Rini Laskar

Reports directly to the Group Chief Data and Technology Officer and oversees all technology governance, transformation and risk functions for the organization. Responsible for launching the Platform Operating Model in Technology as part of strategic transformation with McKinsey, combining Run and Change activities for faster and safer delivery. Manages all technology governance forums including Board Risk Committees, IT compliance to multiple standards, the technology function's AED 270m+ budget, ~950 resources across multiple offshore development centres, and vendor management for 120+ partners. Also appointed by the CEO to lead Women in Tech, Data and AI initiatives and serves as Head of the RAKBANK D&I Council.

• Launched the Platform Operating Model in Technology with McKinsey to combine Run and Change activity for faster and safer delivery, including strategic partnerships with Personal, Business and Wholesale banking to become more product and customer focused
• Responsible for all technology governance forums including Board Risk Committees, CEO and Leadership updates
• Managed Risk and Audit function including 1st line of defence and vulnerability management; closed all 2024 audit points and overdue High-Risk items
• Managed IT compliance to NESA, NIST and PCI DSS standards
• Responsible for Technology function financials, AED 270m+ budget, ~950 resources including resource capacity management and offshore development centres in India and Pakistan
• Implemented COBIT and ITIL standards for robust processes and SOPs
• Managed all IT Assets including software/hardware, licencing and Annual Maintenance Contracts; streamlined processes and achieved AED 5m of cost savings in 2024
• Led Vendor Management for 120+ partners and introduced vendor performance, governance and tighter contractual clauses
• Appointed by CEO to lead key initiatives including Women in Tech, Data and AI; won CEO award for contributions
• Serves as Head of the RAKBANK D&I Council

Established the Transformation Office from scratch for the Oracle Strategic Ledger program managing over 750 program resources. Built and led a team of 20+ managing governance, reporting, planning, project management standards, financial and resource management, tooling, vendor management, metrics and program communications across 10+ workstreams. Core member of the program leadership team managing key relationships and governance forums including Internal Audit and Risk, implementing reporting and escalation processes to provide transparency and drive progress.

• Set up the Transformation Office for the Oracle Strategic Ledger program (over 750 program resources) from scratch
• Built a team of 20+ to manage governance, reporting, planning, project management standards, financial and resource management, tooling, vendor management, metrics and program communications
• Implemented a reporting process to provide transparency of status and challenges across 10+ workstreams as well as an escalation process to make progress
• Core member of the program leadership team and managed key relationships and governance forums including Internal Audit and Risk
• Reduced program resources to 550, and credited with adding structure, controls and focus for the delivery

Led transformation, portfolio management, PMO, change and governance functions across multiple technology divisions including Chief Technology Office, Finance, and Investment Banking Technology. Implemented governance and change management structures for the Global Finance Change Transformation managing investment spend exceeding $100 million across ~20 programmes. Delivered strategic technology programmes including Cloud Transformation (exceeding 2020 application targets), led Agile Transformation resulting in over 150 global Hybrid Pods, managed End User Transformation with innovative AI and biometric authentication deployments, and delivered first-ever Skype for Business upgrade from Lync in a tier one global bank. Managed transformation portfolio exceeding US$200 million and was recognized for setting the 'gold standard' for programme delivery.

• Implemented governance and change management structure to manage Global Finance Change Transformation with investment spend of $100million+ for ~20 programmes
• Highlighted for seamless management of complex network of global stakeholders, portfolio teams, PMO, communications and reporting
• Delivered one of the most strategic technology programmes in IB Cloud Transformation, exceeded 2020 application targets
• Recognised as setting the 'gold standard' for other programmes
• Led Agile Transformation that resulted in over 150 global 'Hybrid Pods' in 2019 to support new ways of working
• Led 'Keeping Relevant' people stream to upskill workforce of 5000 developers and engineers including online/external training
• Responsible for 44 programmes, projects and initiatives for 87 staff as End User Transformation Programme Manager
• Added innovative technology for 100,000+ end users including Artificial Intelligence Bots (AI) and Biometric Authentication to mobile platform of 'My Hub' portal
• Achieved weekly releases and DevOps model which was unheard of at the time outside of trading floor
• Responsible for stakeholder engagement including weekly reviews with Group Managing Director (GMD) and CISO
• Delivered first ever deployment of Skype for Business upgrade from Lync in a tier one global bank
• Managed 7 PMs and 30+ engineers to configure and install 400+ servers in 16 data centres
• Achieved all stated goals and an additional 5 projects/programmes were added

