Former NAB head of group strategy joins fintech

Colin Adamson previously held the role of head of group strategy at NAB and carries over two decades of experience in financial services including leadership roles across the retail banking industry along with working with major lenders both in Australia and the UK.

Mr Adamson’s prior roles also include several head roles with AMP Bank such as head of strategy, head of product — home loans and head of corporate superannuation products along with executive manager roles with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) including executive manager, small business customer segment operations and executive manager, retail strategy and business development, sales.

Founded in 2017 by Josh Shipman and Sarah Russell, Elula is an Australian-owned artificial intelligence (AI) software company that focuses on the financial services sector.

Both co-founders previously held senior roles with CBA, with Mr Shipman being the head of automation with the major bank, holding a senior role in information security for the implementation of real-time fraud detection and carries 20 years’ of experience across banking, technology, and payments sectors.

Ms Russell also holds 20 years’ experience in banking across strategy, data science, technology, and operations and has held senior executive leadership roles.

Elula’s core products, Sticky and Nudge, specialise in customer retention and acquisition, which allow lenders to reduce run-off and drive growth across their loan portfolios.

Additionally, the fintech entered a strategic investment with PEXA Insights in May 2022.

Mr Adamson will also be joining the fintech’s leadership team starting immediately.

Co-founder and co-chief exeucitve Mr Shipman commented on the new hire: “Colin will work with existing and new banking relationships both in Australia and internationally to help banks harness the benefits of Elula’s AI products to reduce churn, drive acquisition and deliver better customer experiences.

“As the home lending competition intensifies, the refinance market has considerably increased, and we are seeing a significant demand for our customer retention and acquisition products, Sticky and Nudge.”

Ms Russell, Elula co-founder and co-CEO, said Mr Adamson is “ideally suited to play a key role in delivering customer outcomes” along with assisting in maintaining the overall trajectory of the business through its growth and evolution.

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