Ben Vernon Email & Phone Number

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Leadership of the human-centred innovation team driving employee innovation capability & culture across the organisation; incubating ideas and solutions through client engagement, social innovation, research and design. • Team leadership of 30+ innovation managers, service designers and researchers• Innovation strategy, culture and thought leadership• Client engagement (B2B), mutual opportunity identification, prototyping & experimentation• Project coaching & collaboration• Scaled employee innovation capability & culture programs• Management of Innovation lab operations across three labs and interstate locations• Senior stakeholder engagement, communication and influencing• Portfolio prioritisation, program/initiative steering & direction • External partnership relationship management

Sydney, Australia

Secondment leading one of the largest digital design teams in Australia in a scaled agile environment across multiple digital assets engaging over 7 million customers digitally through the CommBank app, NetBank, CommBiz and Commbank.com.au.• Customer Experience & Design thought leadership, vision & strategy• Leadership and management of 7 direct reports, team size over 100 - Researchers, UX, Visual Design, Service Design, CX, Product, Operations • Driving a cohesive and consistent customer experience across the digital ecosystem and wider customer channels• Senior stakeholder engagement including c-suite• Program sponsorship and portfolio initiative oversite• Operations including department budget management • Operational risk, external partner agency panel and vendor management

Sydney, Australia

Lead (Director) for a team of 20+ Research & Design specialists solving complex customer and business problems, shaping new propositions and driving an uplift in customer experience across the organisation.Evolution of HCD offering in to Service Design to drive more cohesive customer experiences and improved business outcomes. Design research and empathy activities in build sprints across CBA digital assets within scaled agile framework (SAFE).• Feedback and voice of customer (VOC) strategies and approaches for digital• Thought leadership for CX, HCD and broadening offering to Service Design• Integration of the Digital Research team supporting the Digital portfolio of 50+ scrum teams• Team leadership of 20+ research and design team, 5 direct reports• Vendor/Agency procurement & risk management

Established and grew the first specialist Human-Centred Design (HCD)/Design Thinking function and capability within CBA to solve complex customer and business problems across the Bank.Effectively ran and led an internal agency/consulting model pitching for work and delivering value across the business.• Thought leadership and definition of customer experience strategies• Problem/opportunity space insights and identification, unearthing opportunities for innovation• Customer Value Proposition (CVP) formulation & refinement• Market fit, opportunity sizing and experimentation• Methodology/approach guidance & direction• Senior stakeholder walkthroughs, socialisation & communication• Employee capability and coaching programs • Team leadership & management• Service offering & operating model• Business development, proposals/pitches & pipeline management• Financial management of team recovery model & projects (P&L)• Resource demand and supply management across multiple concurrent initiatives • Team hiring, growth and talent strategy

Sydney, Australia

Lead (Director) for human-centred design activities to define the customer experience, experience strategy and digital vision for the Commonwealth Bank’s consumer services. Executive Product Owner for digital engagement experiences.• Definition and rollout of the digital customer experience strategy, framework and toolkits• Facilitated uplift in customer centric culture and capability, ensuring the voice of the customer is actively considered and incorporated to address core customer pain/break points.• Lead for qualitative and quantitative research studies, partnering with internal teams and strategic agencies to define customer needs and behaviour’s and translating these in to new opportunities and digital experiences• Prioritisation of experience prototypes to bring vision to life, test the value proposition and drive internal sponsorship• Informing the digital strategy and shaping the digital roadmap

Sydney, Australia

Creation and oversight of the customer experience for Commonwealth Banks startup self-directed wealth offering – MyWealth, transformation of working practices to Agile.• Oversight of the customer experience on MyWealth to ensure a consistent experience• Working with UX team and strategic design agencies utilising human-centered design practices to define core digital experiences and customer journeys• Management of customer insight activities including – research, user testing, feedback and customer satisfaction measurement• Definition of engagement strategy and other customer satisfaction initiatives • Integration of agile, lean start-up practices and approaches• Product Owner for launch of MVP and iterative releases

Sydney, Australia

Co-lead for exploratory research and design activities for development of a new self-directed wealth offering and line of business for Commonwealth Bank.• Leadership and direction on research & design activities – working with strategic partner agencies to define and scope the opportunity• Active participation and thought leadership in human-centered research and design activities• Quantitative research to identify insights, business opportunities and potential revenue streams• Stakeholder management, governance, steering group and executive updates• Budget forecasting, reconciliation and management

Management of the business and private banks strategic project portfolio ($40m+) in conjunction with the Executive and Business & Private Bank leadership team. • Facilitation of the annual and ongoing portfolio prioritisation process with the business bank leadership team• Executive and Senior Leadership Team portfolio updates and communication• Portfolio management, monitoring, status updates and reporting• Portfolio and project financial analysis, reporting and management• Resourcing and system contention management • Pipeline management, funding gate approvals, chair for business case review panel committee • PMO support for portfolio tools, methods and capability development

Championed and established the first formal UX capability at CBA. Led the online UX design function accountable designing the customer experience for the banks digital banking offerings NetBank and CommBiz. Designed and launched CommBank mobile app.• Leadership of UX specialists and visual designers across NetBank and other digital channels • User experience design activities including concept development, wireframing, usability, information architecture, accessibility and visual design• Pipeline management for Retail and Business Bank initiatives including business case input, estimation and scope definition• Relationship management and engagement of key business stakeholders• Vendor and agency relationship management• Resource and capacity management

Delivery management of technology solutions for the retail and business bank across CommSee (CRM), CommBiz and NetBank digital assets. Governance of the customer experience across multiple enterprise assets.

Analysis and design of technology solutions for the retail and business bank including the delivery of the CommSee customer relationship management (CRM) and CommBiz online business banking applications. Lead user interface and customer experience analyst on the programs.

Development & Integration of SCADA systems covering electricity substations, gas pipelines and river damming projects for international clients in India, Saudi Arabia and China.

Network Design & Construction

Supporting tenders for install of radio and telecommunications solutions in APAC.

Bachelor Of Computer Systems, Engineering, Honours

Sloan School Of Management Exec Ed, Business And It

Executive education program covering experimentation, governance, leadership, strategic thinking and new business models