My name is Jennifer Wetton, I love to help people innovate, learn and explore new technologies and collaborate more effectively.
I’m currently an innovator in residence at Santander. Over the last year my mission has been open source and how we can bring the principles and practices of open source and communities into Santander to create a more open, creative and collaborative culture within the bank.
Working with some of the leading technical experts on open source and communities and connecting with other organisations who are also on this journey I’ve introduced and currently lead an initiative we’ve called ‘Open@Santander’. This programme has involved introducing internal communities, self-organising groups focused on a technology, code or any other area of interest where anyone with any level of expertise can participate and contribute. It also looks at how we collaborate around code ensuring that we share and reuse code as much as possible. With the rapid pace of change in technology I’ve helped colleagues learn about new technologies, get involved in things that are meaningful for them and help create impact for them and for our customers.
For three years prior to my work on Open Source, I established a small specialist research and development team exploring emerging new technologies. This team still exists today, collaborating with Fintechs and startups we run experiments to understand the capabilities and opportunities the technology can bring to improve customer experiences and create efficiencies. From cognitive computing, AI, voice and speech technology to looking at data and biometrics for creating frictionless experiences. In addition I’ve helped colleagues through tech talks understand these new technologies.
Before joining Santander I launched an e-commerce startup and spent several years as a management consultant helping organisations build and deliver strategies for growth and how to leverage technology to do so.
