Edward O’Brien, a 30-year veteran of Fidelity, has been named chief executive officer of eMoney Advisor, the wealth planning software company Fidelity acquired last year. An executive with a proven track record for delivering technology that supports financial professionals, O’Brien will assume leadership effective immediately and will report to Michael Durbin, who has been serving as eMoney’s interim CEO. Durbin will resume his role as the full-time president of Fidelity Wealth Technologies.
Tom McCarthy, a Fidelity executive with extensive platform experience, will assume O’Brien’s former position as senior vice president of platform technology for Fidelity Institutional. McCarthy will also remain involved with the overall strategy and product development of the Fidelity Total Advisor Platform, the focus of his previous position with Fidelity.
“The appointment of Ed as the CEO of eMoney is the right choice as the firm continues to reset the industry’s expectations for disruptive innovation,” said Durbin. “The depth of his fin-tech knowledge, strong industry relationships, and understanding of the unique challenges facing financial advisors and their clients are substantial. Most of all, I’m confident he will help us further establish eMoney as the strongest ally of advisors seeking to meet the growing high-tech and high-touch expectations of their end clients.”
While O’Brien is new to eMoney, he was part of the team at Fidelity that helped engineer the acquisition and he also collaborated on the integration of the firm.
O’Brien has spent his career focused on the development of technology platforms for financial professionals. In 2011, he was granted a patent for the innovative technology design used to launch Fidelity’s WealthCentral, a platform that supports registered investment advisors. He also launched AdvisorTech, a new business that successfully introduced a technology platform for financial advisors in Japan, South Korea and Germany. In addition, he has served as president and board member for the Providence Society of Financial Analysts.
He will lead eMoney’s upcoming Advisory Board meeting this spring, as well as the firm’s annual Advisor Summit in September, where the company’s full client network will have the opportunity to meet him in person.