MyState brings on first chief digital and marketing officer

Heather McGovern

ASX-listed banking and wealth management group, MyState, has appointed its first group general manager of digital and marketing to put both at the centre of its business strategy.

Heather McGovern joins the MyState team from BankVic, where she was chief product and marketing officer and was active in expanding the group’s digital offering. BankVic has since appointed former AIA CMO, Deidre Boyle, as its chief product and marketing officer.

Prior to this, McGovern spent a year with AIA Australia heading strategic delivery, joining from Incitec Group, where she was initially head of customer before becoming head of commercial. She boasts of 20 years’ experience in the financial services sector, including international marketing and product development roles with American Express and the RBC Royal Bank in Canada.

Closer to home, from 2010 to 2013, McGovern worked at NAB in roles such as head of product bundling and head of channel development.

In the newly created position at MyState, McGovern oversees marketing, customer insights and analytics, and is responsible for building out and implementing the bank’s digital marketing and user experience capabilities. It’s a remit that covers informing design of digital solutions.

She commenced this week and reports directly to the CEO.  

“We are delighted to welcome Heather to our executive team,” said MyState CEO and managing director, Melos Sulicich. “Digital and marketing success is key to our business strategy and Heather has a proven record for strategic execution and transformational growth.”

McGovern told CMO the opportunity to work with a challenger finance brand was a great opportunity.

"Banking is a tough gig at the moment but the opportunity for smaller banks is fantastic - if they have the appetite to go for it. I was attracted to MyState precisely for that reason," she said.

"The company has real ambition and already invested heavily in the systems to enable it to happen. For me, it is about building the brand and creating a digital marketing function that can capitalise on the investments and deliver real business growth."

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