Women in Technology: NCR Atleos’ Jennifer Personette

In the latest installment in our “Women in Technology” series, we visited with NCR Atleos EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Jennifer Personette.

With approximately 20,000 employees, the Atlanta-based fintech bills itself as providing an unrivalled ATM experience for financial institutions, retailers and self-service consumers.

By W.B. King

Jennifer Personette

While in high school, writing code and building games were among pastimes Jennifer Personette considered good fun. “Even though I didn’t fully understand what all that encompassed, I was fascinated by computers and the internet and wanted to explore how technology could make our lives better,” she told Finopotamus.

This interest led to her majoring in computer science at Parker College of Business at Georgia Southern University. But during this educational coming of age in the late 1990s, her interests shifted. “As my journey unfolded, I discovered a strong creative streak and eventually pivoted into marketing, which turned out to be the perfect blend of tech and creativity,” she shared.

A Unique Approach

After working for several advertising agencies, and owning two, she landed at the Atlanta-based NCR Corporation in 2014, serving as its vice president of marketing. Years later, she was promoted to CMO. When the company was rebranded as NCR Atleos in 2023, she maintained her title.

“My first official role at a technology company was actually with NCR Atleos, where I’ve spent nearly 12 years,” she noted. “Today, I’m still just as passionate about and fascinated with how deeply intertwined marketing is with technology, especially with the rise of new tools like AI (artificial intelligence).”

Possessing a unique vantage point at the intersection of technology and marketing, Personette told Finopotamus that over the last 15 years the “technology ecosystem” has exploded, creating new industry dynamics.

“We are no longer just managing the Microsoft suite and customer database technology, but a full spectrum of sophisticated systems and tools,” she said. “As a result, technology departments spend a lot more time and focus on areas such as security, efficiencies and effective vendor management.”

Making Meaningful Connections

While an account coordinator at her first agency job, a small firm, Personette’s boss imparted lasting wisdom: “Never let the size of the organization deter from big goals or big results for clients.”

“He was scrappy and determined, and starting off with those lessons and experiences really stuck with me throughout my career journey. I learned firsthand that just because you don’t have an existing system or large budget to accomplish a task doesn’t mean that project can’t be done,” she said, adding that she pays this ethos forward. “After that agency experience, I owned, operated and sold two different agencies, further deepening my knowledge of the agency space and reinforcing the power of determination and grit.”

When Finopotamus asked about her view regarding positive advancements related to women in the workplace, Personette celebrated NCR Atleos’ “Women in Networking,” the fintech’s largest business resource group that continues to grow each year.

“This is a highly engaged, global group that gets together to brainstorm, collaborate and make meaningful connections. The group has both virtual and local, in-person meeting options, offering something for everyone who wants to participate,” she shared. “What I can say for certain is that there are strong female influences driving impact in the fintech and financial services space.”

Empowering Credit Unions

Among NCR Atleos tech innovations her team helps promote is utility ATM networks, which she said provides “significant value” within the credit union space. This involves partnering with a provider whose ATMs are located within trusted retail locations, such as grocery, convenience store or pharmacy—allowing members to complete daily banking activities from the convenience and security of where they already live and shop.

“Such a model also widens financial access for those who may not be near a branch, enabling credit unions to better reach and serve their communities. Joining forces with others to realize efficiencies and cost savings happens in every industry, and credit unions and other institutions have really started to lean in on this strategy,” she continued. “Such innovation also empowers credit unions to more effectively level the playing field and compete.”

Credit unions that decide to leverage the NCR Atleos Allpoint Network, she added, have access to 40,000 surcharge-free ATMs across the country. “That scale rivals even the largest bank brands.”

Innovation Partners

Noting that most financial institutions have experienced an “identity crisis” over the last five-plus years, Personette said these organizations have asked pivotal questions, such as: How much should I invest in brick and mortar? What is my unique value proposition? How do I compete?

“For many, the answers to these questions have led to a resurgence in self-service. As credit unions continue to find ways to deliver value to members without extending too much capital or having to invest too heavily in brick and mortar, moving more transactions to self-service allows tellers to have more time for quality conversations,” she continued. “This shift saves costs and enhances operational efficiencies while allowing the branch to transform into more of an advisory center, a meaningful physical touchpoint where members can receive deep guidance or complete more complex transactions.”

With that said, she conceded that many credit unions “simply don’t have the time or in-house resources” to brainstorm about the future of self-service, which gives rise to like-minded fintech alliances. “Collaborating closely with credit unions and other financial institutions, we help them determine what they should be planning for over the next five, and even 10 years and how to navigate emerging trends, such as AI,” she noted. “We are proud to be an innovation partner for our credit union customers.”

While credit unions don’t always have the largest IT departments or budgets, she said they are “savvy,” matching the sophistication of larger financial institutions through strategic outsourcing. “For example, we have seen many credit unions recently embrace the NCR Atleos ATM as a Service solution, which offers end-to-end maintenance and management of a credit union’s fleet, including everything from deployment to helpdesk support,” she explained.

“In addition to increasing efficiencies and reducing cost and complexity, such a strategy allows credit unions to spend more time on member relationships and to introduce new innovations more quickly,” she continued. “This path enables them to more effectively grow and compete without sacrificing the member or community focus.”