American Express Appoints Neal Sample President, Enterprise Growth
September 30 2014 - 7:11AM
Business Wire
The following announcement from American Express (NYSE:AXP) is
in the form of a letter to employees from Kenneth I. Chenault,
CEO:
“I’m writing to let you know about a change in the leadership of
Enterprise Growth. Dan Schulman, Group President of
Enterprise Growth, has informed me of his decision to leave
American Express and join eBay, Inc., where he will become CEO of
their PayPal business. With Dan's departure, we have appointed
Neal Sample, Enterprise Growth’s Chief Information Officer
and Chief Marketing Technologist, to lead the group going
forward. Effective immediately, Neal will become President,
Enterprise Growth, reporting to me and will become a member of the
company's Operating Committee.
Dan's decision comes against the backdrop of eBay's plans,
announced earlier today, to spin off PayPal as a separate,
standalone company. For Dan, this represents an opportunity to
serve as CEO of a publicly-traded company, and, in many ways, it is
a return to his roots leading digital and mobile technology
companies at critical phases in their development. Dan, you
may recall, was CEO of Priceline earlier in his career, then
launched Virgin Mobile and led the pre-paid group at Sprint before
joining American Express in 2010. As you know, while PayPal is a
competitor of ours in many respects, they are also one of our
largest merchant partners, and I hope and expect that our paths
will continue to cross with Dan’s in the future.
As head of Enterprise Growth, Dan built the team that launched
Serve, our first digital wallet and peer-to-peer payment platform,
and developed our pre-paid card business, including Bluebird, the
checking and debit alternative that we offer with Walmart. Dan
has provided great leadership to the group since its early days,
building a strong foundation and an outstanding team that has drawn
world-class talent from within the company, as well as from Silicon
Valley and throughout the tech sector.
Foremost among them is Neal Sample. Neal joined American Express
from eBay in 2012 to lead technology development for Enterprise
Growth. Since then, Neal has been instrumental in shaping our Serve
software platform, driving Enterprise Growth’s transformation to
the Agile development process, and advocating for a work
environment that encourages innovation and prototyping of new
payment applications, features, and products. Neal has also
been a member of the Technology Executive Team and has worked
across the company on a number of technology initiatives.
The work being done in Enterprise Growth is one part of the
larger transformation under way throughout American Express. A
number of years ago, we sharpened our strategic focus to
concentrate on the payments sector with the spin-off of our
financial advisory business. More recently, we've made great
progress in making our brand more welcoming and inclusive, with
initiatives like OptBlue, Amex Everyday and Loyalty Partner helping
us to reach sectors of the market not traditionally served by
American Express. At the same time, we are going everywhere that
our Card Members are through a series of digital initiatives and
partnerships with companies like Apple, Uber, Twitter and
Facebook.
While our investments in some of our newer businesses, such as
those in Enterprise Growth, have a longer time frame than many of
those within the core business, I believe they have the potential
to be a critical element of our success over the long term. I look
forward to working with Neal and the group to capitalize on the
foundation we've put in place.
Please join me in thanking Dan for his leadership through the
early years of Enterprise Growth and congratulating Neal as he
takes on his new responsibilities.”
About American Express
American Express is a global services company, providing
customers with access to products, insights and experiences that
enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at
americanexpress.com and connect with us on
facebook.com/americanexpress, foursquare.com/americanexpress,
linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress,
and youtube.com/americanexpress.
Key links to products and services: charge and credit cards,
business credit cards, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards,
merchant services, business travel, and corporate card.
Media:American ExpressLeah Gerstner,
leah.m.gerstner@aexp.com, +1-212-640-3174
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