578: In this interview, James Sills provides an overview of M&F Bank, how the pandemic has affected the digital customer experience and digitization of banking, and how M&F Bank has managed the differences in digital adoption across consumer age demographics. Additionally, he gives his perspective on that state of racial injustice and social inequity in America, the importance of engaging with minority populations within and outside the company, and how businesses can leverage partnerships with minority-owned businesses and minority-focused organizations to support the push for social justice. Finally, James discusses his career evolution including his experiences as CIO of the state of Delaware and how his current position is taking advantage of ecosystems to foster innovation and keep pace with some of the tech trends he and his team are excited about.
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LoanDepot has named George Brady Chief Digital Officer, effective July 6. LoanDepot has funded more than $300 billion in loans since its founding in 2010 and currently ranks as the second-largest retail nonbank lender and one of the leading retail mortgage lenders in the United States. LoanDepot is an approved seller and servicer for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.
Brady will oversee all of loanDepot’s technology capabilities, including the leading proprietary platform, mello, with a specific focus on spearheading loanDepot’s technological innovation. Brady will report directly to loanDepot Founder and CEO Anthony Hsieh. LoanDepot’s technology team, led by Chief Information Officer Sudhir Nair, will report to Brady.
“Pushing the technology envelope is in loanDepot’s DNA,” said loanDepot founder and chief executive officer Anthony Hsiea. “Since our launch in 2010, our technology-powered products and services have changed the game for both customers and originators by providing an exceptional experience they can’t get anywhere else.”
In describing Brady’s hire, Hsiea went on to note, “George is a world-class talent whose unmatched knowledge, skills and leadership adds incredible horsepower to an already exceptional team. Under George’s leadership, I’m confident we’ll drive our world-class platform, mello, to new heights and continue to cultivate a culture of innovation and technical excellence. We have a tremendous opportunity to not only continue our innovation path as a category leader, but to shape and change the entire industry.”
“LoanDepot has a deep understanding of how technology can push the boundaries to enable both consumers and originators to seamlessly and successfully navigate the lending process,” noted Brady. “Between its remarkable track record of digital innovation, the talent and passion of its outstanding team, and the commitment of a visionary CEO to stay on the cutting edge, loanDepot is in a unique market position. The time is right to set the new standard for technological excellence and expand our capacity to meet the changing expectations of our customers.”
Brady has spent most of his career in financial services at companies like Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments, and Deutsche Bank. He was most recently the Chief Technology Officer at Capital One.
Peter High is President of Metis Strategy, a business and IT advisory firm. He has written two bestselling books, and his third, Getting to Nimble, was recently released. He also moderates the Technovation podcast series and speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh.
569: In this interview, Catherine Zhou, Global Head of Ventures for Digital Innovation and Partnerships at HSBC, and Megan Crespi, Chief Operations and Technology Officer for Comerica Bank, discuss how barriers to digital adoption are dissolving out of necessity, how Comerica has transformed to enhance the customer experience, and how Comerica is using the pandemic as an opportunity to break down barriers and reach new demographics as work becomes more remote. We also discuss three areas HSBC looks at regarding innovation and profit pools: big tech, the Eastern hemisphere, and FinTech, why it’s every person’s job to innovate at HSBC, not just the innovation team’s job, and a variety of other topics.
559: John Hinshaw, Group Chief Operating Officer of HSBC, discusses why he decided to join HSBC after a diverse career, and how many financial industry disruptors come from outside the industry. We discuss HSBC’s “coopetition” with FinTech and the advantages both sides get from partnering with each other, why HSBC has shifted from investing in later-stage companies to earlier-stage organizations in the Series A or angel rounds, and HSBC’s partnership with Google looking at financial crime and money laundering. John also discusses COVID’s impact on the digital adoption curve, the future of work at HSBC, and the rise of emerging technologies such as 5G, AI, and quantum computing.
Check out Peter High’s recent article on Forbes HSBC’s COO Brings The Magic Of Silicon Valley To The 156 Year Old Bank.
554: Rob Carter, the Executive Vice President of FedEx Information Services and the Chief Information Officer for FedEx, and Steve Randich, the Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of FINRA, discuss the role of technology in creating a nimble enterprise. Rob shares the story of how technology that once provided FedEx with a competitive advantage had become outdated, and the massive effort the company undertook to overhaul and modernize its legacy technology. Meanwhile, Steve discusses the benefits of being an early adopter of the cloud, how FINRA is pushing up against the limits of Amazon Web Services, and FINRA’s use of advanced analytics and machine learning to better identify fraud and bad actors.
553: Marta Zarraga, Global Chief Information Officer of Capital Group discusses her experience onboarding into her new role virtually, how Capital Group has given flexibility to its employees during the pandemic so that they can best serve their customers, and how the company has adjusted to a mobile workforce. We also discuss aspects of work that are done much better face-to-face than remotely, Capital Group’s ambitions to expand more into Europe and Asia, the different experiences Marta has had across four different CIO roles, among a variety of other topics.
552: Shailesh Prakash, the CIO and Chief Product Officer of the Washington Post, and Chintan Mehta, the CIO and Head of Digital, Technology, and Innovation for Wells Fargo, discuss strategy and its role in driving growth and innovation. Shailesh discusses how IT and engineering went from being a cost center to being a strategic differentiator and driver of business growth. He goes on to share the story of Arc Publishing and Zeus Technologies, which grew from internal solutions into sizable revenue drivers with over 200 customers. Meanwhile, Chintan shares his view on the importance of long-term strategic planning and how the company’s Strategy, Digital Platform & Innovation (SDI) group set strategy across the organization.
548: Kimberly Johnson and Rob Alexander have both been part of massive transformations at Fortune 100 companies. In this interview, we focus on people and talent strategy. Rob discusses how Capital One’s talent transformation was critical in supporting the company’s massive technology transformation, which has included insourcing IT and building technology internally as well as moving its data centers to the cloud. Meanwhile, Kimberly discusses the importance of teamwork in driving innovation, and how Fannie Mae rapidly responded to enable teams to continue collaborating during the COVID pandemic.
535: S&P Global EVP & Global CIO Swamy Kocherlakota discusses
Among a variety of other topics.
530: Northwestern Mutual CIO Neal Sample discusses
