Morgan Stanley (MS) confirmed Wednesday that it hired the Merrill technology leader Chris Randazzo as head of technology for its wealth unit.
Randazzo is filling in for Moira Kilcoyne. The company says that Kilcoyne is taking on “broader responsibility as COO of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management” and hence needs the IT support.
“As you know, we are making a $500 million investment in technology, above and beyond basic running costs, all aimed at enhancing the stability and functionality of our new 3D Platform,” said Greg Fleming, president of the wealth unit in a company memo shared with AdvisorOne that was released Tuesday. “We want our technology to be a competitive advantage … Our scale enables us to make this kind of investment, as well as continue to attract the industry’s most talented technology professionals to carry out our strategy.”
According to Fleming, Randazzo has close to 20 years of technology experience, most recently with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BAC).
Morgan Stanley is led by James Gorman, who came to the firm in early 2006, after being at Merrill from 2001 to 2005.
“As a technology leader, Chris has experience across all of the business segments that are strategically important to us: advisory, capital markets and banking/lending … ,” Fleming wrote. “He will join our Executive Committee and partner with all of our senior business leaders to guide our technology platform to the next level.”