Amy Brady

(Photo Credit: Amy Btady)

Name: Amy Brady
Current Job: Chief Information Officer, Executive Vice President, Technology, Operations, & Services Executive at KeyBank
Favorite restaurant in town? There are so many incredible local restaurants in town. But if I have to choose one, I would say Edwins because they have amazing food for a remarkable purpose.
Favorite thing about Cleveland? Cleveland has so much to offer; sports, arts, culture, theater, food but the thing that makes Cleveland truly special is the people!

Q: After graduating from Rollins College in 1987, the first 13 years of your career were spent on the business side of banking. How did that shape the latter part of your career working at the intersection of technology and banking?

It no longer needs to be said that technology is critical to the business. In many ways, technology IS the business and must be woven throughout all of our strategies. To be truly successful, there has to be partnership and alignment between technology and the business strategies. My roles on the business side of Financial Services helped me to understand how the business of banking works. I learned business processes and technologies from both the client view, the employee lens and from an internal partner perspective. As I continued my career, I saw first-hand the alignment between business and technology and the importance of partnership. And now at KeyBank, as CIO, technology has a seat at the table. We work together on strategy – what’s next for our business and how technology and operations can support what our clients and teammates both want and need.

Q: Right now, you are the CIO of KeyBank, what does your role and responsibilities entail?

As Chief Information Officer, I lead the company’s Technology, Operations and Services (KTOS) organization. In my role, I oversee all of the enterprise shared services for technology, operations, data, servicing, contact centers, cyber and physical security and procurement. My team is comprised of more than 5,000 talented and diverse individuals. Our work plays a significant role in KeyBank’s ability to win in the marketplace by enabling our goal to build enduring client relationships through innovative solutions and an end-to-end digital experience. I also serve on the company’s Executive Leadership Team, Executive Council and KeyBank's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. In addition, I am the Executive sponsor of the Key for Women Networking Group and the Women in Technology & Operations Networking Group.

Q: Over the past few years, we've seen more emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion. What are you doing at KeyBank to improve this? What can the banking industry do to increase diversity at the C-suite level?

KeyBank has a long-standing legacy of being a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company. And we are committed to being a part of the change we need to see. We work every day, and in every way, to cultivate and curate a workplace where equality and respect are not an aspiration, but an expectation. Recent events have made all of us reflect more on the actions we need to take to be part of the solution.  And I think we’ve realized that if you aren’t willing to speak up, to step up and to take action – then you are actually part of the problem.

The Executive Leadership Team – led by our CEO Chris Gorman – is committed to increasing representation, movement, and development while ensuring equity and an inclusive environment for our colleagues, our clients, and the communities we proudly serve. We recognize that this is a journey and we still have a lot of work to do… and this is especially true against the backdrop of the times we find ourselves in. 

This isn’t just an opportunity – this is an obligation.  An obligation to be part of the discourse and part of the change we want - and need - to see… not only inside of KeyBank… but outside the company as well. And by the way, having a diverse team that operates in an environment that promotes equity and inclusion is simply good business. Across my teams, we strive to work together to listen to each other so that we can learn to create solutions together.

I am also a firm believer that you cannot innovate if you surround yourself with people who look like you, act like you or think like you. To truly innovate you need the full range of diversity represented at the table.

Q: Cleveland, unfortunately, has never been known as a technology city, but things are beginning to change. What are some of the initiatives you run at KeyBank to increase the talent level in Cleveland as well as keeping talent in Cleveland?

One of our priorities at KeyBank is investing in talent and engaging our high-performing and diverse team.

We embrace this in KTOS through various programs starting with our interns to our most senior leaders. We also have an annual Aspiring Leaders program for teammates who are considering a management position or want to increase their skillset as a leader. In addition, we have a Future Ready Program that provides teammates the opportunity to learn different technologies or enhance soft skills. We know the future of technology is evolving, so we encourage our teammates to take advantage and learn about what’s available and what is on the horizon. We invest in our teammates by affording them the time to invest in themselves. In my opinion, one of the most critical skills we all need today is learning agility. We all need to be learning new skills for today and new technologies for tomorrow. We also don’t want to lose sight of the extremely valuable soft skills – critical thinking, problem solving, communication – to name a few.

With regard to Cleveland specifically, I’m part of a working group through the Greater Cleveland Partnership with other CIOs and technology executives where our focus is to find opportunities to promote Northeast Ohio as a vibrant, technology centric region. Our objective is to raise the profile of the region’s technology companies, entrepreneurs, enterprise technology organizations, non for profits and educators. This is early on, but we are very excited to see the talent and innovation that is already being generated from this effort. We have a collective obligation to continue to grow and recruit the tech talent in our region.

Q: COVID pandemic has been going on for the majority of the year. What have you learned professional and personally?

What I’ve learned from this experience – and continue to learn – both personally and professionally is that our team at KeyBank knows how to do the right thing, the right way. The commitment to our clients drives collaboration, leadership and our purpose to help clients thrive. Over the past few months there are a handful of key takeaways: continuous, empathetic communication and attention to employee health and wellness must be a top priority; leadership in decision making is critical – a singularity of focus allows for critical speed of decisioning; and, prior investments in technology to modernize KeyBank’s systems – such as our VPN connection supporting a 600% increase during COVID-19 – enabled our team to support clients when they needed it most. The challenge that we – and every financial institution – face moving forward through and beyond COVID, is continually improving and investing in technology and our KeyBank team so that we are always poised to help our clients. The pace of change and digital adoption through this pandemic has been increasing at an incredibly high velocity. I do not see that changing. We all need to be prepared to learn and adapt.

From a personal perspective, my two daughters – who were just beginning their professional careers – returned home. It was a great to spend time with them and have them close. I gained a different perspective on how all this was impacting them in their daily lives as young adults in new careers and that made me think of how we might need to support our young professional teammates.

Bottom line, I think this pandemic has challenged all of us to rethink the possible; where we work, how we work and what work can be automated so that we make it easier for our employees and clients. No doubt the pandemic has also dramatically accelerated digital adoption and expectations. Now is the opportunity across industry for engineers to truly help drive innovation for their respective companies.