The 2017 Tech 40: Steven Lieblich

In 1986, after earning a B.A. in economics from Columbia University, Steven Lieblich entered the IT training program at Morgan Stanley. He stayed with the investment bank for exactly 30 years and one week, rising to chief information officer and serving along the way as head of the equity technology group and the institutional securities group's technology division. That Wall Street pedigree explains why Citadel came calling last year, and in September, Lieblich joined the Chicago-based hedge fund firm as chief technology officer. "It was a great run," Lieblich says of the Morgan Stanley years, but his administrative and management responsibilities had taken him away from his first love: programming. Today at Citadel, the 52-year-old says he is working "hands on, in the weeds, on white boards, with the next generation of talented developers and engineers, and partnering with traders and portfolio managers who are as conversant in technology as any computer scientist. That goes for Ken too." That is a reference to Kenneth Griffin, founder and CEO of the $27 billion-in-assets Citadel, to whom Lieblich reports.

Lieblich says he is currently focused on a number of things, including big data, cloud computing, mobile computing, and security. "In the early days, leaders would say, 'Tech is really important to our businesses,' which later evolved to where we are today: 'Technology is the business,'" he says. "As excited as I was to get here last year, I am even more excited about what's ahead."