Innovation explosion: Nationwide’s Hackathon event has a record-breaking year
“The Hackathon is not just a technology event. We need great minds from across the enterprise contributing to incredible ideas and solutions!” - Mimi Chizever, VP, Technology Innovation and Strategy
It’s an exciting year for Ronda Reedy. Not only is she celebrating her 35th anniversary with Nationwide but marking her milestone year with a big win.
“Winning first place at our annual Hackathon is great, but the real victory lies in the knowledge gained and the horizons expanded,” says Ronda, solutions architect director, NF Technology. “I’ve collaborated with participants from diverse backgrounds, and each one brings something unique to the table. We tackle problems head-on, experiment with innovations, and learn along the way.”
Now in its 12th year, the Hackathon provides a platform for employees to collaborate, organize into teams, and swiftly develop prototypes aimed at solving relevant business problems of today and tomorrow.
Doug Huber, part of Retirement Solutions Distribution, identified a business challenge and proposed a solution requiring both business and technology expertise. He saw the Hackathon as the ideal place to explore and develop his concept.
“The team started with Doug, who reached out to me and said “wouldn’t it be crazy if…” Always a good start!” laughed JP Ratajczak, Retirement Solutions Competitive Intelligence director. “Then we created our team and selectively chose experts who were knowledge masters of their domain for business insights, enablement and our Technology hero that helped pull it all together.”
The growth of non-Technology employees participating in this year's Hackathon was phenomenal. In 2023, the Hackathon had 285 participants across 54 teams, with only eight non-Technology employees. This year, participation jumped to 400 participants, including 40 non-Technology employees and 41 interns.
“The Hackathon planning committee had seen in the past how employees outside of Technology had helped teams frame up their ideas and that the most successful product teams were those that had strong alignment with business and Technology,” says Joe Laing, Technology Innovation director. "We wanted the Hackathon to grow and build the understanding that this is not a Technology-only event."
“I could not be more proud of this year's event with a record number of participants creating some of the most innovative projects I have ever seen come from the Hackathon,” says executive sponsor, Melanie Kolp, SVP, Strategy, Data and Innovation. “Nationwide is truly a leader in innovation and supporting learning for all of our employees.”
Winning ideas for Nationwide’s 2024 Hackathon are not being shared publicly due to the proprietary nature of the work and potential patents for new innovations.