Nationwide Names Former Bank One CIO Keller EVP/CIO

Michael Keller, former CIO at Bank One, has joined Nationwide as executive vice president and chief information officer for the entire organization.

In an effort to strengthen its position in the market and citing technology as critical to its competitive position in the marketplace, Columbus, OH-based Nationwide has named former Bank One CIO Michael Keller as executive vice president and chief information officer.

"I will be working very closely with all of the CIOs of Nationwide," including Nationwide Insurance CIO George McKinnon and Nationwide Financial CIO R. Dennis Noice, the CIOs of Nationwide's two largest divisions. "There is an existing CIO Council that meets regularly and we are going to leverage it," he says.

Only three weeks into his new role, Keller's current priorities are to "learn the business" and the operations of Nationwide, he says. "I am also continuing our CEO's project of reviewing IT spending across the enterprise to see if we doing the right things. Along with that, we are also reviewing the entire e-business strategy of Nationwide."

With Bank One's IT challenges still fresh in his mind, Keller says there probably is more in common between his old and new employers than one would think. "There are some of the same projects underway at Nationwide that there were at Bank One," he says. "We have people looking into the opportunities in the technology infrastructure space—what are the new trends around CRM? What about privacy regulations? It is clear to me that people at Nationwide are working on some of the same projects the people at Bank One are working on."

Prior to his tenure at Chicago-based Bank One, Keller spent 15 years in IBM's Global Services Division, a stint that should help him in his new position. "I have had the opportunity to work inside a few large companies," Keller says. "When you see large companies and how they operate, you learn some things. I can't tell you, today, what specifically will or will not work at Nationwide, but I can tell you that I am impressed with Nationwide's people. It is a very people-centered culture and it is a company that has a tradition of success," Keller adds. "People are focused on doing the right things."

Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio