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

From its start in 1982, Bloomberg was “an instrument for change” in bond trading, Thomas Secunda says. The fact that “Bloomberg brought transparency to very opaque markets,” blazing a trail toward improved price discovery and efficient trading in one type of instrument after another, is one of the accomplishments that makes Secunda, co-founder and vice chairman of the New York–based financial information company, most proud. But the growth, product proliferation and acceleration in the markets and the data volumes they generate have in a sense turned back the clock. “The overflow of information has created new problems with opacity,” Secunda observes. Even users of the Bloomberg Professional terminal network, which has more than 320,000 subscribers around the world, will say: “There is so much here. How can I find what I’m looking for?”

Bloomberg’s 3,000-plus technologists, led by Secunda, whose responsibilities as global head of financial products and services include Bloomberg Professional, are on the case. Harnessing what the 60-year-old describes as “a combination of human intelligence, domain knowledge, natural language processing and machine learning,” they are on a constant quest to simplify navigation and searchability. Historically, to get the most out of the terminal, users needed to understand its intricacies. Secunda wants the platform also to serve nonexperts — or anyone just seeking a quick answer. “We’re trying to have the machine eat the complications,” he says.

Simplification is also on offer from Bloomberg’s $1 billion enterprise business: technology, platform and data management services that Secunda says can save customers significant amounts while generating new revenue for Bloomberg. The return to the firm this year of founder Michael Bloomberg after 12 years as mayor of New York City “has increased our energy level and excitement,” Secunda notes. “He is going to push us. He is a big fan of things being intuitive.”

 
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