Johnson: Innovation at core of Fidelity’s business

ABIGAIL JOHNSON, president and CEO of FMR LLC, parent company of Fidelity Investments, was the featured speaker at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s 2016 Economic Outlook Luncheon. / COURTESY GREATER PROVIDENCE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
ABIGAIL JOHNSON, president and CEO of FMR LLC, parent company of Fidelity Investments, was the featured speaker at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s 2016 Economic Outlook Luncheon. / COURTESY GREATER PROVIDENCE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

PROVIDENCE – Fidelity Investments is well known as a financial services giant, one of the nation’s largest companies specializing in investment and retirement planning. In Rhode Island, 14 percent of the state’s population has a retirement plan at the company through their workplace.
It is less well known as a technology leader, but President and CEO Abigail P. Johnson said Thursday in Providence that innovation is at the core of its business. In remarks at the 2016 Economic Outlook Luncheon, presented by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, Johnson said the company is continually searching for ways to advance its technology systems, to make its services more accessible, and is focused on building that depth in its workforce.
“At Fidelity, we are in the business of doing nonstop innovation,” she said. “We’ve had to work to do new things, and we’ve had to work to do everything we already do in new ways.”
“I challenge everybody to think about remaking, rebuilding, figuring out how to do better the things we already do, as well as thinking about what are the new needs of our customers.”
The company has invested heavily in technology, she said, and employees who can run its systems, and also create new applications, including mobile apps, that will reach customers who access the company’s services through tablets and other devices.
More than 500 people attended the luncheon, representing several dozen companies and institutions such as Providence College, CB Richard Ellis-New England, Dimeo Construction Co., Cox Communications and Delta Dental of Rhode Island.
Johnson, who was a featured speaker at the luncheon, along with Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, said Fidelity has 45,000 employees, so employees need to be comfortable with technology for logistical reasons, to communicate across offices.
When asked how innovation is a mindset at the company, Johnson said that many employees, including herself, are essentially self-taught in technology as a practical matter, because it changes so rapidly. “The pace of change is just so quick,” she said.
Both Johnson and Raimondo addressed the particular impact of younger Americans, the millennial generation, generally described as being born after 1980.
In some ways, this demographic represents a unique challenge, Johnson said.
“How do we engage people who are younger, who think retirement is so far off, and [who think] by the way, I don’t have any money anyway,” she said.
The challenge is to get these younger workers saving now, before they find themselves, at 40, as many older Americans have, without any savings at all, “and go into a panic,” she said.
From many employers, the company receives exhortations to come speak to their employees about how a 401K plan works, and why it’s important, she said.
Raimondo said her administration has tried to create new incentives to encourage millennial graduates to remain in Rhode Island, and keep their education and talents here. She spoke at the University of Rhode Island graduation, she said, as well as at a recent Brown University “Hack-a-Thon,” where she encouraged the students to find a job in Rhode Island.
“We need these young people who are graduating,” Raimondo said. “We need this talent.”
In later remarks, University of Rhode Island President David M. Dooley spoke on the mindset of students and recent graduates. He is optimistic about the future of the country, because the younger generation is prepared and understands the challenges they face.
At URI and other universities, students are empowered to see the world as it could be, and not merely as it’s presented to them, said Dooley, who was named president of URI in 2009, and has had a 30-year career in higher education.
“They fully understand the magnitude of the challenges that they will face,” he said. “But they are not intimidated. And neither should we.”
Without identifying Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump by name, Dooley rejected the premise of his campaign’s rallying slogan.
“America does not need to be made great again,” Dooley said. “The greatness of America has never been derived from the strength of our military, the height of its walls, the magnitude of its economy or the power of its institutions. The greatness of our nation has always rested in its people. I see no convincing evidence that our current generation of young people is not up to the task before them as any previous generation of Americans.”
The young people Rhode Island companies are preparing to hire, or have hired, are ready and understand that they will continue to learn. “They know how to work. They know how to continue to learn.”

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