Hanna Putria

Ukraine born and raised, Hanna Putria (36) has studied, worked and lived across the globe. “The Netherlands is the sixth country where I live. You could say I’m an explorer.” With two master’s degrees in maths & physics and economics, an MBA from INSEAD, and plenty of experience in consultancy in Dubai and the UK, Hanna came to the Netherlands in 2020 to work in Group Strategy at ING. She joined NN International in September 2024. 

Exploring new roles 

“In consultancy, you live your life in the fast lane. In 2020, I felt the time had come to structurally change my career path. And I had considered moving to continental Europe for some time, as I also wanted to be closer to home.” Home is Ukraine, where her family was forced to relocate from the east to the west, as their hometown was fully destroyed. “I adore how resilient my parents are and how they managed to find new meaning in their lives. Lately, I keep going to Ukraine even more often than before, because it’s important for me to support them, and my country.” 

Her move from the UK to the Netherlands was kick-started by a recruiter who reached out to Hanna on LinkedIn with an exciting new challenge. She joined ING’s Group Strategy as a Director. The department was renamed Group Strategy & Innovation and Hanna was promoted to Managing Director. These roles enabled her to take a deep dive into the strategy domain.  

“At the beginning of 2024 I started thinking of exploring new things again. I had wanted to get into the tech space for quite some time, because I’m fascinated by the pace of the developments in this area and the way tech transforms the world. Through a former ING colleague I found myself having conversations with incredibly intelligent, emphatic and open-minded people at NN. It all came together: the people, the culture and a dream role in tech.” 

Digital Future

At NN International Hanna is responsible for the digital transformation of journeys in eight countries. “It’ll be a very impactful change and we’re currently building the foundations for our journey going forward.” Hanna and her team have established a complex work stream and are planning for the future. She is also building her team. “I want to make sure that new team members are a fit in terms of both culture and capabilities.” 

The team’s goal is to drive efficiency and create excellent customer experience through straight-through-processing (STP), self-service and AI. “To secure the best customer experience, we need to find the right balance between digital, AI-driven and human-assisted capabilities.” 

People leadership skills 

Hanna is also learning and developing her own competencies. “My team includes product owners, UI/UX, insurance and tech experts. I do have line management experience, but managing a team of highly-skilled experts in such different fields is a different ballgame. I’ll need to learn to accept that I’m unlikely to ever have their expertise and in-depth knowledge. The great thing is that I trust them one hundred percent in what they do. I have a great team.” 

Hanna’s manager is her role model. “My manager is fantastic: he gives a lot of freedom to pursue my goals, he is a great sparring partner to bounce my thoughts off, and he provides me with all the support my team and I need. I feel I got really lucky with my manager.” 

Hanna continues, “My focus is on growing my people leadership skills and building a safe environment in which my team thrives. I grew up in a rather hierarchical post-Soviet culture, but that’s not what I want for my team. I’m learning and trying other ways to motivate them, while cultivating emotional intelligence and empathy. 

“I love driving change and look forward to seeing the results of our work”, Hanna concludes.