Sep 15, 2023

Ahead of Leeds Digital Festival which kicks off next week, Leeds Building Society has announced involvement in a series of events hosted by colleagues from across its tech and digital teams. On Tuesday 19th September, Leeds Building Society will host a panel discussion at its head office on Sovereign Street on How Business changed Technology. Hosted by Tom Flemming, digital solution architect at Leeds Building Society, in partnership with Mitali Mookerjee, co-founder of CastRooms, a tech startup bringing the energy of crowds to live music online, the session will explore how web and mobile technologies have impacted how we all live and do business. During the session, Tom and Mitali will discuss how leading players like Google and Facebook have built their success on immersive user profiling, and how the engineering environment that has emerged influences customer interactions. Offering a unique insight into the way Leeds Building Society combines technology with modern delivery techniques, the Society will host an online webinar on Thursday 21st September. Hosted by James Fuller, head of corporate transformation at Leeds Building society, innovation and pace through decisioning will demonstrate how the Society responds quickly to changing market conditions. James will be joined by a panel of guests to reveal the secrets on how to deliver innovation for customers at rapid speed. The panel includes Neil Lewis, head of credit risk policy, decisioning and analytics, and Zoe Burton, quality engineering lead from Leeds Building Society, alongside Natalie Hammond, head of market strategy and Propositions at Experian. The session will be aimed at guests who are looking to introduce new platforms or technology to their business. Demystifying the barriers for women in digital will see Carole Roberts, director of data at Leeds Building Society joined by panellists Yasmin De Nardo, head of connected technology academy at KPMG, Goodness Ngodigha, data scientist at Cognizant, and Sarah Tulip, founder of WILD Digital. Hosted by Leeds Building Society’s chief risk officer and sponsor of the Society’s Gender Diversity Forum, Andrew Mellor, the session will cover some of the challenges employers face in attracting women into tech roles. Alongside the three events, the Society will also launch two podcasts in partnership with AND Digital. The first episode: Digital Agility: Collaborating for Success, will be launched on Monday 18th September to mark the first day of the Digital Festival, and episode two: How to harness Artificial Intelligence, will launch on Monday 25th September. Jay Patel, head of technology channels at Leeds Building Society, said: “We are proud to be the launch sponsor of the Leeds Digital Festival this year and look forward to celebrating the amazing digital work produced by businesses across Leeds. “We continue to innovate to put home ownership within reach of more people, and one great example is where we were the first lender to partner with Experian, enabling potential borrowers to boost their credit score to have a better chance of a successful mortgage application and improving financial inclusion for our members. “Through the three events that we are hosting, along with the podcasts we will release during the fortnight, we hope to inspire those working in tech, or considering a role in the digital sector, by sharing our experiences and sparking some interesting debates.”