hen Beneficial Corp. appointed its first CIO last month, the company selected Patti Prairie, a financial services veteran who has held several technology-related positions with IBM and American Express.
Prairie's responsibilities at Beneficial include overseeing application development, the data center, and data and voice communications for the financial services company's North American and global operations. She also oversees IT in the company's consumer, finance, insurance, and private-label credit-card sectors.
IT innovation is a top priority on Prairie's agenda. "I want to improve the business process, not merely by automating the existing business process, but by improving it."
The Internet, electronic-commerce applications, and data management tools are the key technologies that will influence the financial services industry-and Beneficial plans to expand its use of all of them, says Prairie. She stresses that Beneficial believes technology is instrumental to improve business goals. "W
e're going to be using technology to enable business needs," she adds, "and to develop new business opportunities." Two weeks ago, Beneficial launched an online credit-card application for its private-label sector. Beneficial has also set up online loan capabilities.
Prairie started her career in 1973 as a CAD/CAM engineer at IBM in a Rochester, Minn., unit then known as the systems product division. After holding a number of management positions, she was promoted in 1991 to VP of financial services with the IBM Consulting Group, where she plotted business and technology strategies for banks, brokerages, credit-card companies, and insurance firms.
Prairie joined American Express in 1994 as senior VP of corporate business systems, where she provided technological capabilities to groups handling corporate cards and travel services. She was later appointed senior VP of global corporate systems.
Prairie also provided technology support for American Express Bank, Financial Direct, and Small Business
Services. She was responsible as well for the enterprise architecture and information management for the human resources, legal, and financial departments.
Prairie hopes that she can translate her experiences at IBM and American Express into helping Beneficial meet its technology and business goals. "In a technology-based industry," she says, "the better the technology, the better the business."
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hen Beneficial Corp. appointed its first CIO last month, the company selected Patti Prairie, a financial services veteran who has held several technology-related positions with IBM and American Express.
