Nationwide appoints CTO amid $1.5B tech push

Dive Brief:

• Nationwide appointed Michael Carrel as its CTO, the company said in a Friday statement. Carrel will succeed current CTO Jim Fowler, who is leaving the organization to join Lumen Technologies as EVP and chief technology and product officer, effective Jan. 5. 
• As CTO, Carrel will take over an ambitious agenda, with the company announcing in October plans to invest $1.5 billion in tech initiatives through 2028, including $100 million earmarked for advancing AI each of the next three years. “Michael brings deep business and technology experience to this role and will be a champion for enterprise adoption of AI and new technologies,” Nationwide CEO Kirt Walker said in a statement.
• A 31-year veteran of the insurance provider and long-time IT executive, Carrel most recently served as SVP and CTO of Nationwide Financial for almost four years. Previously, he held tech leadership roles across various business units, according to LinkedIn. 

Dive Insight:

Nationwide’s passing of the CTO baton comes as the company focuses on “everyday AI” to transform how it engages with customers, how employees work and how the business operates.

“The world is in the next industrial revolution,” Walker said in an October press release about its $1.5 billion tech investment plan. “It’s happening now, and it’s powered by artificial intelligence that is transforming how all of us work.”

For employees, Nationwide is making AI tools readily available and is aiming for a 90% adoption rate in everyday work by next year. For customers, the company plans to continue to execute on its CX strategy, having scaled six AI initiatives and identified 18 flagship use cases across its businesses. For its operating model, the company will establish a blueprint that focuses on agility, productivity and efficiency as well as provides training, reskilling and support for employees, according to a press release.

Before being appointed to his new role, Carrel described the $1.5 billion investment as a “strategic step forward” that goes beyond optimization by “reimagining how we work.” He pointed to the more than 2,000 custom AI agents already developed, which have provided the company with productivity gains of 15% to 30% as an example.

While insurance is historically seen as a technology laggard, Nationwide has been mindful in its tech modernization investments, amounting to $5 billion since 2015, according to a press release. Fowler’s appointment as CTO in 2018 was another indicator of tech prioritization.

Hired to lead the company’s technology strategy and IT capabilities, Fowler brought with him 17 years of IT experience at GE, which included an early-to-market, ambitious IoT initiative to transform industrial operations using predictive analytics that never quite became what the company envisioned. At Nationwide, he helped advance the company’s AI agenda, using agile methodologies to help scale initiatives and paving the way for generative AI.

Now, Fowler’s moving on to networking company Lumen, picking up the tech and product chief mantle from Dave Ward, who is headed to Salesforce, where he will serve as its president and chief architect.