Name: Stevie-Ann Dovico
Title: Chief Information Officer
Company: Beyond Bank
Commenced role: February 2024
Reporting line: Chief Executive Officer
Member of the executive team: Yes
Technology Function: 75 staff, seven direct reports
 
Before joining Australian customer-owned bank Beyond Bank as chief information officer early this year, Stevie-Ann Dovico led the global team who build and run the NAB enterprise digital channels.
 
During her tenure at NAB the team migrated over 70 per cent of the bank’s applications to the cloud, including an entire digital platform used by more than five million people, without any service disruption. “Our strategy was aggressive, and it positioned us among the strongest cloud adopters in the world,” says Dovico.
 
As a result of focusing on strengthening the technical fundamentals, NAB consistently achieved strong availability, outperforming competitors in online availability, according to RBA stats for FY23.
 
Under her leadership, NAB’s business digital platforms saw significant improvements, including a 12-point increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS) post-migration. Dovico explains, “We were able to release features fortnightly, improving speed to market, and our iOS and Android app store ratings soared—iOS from 3.6 to 4.7, and Android from 3.0 to 4.7.”
 
Employee satisfaction also rose, from 68 to 88, a testament to her approach of giving teams “meaningful work, great tech to work with, and involving them in building the business of the future.”
 
Reflecting on her time at NAB, Dovico says, “NAB is one of the largest technology employers in the country. We were the first company in the country to roll out the She Builds program with AWS, reskilling over 500 women in and outside of technology. What I love about this is it’s a virtuous cycle that empowers more women to leap the perceived barrier to entry into technology.”
 
Dovico was the bank’s executive sponsor for the program and this initiative became a model for similar programs across the industry.
 
New bank, similar challenges
 
At Beyond Bank, Dovico faces similar challenges, albeit on a smaller scale and with tighter budgets. “I still have enormous pressure to deliver ‘sexy’ customer features in digital, provide data-driven insightsand drive cost efficiencies, because this is such an important part of enabling our customers, our people and our business” says Dovico “it starts with building strong technical foundations, enabling the right feedback loops and strengthening internal capability.”
 
One of her key strategies has been to focus on trust-building. She explained, “People often come from a place of ‘no’ because they don’t understand the benefits or risks. I start by acknowledging concerns, then explain concepts in relatable terms, using analogies to make them less technical.”
 
On inspiring more women in tech, Dovico emphasises the importance of diversity: “I believe the best teams are truly diverse. As a female in technology, inspiring more women to consider this career path is critical.”
 
“I always recruit for diversity including diversity of thought – there is nothing more important in a team,” says Dovico. “My leadership team mix always caters for those who have near the opposite strengths to me and each other, and diverse perspectives and personalities. Initially this always creates a “rub”, but without fail I have always enabled the team to leverage each other’s diversity as a strength and drive inclusion through open communication and sharing openly their psychometric profiles. In this way I facilitate a mutual understanding of how each team member works, their differences, how these differences are strengths and how we will work with each other anchoring to our common objectives.”
 
At Beyond Bank, she is launching a new initiative, the ABCs of IT, aimed at equipping the workforce with skills in AI, Big Data, Cloud, and Security.

 “It’s about lowering barriers to entry and fostering a future-ready workforce,” she says.