Jo Jagadish's experience running a microbusiness where she created custom invitations for weddings, bar mitzvahs and birthdays has fed into her dual role as head of U.S. digital banking and corporate products and services at TD Bank, a subsidiary of Toronto-based TD Bank Group.
"You are the CEO, the chief marketing officer, the chief technology officer and the chief financial officer," said Jagadish. "You're focused on growing your business but the tools you needed to run it were not that easy to find."
One of those tools is creating invoices — a feature that TD customers now find within online banking.
Jagadish leads strategy and execution of digital and mobile capabilities for all customer-facing digital platforms for TD Bank in the U.S., as well as commercial bank products and services, including treasury management, trade finance, merchant services and cards and deposits. She oversaw two notable launches for TD's business customers this past year: Tap to Pay on iPhone, which lets business owners accept in-person contactless payments on their iPhone and without additional hardware. It debuted in February. The other, Zelle for small businesses, launched in November 2023.
Jagadish calculated, based on TD's internal research, that TD was the second of the top 10 banks in the U.S., after JPMorgan Chase, to launch Tap to Pay on iPhone. The bank has seen 25% higher adoption rates within the first quarter of launching than it expected. Within nine months of launching Zelle for small businesses, the bank hit its year-two adoption goals.
"Jo's enthusiasm is driving critical technology advancements at TD — an area that proved challenging in the past," said Chris Giamo, head of commercial banking at TD.
One philosophy she has instilled is an emphasis on design-led product development. This means thinking deeply about the human experience customers undergo when trying to complete a task. "Using design thinking and embedding it in the early phase of product ideation has been game-changing," she said. For instance, when building Business Central, the portal for commercial customers, she and her team conducted customer research to understand their behaviors and the pain points in their current practices.
She also ensures employees are steeped in TD's new products and services before they roll out and the benefits they create for customers. The bank calls this approach "ready to launch."
"Our products are only as good as our ability to speak to them," she said.
