Steven Meek

Sumit Johar

Profile summary

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Steven Meek is an accomplished technology leader with over 25 years of experience across financial services and consumer goods sectors. As CIO of Pepper Money, he has led digital transformations focused on AI, automation, and cloud-first systems.

Prior to Pepper, he modernized investment platforms at Macquarie Group and drove digital innovation at Coca-Cola Amatil. A strong advocate for responsible AI adoption, Meek promotes a phased approach—from quick wins to complex applications.

Across roles, Meek has consistently championed tech strategies that enhance end user experiences and operational agility.

Connect with Steven on: Linkedin

Career highlights

2021

Chief Information Officer

2013

Divisional CIO

2001

Head of Digital & Emerging Technology

1998

Systems
Administrator

Claim to fame

AI-driven credit decisioning and approvals

Under Steven Meek’s leadership, Pepper integrated AI models directly into the loan origination process via Appian’s low-code app platform, SOLANA, to analyze application data and deliver instant credit decisions. This resulted in 42% of asset finance loans being auto approved and 85% of mortgage applications being within 24 hours. Meek’s approach of embedding AI in core transaction layers, turned underwriting from a batch-based process into a real-time decisioning engine.

Intelligent document automation and verification

Meek also led Pepper Money’s investments in intelligent automation for faster document scanning, income verification, biometrics, and digital signatures to streamline documentation and KYC to reduce human effort and maintain regulatory compliance. Automated valuations and verifications led to a frictionless onboarding pipeline that reduced time-to-approval and operational overhead.

Driving Gen AI-powered employee assistance

Meek and his team are also equally invested in improving their internal processes to enhance employee and end-user experiences. They’re expediting resolutions and deflecting tickets from their IT service desk by implementing a Gen AI assistant on their common collaboration platforms. They’ve also successfully automated tedious processes like vendor onboarding, user provisioning, and change management on Atomicwork’s AI-powered service management platform.

Steven’s AI Philosophy

Steven Meek

CIO, Pepper Money

“If you think of a 2X2 matrix, we’ve got in our strategy, everyday AI on the left, game changing complex AI on the right. Then we’ve got internal, external use cases. We start playing in the bottom left quadrant, contemplate learnings, and with that framework of foundations move into complex use cases. That’s how we strike the balance between innovation and regulation.” Source

“We’re laser-focused on digitising the entire customer and partner value chain. Our approach to digitization is to really think about the underlying processes, choose fit-for-purpose technologies that are going to allow us to rapidly digitize and automate those processes and back that with an appropriately agile technology operating model.” Source

"Meek is optimistic about AI's role in financial innovation. With advancing technology and regulatory frameworks, he envisions a future where complex loan scenarios and origination blend with industry advancements to provide brokers and customers unmatched speed and certainty." Source