< The 2015 Tech 50: Racers to the Edge

Wells Fargo & Co. enhanced its reputation by being one of the few big banks to remain profitable and virtually scandal-free through the financial crisis. Perhaps not coincidentally, the $1.7 trillion-in-assets, San Francisco–based company has maintained technological leadership by building on a heritage that includes some of the first Internet innovations in the 1990s. Last year its number of active online customers climbed 8 percent, to 25 million (out of a total customer base of 70 million), and 15 million are banking on mobile devices. For Kevin Rhein, 61, who became CIO in 2011 after working in card services and consumer lending, the goal is now “a seamless omnichannel experience,” whether customers are online or mobile, on the telephone, in stores (as Wells calls its nearly 9,000 branches) or at 12,500 ATMs. Wells has implemented “click to care” in its mobile app, providing a direct link to call-center operators, as well as image-capture technology to speed up check processing. By year’s end, all 15,000 members of the Wells Fargo Advisors network are expected to have the Smart2Go app for mobile interaction with their clients. Noting that Wells has launched a program to develop relationships with fintech start-ups and to coinvest with venture capital firms, Rhein says, “We have to think about how we deal with disrupters, but we also try to identify technologies that could have legs for our organization.” Rhein, who is based in Minneapolis and presides over a far-flung workforce of 25,000, says that being decentralized, as a result of multiple acquisitions, is an advantage for recruitment. “Our major hubs for tech are in Charlotte, Des Moines, Minneapolis, Phoenix and San Francisco,” he says. “This has allowed us to have a much broader and more diverse candidate pool.”

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. Solana vs. Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: How Do They Compare? Sponsored by CME Group April 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