TD Ameritrade's CIO Jerry Bartlett Focuses on Integrating TD Waterhouse Systems and Business Intelligence
TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.
4211 South 102nd Street
Omaha, NE 68127
SIZE OF FIRM:
Market capitalization of $8.7 billion.
PREVIOUS POSITIONS:
Ameritrade: CIO since September 2005, joined in 1999 and has served as VP of application development and director of application development. St. Paul Co.: led large applications development and database organizations. American Red Cross: manager, systems development.
EDUCATION:
B.S. in technology and management from the University of Maryland.
WHO WAS YOUR MENTOR?
I honestly can't point to a single individual mentor. I have been fortunate to have been exposed to tremendous leaders during my career. The best advice I have ever received is to be introspective and to be self-aware and reflective if you are really serious about your own growth.
LAST GOOD BOOK READ:
"1776," by David McCullough. I love the trial and tribulations that our forefathers faced and the wisdom with which they had to tackle problems that no one had faced before.
Top 3 Current Projects
Systems Integration
Objective:
The No. 1 priority when it comes to technology projects is systems integration related to the TD Waterhouse acquisition. The magnitude of the systems integration is a challenge. Because this is the largest merger in the history of this space, there are a number of system changes that need to occur to insure a smooth integration so the legacy Waterhouse clients and the legacy Ameritrade clients aren't negatively impacted when we consolidate the systems.
Growing the Business
Objective:
This focuses on adding new products and features for TD Ameritrade's three customer segments: long-term investors, active traders and advisers. We really view the long-term investor space as a major growth area, and that was a major driver in our acquisition of TD Waterhouse. It will take us a while to complete the build-out of these new tools geared toward the long-term investor.
Business Intelligence
Objective:
This is getting a tremendous investment from us, and we are doing a complete build-out. We are doing some unique things, such as integrating any type of "business event" that happens on any of our Web properties or IVR so it can be captured in an operational data store. We also are capturing any user activity. This gives us a complete view of our customers' behaviors. Ultimately, this will allow us to serve their needs better.
2007 Initiatives
Programmed Trading
We will continue to focus on the long-term investor products, and we will remain a leader in the active trader space. There will be a focus on programmed trading, and we will have some more-advanced programmed trading features for our active traders.
Analytics
The primary build-out of the business intelligence capability should be complete. So we will take it to the next level of analytics and apply it to real-time decision making for our clients, possibly around offerings we extend to them or maybe for addressing attrition problems.
Vitals
IT Budget:
N/A
Key Technology Management:
- Tate DeCray, VP of Trading Applications, Development
- Bill Edwards, Chief Security Officer ,
- Kevin Finn, VP of Client Delivery ,
- Jim Grech, VP of Engineering and Operations
- Gary Greenwald, CTO ,
- M.C. Sankar, VP of Enterprise Applications Development
Size of Technology Team:
700 IT staff. In 12 to 15 months it should be 600 after the TD Waterhouse integration is complete.
Percent of IT Projects Outsourced:
Less than 10 percent. We are looking at quality assurance and manual regression testing as possible items to outsource.
Key Technology Partners:
We partner with leaders in their respective spaces. We are partnering with firms that are moving away from proprietary solutions and are willing to support our open source vision.
Success Metrics:
We measure success by the growth of the firm. If technology is delivering high-quality products in a timely fashion and those products meet or exceed the needs of our clients, we are successful.
While it is not a new technology, business intelligence and business analytics will have a very significant impact on the growth and success of the business. Have the right information about the clients and their behaviors on the desktops of the people in the organization who can actively use it, and have a culture where that information can be used and acted upon.
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