Citi's new tech MDs include many MBAs and non-STEM students
As the term managing director suggests, you can't reach the top of the corporate ladder on just individual contributions. At Citi, the most recent crop of tech MDs suggest that technical backgrounds are becoming increasingly optional for tech leadership roles.
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Citi promoted 26 MDs in technology this week. According to social media profiles for those, just 12 of them have obtained a STEM degree. Among them is Greg Lurie, head of technology for its Olympus Markets big data platform in New York. He has a computer science masters, while Mark Ballard, London-based head of execution for global markets, appears to be the only mathematics graduate.
So, what is everyone else studying instead?
MBAs. Rachel Carpenter, COO for consumer technology, is a Wharton MBA grad. Kashif Awan, a Singapore-based technologist working on Citi's electronic trading and controls monitoring platform, is both an MBA and computer science graduate.
Other non-technical degrees include Zoology, held by new London DevOps MD Catherine Ablott. Michael Todisco, a new New York based MD working on blockchain and distributed ledger technology, is an NYU Stern finance graduate.
Citi is in the midst of a technical overhaul, decommissioning inefficient legacy technologies en masse. Its tech has been described as 'the worst on the street,' so perhaps naturally, the bulk of promotions have gone to management and operations-focused staff bringing order to the chaos. Transformation MDs include Gonzalo Cordova, an MBA and LATAM operations and technology transformation business unit manager.
Citi, like other banks, has a separate title for its most technically gifted individual contributors, distinguished engineers. The title doesn't quite carry the same prestige, however, and it's not clear whether it carries greater compensation with it. A now-closed listing for a distinguished engineer in New Jersey posted last month offered a salary of up $300k.
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