Panel Profile: Melton Building Society director of IT and change Rita Bullivant

Welcome to the IT Pro Panel Profile, where we talk to the CIOs, experts and IT leaders that make up the IT Pro Panel, and discover their top tech, pet peeves and IT inspirations.

Transformation is often high on the agenda for an IT leader entering a new organisation, but it’s a larger project for some organisations than it is for others. When she joined Melton Building Society as head of IT and change, Rita Bullivant found that she was facing a particular challenge, with a business in need of radical IT modernisation.

Happily, it’s a role she’s well-suited for, with previous experience at major organisations including BT, HSBC and Interserve. With a particular focus on cloud enablement, business deliverables and organisational agility, Rita has been getting stuck into her task of transforming Melton Building Society’s technology to meet the needs of a digital age.

Rita Bullivant

Director of IT and change - Melton Building Society

Describe your role in 20 words or fewer.

Simultaneously enabling efficiency, growth and resilience, and moving to a human-centric working model to secure digital-era business needs.

What was your first computer?

I’m almost too old to remember it now; I think it was an IBM Aptiva, when I was working at my first project management job for BT, circa 1995.

What do you like most about working in IT?

I love that every day is different, and that despite how underrated tech is, it’s the most important item in a business tool kit!

If you could magically get rid of one piece of technology forever, what would it be, and why?

I’d eliminate the need for modems at home; why can’t home broadband services be cloud-based? That’s an invention waiting to happen....

What future tech innovations are you most excited about?

I can’t wait for Star Trek-style holodecks, lab-made food, flying taxis, and medical innovations like 3D-printed replacement bones and artificial eyes.

Who’s your biggest inspiration in the world of tech?

I’m inspired by some of the earliest innovators in technology, including John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley - the team that developed the first transistor - and Thomas Edison.