer:Charlie Simokaitis	9	10 Mark McQueen
Robert Goldstein BlackRock	David Craig Thomson Reuters	Phupinder Gill CME Group	Anna Ewing NASDAQ OMX Group	R. Martin Chavez Goldman Sachs Group
11	12	13	14	15 Christopher Elston
Deborah Hopkins Citi Ventures	Dan Mathisson Credit Suisse	Daniel Coleman KCG Holdings	Michael Spencer ICAP	Michael Bodson Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.
16	17	18 Todd Plitt	19	20
Joe Ratterman BATS Global Markets	Dominique Cerutti Euronext	Ron Levi GFI Group	Gaurav Suri D.E. Shaw Group	Charles Li Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing
21 Larry Lettera/ Camera 1	22	23	24 XT	25
Lou Eccleston S&P Capital IQ	Lee Olesky Tradeweb Markets	Richard McVey MarketAxess Holdings	Seth Merrin Liquidnet Holdings	Antoine Shagoury London Stock Exchange Group
26 Production	27 Wayne R. Martin	28	29 Thorsten Jansen	30 Adam B. Auel
Christopher Perretta State Street Corp.	Kevin Rhein Wells Fargo & Co.	Peter Carr Morgan Stanley	Hauke Stars Deutsche Börse	Robert Alexander Capital One Financial Corp.
31	32	33 Paul Elledge	34	35 Stephen Brashear
David Gershon SuperDerivatives	Chris Corrado MSCI	Joseph Squeri Citadel	Tanuja Randery BT Global Services	John Bates Software AG
36	37	38	39 Photo Credit: Kevin Irby	40
Gary Scholten Principal Financial Group	David Gledhill DBS Bank	Simon Garland Kx Systems	Cristóbal Conde FinTech Innovation Lab	Jeff Parker EidoSearch
41	42 Jeff Smith Photo	43	44	45
Kim Fournais & Lars Seier Christensen Saxo Bank	Kenneth Marlin Marlin & Associates	Tyler Kim MaplesFS	Jim McGuire Charles Schwab Corp.	Jim Minnick eVestment
46	47	48 tomohisa ichiki	49 David Poultney	50 A.E. Fletcher Photography
Steven O’Hanlon Numerix	Sebastián Ceria Axioma	Yasuki Okai Nomura Research Institute	Niki Beattie Market Structure Partners	Mas Nakachi OpenGamma