Richard Smyers is a vice president for the Fidelity Labs, a unit of Fidelity Investments, the largest mutual fund company in the United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans, the largest mutual fund supermarket, a leading online brokerage firm and one of the largest providers of custody and clearing services to financial professionals.  The vision of Fidelity Labs is to serve as Fidelity’s idea and innovation catalyst, helping Fidelity’s employees and businesses to imagine and realize the possibilities of emerging technologies and new ideas.

Mr. Smyers assumed his current position in October 2009 and is responsible for leading the Center for Accelerated Innovation within Fidelity Labs, which serves as a resource for managers driving innovation at Fidelity and provides research and tools to enable innovation within the firm. He reports directly to senior vice president of Fidelity Labs, Sean Belka.

Mr. Smyers joined Fidelity in 2004 as director, Consulting and New Business Development for the Fidelity Consulting Group (FCG) and was later promoted to vice president in 2005. In his role, he was responsible for leading projects focused on growth strategies, new product development and process design.

Prior to joining Fidelity Investments in 2004, Mr. Smyers served as vice president, Product Management for Assette, a provider of customized web-based software for the investment management community. In his role, he worked with top executives to develop the company strategy, business plan, product positioning and client service approach. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Smyers was a senior consultant for the Strategic Decisions Group in Boston and began his career in 1991 as an associate consultant for CSC Consulting.

Mr. Smyers received his bachelor of arts degree, cum laude, in engineering science modified with economics from Dartmouth College in 1991. He received his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 1997.