Over the past year, Jennifer Smith, chief technology and operations officer at Zions Bancorp., spearheaded the largest technology transformation in the company's history, a monumental endeavor that modernized the bank's core systems.
Smith led a team of more than 2,300 employees to execute one of the most ambitious digital makeover projects in the finance space last year. In the face of an aggressive timeline, she adopted an agile project framework and restructured her teams to better meet the deadline. Each team member was given the unique opportunity — and mandate — to cultivate new skills while they worked tirelessly to launch new online tools for small-business and business banking, along with creating an innovative treasury management platform.
Smith is the first female CIO (head of technology) at the $90 billion (total assets) bank holding company, a rare accomplishment in an industry where only 10% of CIOs are women.
Smith's commitment to nurturing new talent has enabled Zions to maintain a turnover rate well below its industry peers. The 59% women-employed bank is now a top employer of choice for diverse technical talent, making the Women Tech Council's "shatter list" for its support of women in tech last year, for the sixth year in a row.
Smith has been a longtime advocate of sustainable business practices, which helped the development of Zions Technology Center, a former steel mill superfund site turned into a state-of-the-art technology campus. The center opened in July 2022, and sports 100+ electric vehicle parking bays and an installation of 2,000 photovoltaic panels which produce 75% of the structure's energy on-premises, reducing its annual footprint by 4.9 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Other amenities include workspaces that maximize natural light and views, bike lockers, adjacent parks with pickleball and basketball courts, shareable e-bikes, a community garden and proximity to public transportation and the Jordan River Parkway.
She also advocates for state resources to support technology education. She testified during the 2023 Utah legislative session about the importance of increasing the number of computer science degrees in Utah. At the ribbon-cutting of the Zions Technology Center, the bank donated $100,000 to a local computer science fund to help alleviate the computer science skill shortage in the state.
As a testament to her longstanding dedication to community service and volunteerism, Smith was awarded the YWCA Outstanding Achievement Award in Business and Social Innovation in May 2023 at a landmark event in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Dr. Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivered the keynote address.