Led the exit of IT infrastructure and services supplier for the Ministry of Justice, transitioning from one supplier to six new suppliers supporting an estate of 28,000 users. Managed data centre migration including deployment of 140+ new servers, switches, firewalls, WAN/LAN infrastructure, and migration and cutover of users and applications.

• Led the exit of one supplier for IT infrastructure and services to 6 new suppliers with an estate of 28,000 users
• Included data centre migration with 140+ new servers, switches, firewalls, WAN/LAN, migration and cutover of users and applications

Managed key parts of the Enterprise Delivery Assurance function including Group CIO Financial and Assurance processes for BP's Strategy & Operational Excellence division. Reviewed and reported trends and variances against a portfolio of $1billion+ projects within the IT segment, defining and implementing metrics and KPIs to measure performance.

• Managed key parts of the Enterprise Delivery Assurance function including many of the Group CIO Financial and Assurance processes
• Reviewed and reported trends and variances against a portfolio of $1billion+ projects within the IT segment of BP
• Defined and implemented metrics/KPIs to measure performance

Managed global technology upgrade programme for BP's Global Operations and Infrastructure, Integrated Supply and Trading divisions across UK, Dubai, Oman, and Abu Dhabi. Led a team of 65+ project managers, engineers and technical resources, setting up deployment teams in-country, procuring hardware, managing stakeholder engagement with regional CIOs, financial reviews, user communications and training across MENA and South-East UK sites with a budget of $10million+.

• Managed a team of 65+ project managers, engineers and technical resources
• Set up deployment teams in-country, procuring hardware, stakeholder engagement with regional CIOs, financial reviews, user communications and training
• Full use of RAID in MENA and South-East UK sites with budget of $10million+
• Sites included United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, and Oman

Partnered with Bain & Co to define and implement the corporate strategy to transform the Dubai World Trade Centre across Corporate Strategy, Exhibitions, HR, Finance and IT. Defined and implemented project management standards including a new governance process involving the CEO across the organisation. Managed the 2009 project prioritisation of 7 departments including cost/benefit analysis and risk workshops to rationalise 42 projects to 18.

• Partnered with Bain & Co to define and implement corporate strategy to transform the Dubai World Trade Centre
• Defined and implemented project management standards that included a new governance process involving the CEO across the organisation
• Managed 2009 project prioritisation of 7 departments including cost/benefit analysis, risk workshops to rationalise 42 projects to 18

Managed the implementation of three global internet gateways for BP's Global Operations and Infrastructure to serve 30,000 users in Houston and Chicago mega data centres and 6,000 users in Singapore.

• Responsible for managing implementation of three global internet gateways to serve 30,000 users in Houston and Chicago mega data centres and 6,000 users in Singapore

Started in the PMO function before leading projects across mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and business transformation. Led projects ranging from SLAs and Term Sheets of a $2billion JV between BP and Solvay, managing teams to ensure all deal issues from legal, finance and central workstreams were correctly identified, logged and brought for negotiations. Other programmes included Procurement Transformation, SAP ERP implementation in Finance and BP Retail Helios rollout.

• Started in PMO function before leading projects that varied from SLAs and Term Sheets of a $2billion JV between BP and Solvay
• Managed a team to ensure all deal issues from workstreams (legal, finance and central teams) were correctly identified, logged and brought for negotiations where required
• Other programmes included Procurement Transformation, SAP ERP implementation in Finance and BP Retail Helios rollout