Chief information officer
Amy Brady has a plan not only to help technology employees at KeyCorp keep growing professionally, but to make sure they have the skills the company will be needing in the years ahead.
Three years ago, Brady started
Brady, who is on the executive team at the $181 billion-asset Cleveland company, also has introduced an array of other initiatives to develop and retain employees, as technology roles are evolving and she realizes some employees could end up losing their jobs eventually unless they gain the expertise to transition into new types of roles.
One offshoot of Future Ready, called Tech Ready, gives strong performers in operations or services the opportunity to get into a new career path. They can participate in a 14-week coding boot camp to help them move into a technology role.
A career development portal called Grow at Key rolled out in late 2020, with an online assessment that helps employees determine what they are good at and what they would like to do. Meanwhile, Key Gigs, a segment of Grow at Key, matches employees with assignments outside of their typical roles so they can stretch their skill sets.
These moves have helped add diversity to the technology team as well. As of August, 63% of the 4,441 technology, operations and services employees were female. And nearly a quarter (24%) were people of color.
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Brady’s commitment to innovation goes beyond banking. As chairman of the board of directors for Cleveland’s performing arts center Playhouse Square, Brady helped the organization navigate the pandemic and recover from a ransomware attack. Though it experienced a $7 million financial loss when it had to cancel more than 1,000 performances in 2020, it kept a high profile in the community, creating online events with guides for the city’s public-school teachers and free access for their students, and organizing a virtual, interactive concert that included mailing 112 ukuleles to families.
Brady is just as active in the industry as she is in her community. She is a board member at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and is on the executive committee for the Bank Policy Institute’s BITS, which focuses on tech policy, serving as chair from 2017 to 2019.
But one lesson she has taken away from the pandemic is the value of slowing down.
“Prior to the pandemic, I filled my schedule seven days a week, and downtime wasn’t something I had much of,” said Brady, who now intends to prioritize daily family time. “As life returns to a faster pace, I am committed to having dinner at home with my husband and daughters as much as possible.”
