In this #LeadershipDeepDive episode Melanie Kehr, CIO & COO of KfW, talks with Hendrik Deckers about the challenges she and her team had to face when the Corona hit in 2020 and how the digital agenda they had introduced earlier helped to implement the Corona Support Program. Melanie talks about agile transformation and the three success factors:

✅ Platform
✅ Agile way of working
✅ Cloud technology

Synergy between these 3 elements enabled KfW to cope with the crisis and support the government in the distribution of funds.

“We need to push the change also through the whole bank. And that's what I need to do in my role, but also my team”, Melanie says and stresses that IT should be a change agent.

Every year CIONET nominates top CxOs as finalists of the European Digital Leader of the Year. Melanie represents Germany in the Finance category.

Table of contents:

01:06 | Introduction and Melanie Kehr’s background

02:55 | About KfW

05:22 | KfW as transformative bank supporting the economy

06:44 | Drivers for change

09:27 | From waterfall to scrum

16:29 | Corona Support Program

24:35 | Platform as a connector between KfW and its financial partners

28:03 | Role of cloud

30:53 | App developed in 12 days to help the customers with the loan procedure

33:51 | IT organization at KfW

39:30 | Melanie’s role as CIO

43:09 | Melanie’s management & leadership style

48:00 | Melanie’s mentors

50:07 | Melanie’s core values and the best thing that has ever happened to her

51:09 | The worst thing that has ever happened to Melanie

54:47 | Personal mantra

55:56 | Advice for people starting out