John heads worldwide operations and business process innovation for financial services companies. Over the course of his career, he made the discipline of enterprise shared services a key asset at American Express (Amex). In doing so, John helped to steer this $55B company through numerous economic cycles; supported growth, removed cost; applied technological innovation; and contributed to record levels of merchant and card member satisfaction. John brings broad intelligence gained from growing organizations and teams in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He is a leader known for stepping outside the top-floor bubble and rolling up his sleeves to get results. John was last Executive Vice President, Enterprise Transformation at Amex. In this role, he identified $400M in annualized revenue and OpEx savings in three years and reduced spend by $100M through technology expansions. Immediately prior, John served as Executive Vice President, Global Business Services, leading strategy and operations across 42 markets for this $600M group. During his tenure, 3,000 employees delivered smooth day-to-day operations for real estate, enterprise automation, supply management, customer fulfillment, internal consulting, and sales enablement. When COVID-19 upended the operating environment and drove an unheard of 80% increase in disputes, John helmed Amex’s return to normality for merchants and card members. Previously John was Senior Vice President, Global Servicing Network (GSN). There, he spearheaded deployment of robotics process automation for GSN’s $2B cost base and generated $10M annually of benefits to the wider team. John also addressed persistent friction in the merchant experience by digitizing much of the operations, creating well-received customer-facing options, and making the platform available in 22 markets. In 2010, John helped found the GBS group, a strategic decision that made Amex an early adopter of this enterprise-wide shared services model. He then led the global finance operations as Senior Vice President, Global Financial Operations, Global Business Services Group. Outside Amex, John chaired the GBS Council at The Conference Board, an industry think tank. His community work includes the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, the nonprofit UMOM New Day Center, and Junior Achievement of Arizona. In 2018, the Phoenix Business Journal named him to a list of Phoenix’s “Most Admired Leaders.” John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Exeter in Exeter, UK. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Arizona and a Chartered Accountant of England and Wales. He is a fanatical skier, terrible golfer, and travels extensively with his wife, Suzanna.
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