The 2014 Tech 50: Christopher Perretta

July 08, 2014

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

Christopher Perretta

Chief Information Officer

State Street Corp.

Last year: 30

State Street Corp. embarked on its Business Operations and Information Technology Transformation program in 2010. Essentially a conversion to cloud computing architecture, such a radical overhaul might have given others pause at that earlier phase of the now-hot IT trend. To executive vice president and CIO Christopher Perretta and the senior managers and board members who signed off on the plan, it was a necessary step toward becoming a digital enterprise. That means “more than just automating things,” says Perretta, a former GE Capital executive who joined State Street in 2007. Now the objectives are more about flexibility and efficiency in managing data, extracting business intelligence and seizing opportunities — not to mention navigating regulatory changes in more than 100 jurisdictions. “The challenge for us is to abstract the capabilities that we need for both internal and external purposes, to leverage those investments across multiple domains,” the 56-year-old adds. “It’s an exciting time because the limitations you used to have you don’t have anymore.” In dollar terms, cloud computing is paying dividends: Boston-based State Street, which has $27.5 trillion of assets under custody and administration, and $2.4 trillion under management, expects cumulative pretax savings from the transformation program to approach $550 million by year-end.

The 2014 Tech 50