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At Your Services: The CIO As Operations Chief

More companies are adding business services to the CIO's responsibilities. Witness Fidelity Investments' latest move.

Earlier this week Fidelity, the largest mutual fund company in the United States, tapped Marvin Adams, who was CIO at Citigroup, as the new president of its shared services organization. Adams will report to Fidelity president Rodger Lawson.

Fidelity's shared services organization has about 12,000 employees, and is made up of its technology group; its enterprise operations group, which provides business services and includes its Fidelity Pricing & Cash Management Services and the company's operations in India; and Fidelity Real Estate Company, which handles its land holdings.

"Marvin Adams is a leader who has wide-ranging experience in technology and operations both within and outside of financial services," said Lawson, in a statement. "As our business relies more and more upon robust technology solutions coupled with efficient operations, Marv's background suits him ideally to help us take the greatest possible advantage of our market-leading capabilities in these areas."

Prior to Citigroup, Adams, 50, was senior VP of corporate strategy and CIO at Ford. Before joining Ford in 2000, Adams was executive VP and CIO at Bank One, where he was responsible for both IT and operations. Before Bank One, Adams did stints at Xerox and IBM.

As the role of the CIO continues to morph, responsibility for more business services is a logical extension of the position. Another high-profile CIO with services under his wing is Filippo Passerini, chief information and global services officer at Procter & Gamble. Passerini was the services chief first, then added the CIO function in 2004, when former P&G CIO Stephen David retired.

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