Exclusive: Mark Gay leaving ME

Mark Gay has quit as chief information officer at ME. A bank spokesperson told CIO Australia today that after three successful years, Gay has decided to leave.

Gay, who ranked number 1 in CIO Australia’s CIO50 list in 2016, leads around 200 tech staff and steered the online bank though a complete overhaul and redesign of its technology architecture from the ground up. The five-year, $90 million project was completed last year.

The transformational project involved the integration of 7 new software systems, 700 personnel, 25 vendors, and 1 million lines of code. It is part of a long-term business strategy to triple the mobile and online bank’s customer base by 2020 from more than 365,000 to 1 million customers.

Last year, Gay described the transformation as a “now or never” opportunity to replace legacy technology that was limited and created risk for the bank.

“Not many other banks have completely rebuilt their banking infrastructure from the ground up,” Gay said last year. “Our technological overhaul has provided the bank with capabilities that other organisations would envy.”

The ME spokesperson said Gay led the bank through the critical final stage of the tech replacement project and set up the next phase of ME’s IT strategy to capitalise on the new technology.

“Having achieved success at ME on many fronts, Mark wants to spend more time with family, travelling, and developing his new farm. The bank is grateful for Mark’s significant contribution over three years and wishes him all the best for the future,” the spokesperson said.

ME has commenced searching for a new CIO.

Gay joined ME in January 2015 from GE Capital where he was employed as director, Fastworks, lean and strategic program delivery. He had been with GE Capital since 2009 and also served as chief technology officer, Australia and New Zealand; and director, global process and APAC technology.