Brendan Hopper

Inquirer
DISC Type : cd

Managing Director Innovation Ecosystems at Commonwealth Bank

Greater Sydney Area, Australia

Overview

Brendan Hopper is the Managing Director of Innovation Ecosystems at Commonwealth Bank, where he leads engineering and innovation. With a background as the banks CIO for Technology and head of cybersecurity, he leverages his Masters in AI from UNSW and management training from Harvard to shape Australias technology landscape.

Outside of his corporate role, Brendan is a writer who publishes articles and poetry exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, creativity, and societys future. He has a personal website where he shares these thoughts, blending his deep technical knowledge with a creative and philosophical perspective.

Unique fact: Brendan maintains a personal blog and publication called "Aligning Myself, " where he writes essays and AI-generated poetry.

Personality Overview

Demanding

Upfront

Hard To Convince

They focus on objectivity in a pitch and pay little attention to bells and whistles.  They care equally about the product and its potential impact. They don’t always try to control the conversation but neither do they like yielding it fully.

Topics They Care About

AI & Society
Publishes articles on his personal blog exploring how AI will reorder civilization, change the value of talent, and impact culture.
Tech Talent Development
Actively works to fix the 'leaky pipeline' for women in tech and serves as a Director at the Future Skills Organisation to boost Australia's tech skills.
Innovation Ecosystems
His current role involves building and nurturing technology ecosystems, including launching tech hubs in Perth and Adelaide to foster local talent and innovation.

Media Appearances

Speakers – AI for Good Summit 2025 (includes Brendan Hopper, Managing Director Innovation Ecosystems, Commonwealth Bank). Featured in ITU – AI for Good

See Now

VOICE Summit 2019 Speakers (featuring Brendan Hopper, Managing Director Innovation Ecosystems, Commonwealth Bank). Featured in VOICE Summit

See Now

Work History

1-2026
Managing Director Innovation Ecosystems at Commonwealth Bank
9-2025
Distinguished Technical Fellows at Tech Policy Design Institute (TPDi)
6-2023
Non Executive Director at Future Skills Organisation
2-2022
Advisor - Executive Council at Flow Framework - https://flowframework.org/ffc-about/
10-2021 - 12-2023
Customer Advisory Board Member at Atlassian

Education

7-2023 - 11-2023
General management program from Harvard Business School
3-2015 - 1-2023
Master of Information Technology in Artificial Intelligence from UNSW

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 20 Location : Greater Sydney Area, Australia Job Level : Mid-senior Designation : Managing Director Innovation Ecosystems at Commonwealth Bank
URL has been copied!

Insights For Selling To Brendan

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Get to the point quickly instead of spending too much time on pleasantries
  • Ask them questions confidently while doing discovery, don’t be apologetic
  • Stress on the business value that your product offers

DONT's

  • Refrain from asking too many questions
  • Avoid long winding pitches, stay objective
  • Don't try too hard to get friendly, let it happen with time

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Brendan is

  • Conviction in the product matters to them, followed by proof points and strong testimonials.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Brendan

  • They may not be very forthcoming, but they will say no if needed.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Brendan move?

  • Their decision making speed is somewhere in the middle.
  • Can Brendan take some risk or not?

  • They can take risks but after weighing up the pros and cons.

You And Brendan

Personality Compatibility


Other Commonwealth Bank Employees

Explore more public profiles from related professionals at the same organization.

More Profiles

Discover additional public profiles from our index.

Search more profiles

Looking for someone else? Search here for anyone.

Or visit Humantic AI to know more.