By AnnaMaria Andriotis
Several senior female executives at Visa Inc. are expected to
tell Chief Executive Alfred Kelly in a meeting on Thursday that
they aren't being given enough opportunities to advance at the card
giant, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Kelly called the meeting several weeks ago to hear female
executives' views, the people said. Driving his request: an
internal survey of Visa employees last year that found female
senior vice presidents were less satisfied with their jobs than
male counterparts, according to one of those people.
In advance of the meeting, Mr. Kelly on Tuesday sent an email to
all Visa employees announcing the creation of a women's advisory
group within the company. San Francisco-based Visa employs about
16,000 people world-wide.
Visa in recent months has grappled with several issues related
to the treatment of women. In December, a senior male executive was
fired for alleged misconduct. Earlier this year, at least one more
male executive left the firm amid allegations of misconduct,
according to people familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, a recent,
top-level reorganization within some divisions amplified concerns
inside the company about women's representation in senior roles,
according to people familiar with the matter.
The issues at Visa, the largest credit-card network in the U.S.,
are playing out against the broader backdrop of tension at a
variety of companies over how women are treated and whether their
opportunity to advance is skewed by biases that favor male
bosses.
Mr. Kelly is scheduled to meet Thursday with female executives,
including vice presidents, senior vice presidents and executive
vice presidents, according to people familiar with the matter. Some
of them are expected to tell Mr. Kelly that Visa fosters a "bro"
culture that excludes women, one of those people said.
Mr. Kelly, who has been Visa's CEO since December 2016, said he
has been focused "on building an inclusive leadership culture."
"I feel confident we are heading in the right direction. We are
creating stronger development programs for diverse talent,
increasing female leader representation and taking steps to
increase our diverse pipeline, " Mr. Kelly said in a statement.
The company's 12-person management team has four women, while
five of Mr. Kelly's 10 direct reports are women.
The female executives meeting with Mr. Kelly are expected to
focus on women's advancement at the company. Among their top
concerns: Women aren't being given the same opportunities at the
company as male counterparts, a person familiar with the matter
said.
Separately, tension within Visa's upper ranks increased in
recent weeks after Jack Forestell, head of global products and
solutions, sent an email announcing a reorganization involving his
divisions, people familiar with the matter said. These include
parts of payment processing and digital partnerships.
The reorganization included new positions for 14 men, some on an
interim basis until permanent replacements are found, and one
woman, according to the email, which was reviewed by the Journal.
Mr. Forestell said in the email that his team needs to be more
diverse "especially with respect to senior female leadership" and
that he plans to make this a "key focus as we seek to fill our open
and interim roles."
In response, a female Visa executive emailed Mr. Forestell
expressing disappointment in the lack of women's advancement. "This
morning, I spent hours on the phone with over a dozen women leaders
who are frustrated and angry about the organizational announcement
and the passing reference made to the diversity issue," she wrote,
according to a copy of that email reviewed by the Journal.
She added in the email that optimism "has faded" that the
company genuinely cares about women's progress.
The reorganization began after the company fired Jim McCarthy,
who handled the company's high-profile relationships with PayPal
Holdings Inc. and Apple Inc. The December 2017 dismissal, reported
by the Journal, followed former consensual relationships between
Mr. McCarthy and female employees, and the discovery of an email
conversation in which Mr. McCarthy told a lower-level female
employee that she was good looking. Mr. McCarthy didn't respond to
a request for comment.
Following Mr. McCarthy's exit, Mr. Kelly told employees at a
regularly scheduled town hall meeting that Visa would investigate
fully when it receives complaints from employees, people familiar
with the matter said. In response to an employee question, Mr.
Kelly said he could think of seven employees--whom he didn't
identify--that the company was looking into, the people said.
Some of the inquiries into those employees were closed after the
company failed to find behavior that warranted dismissals,
according to a person familiar with the matter.
Donald Boeding, head of North America merchant sales and
solutions, left the company following questions about his conduct,
among other issues, according to people familiar with the matter.
This included an allegation of inappropriate behavior with other
employees in a bar, one of the people said.
Mr. Boeding didn't respond to requests for comment.
Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 09, 2018 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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