Former U.S. Bancorp executive Pamela Joseph is coming out of retirement to serve as the new president and chief operating officer for TSYS, effective May 1, 2016, TSYS announced Wednesday (March 9). Joseph will join its executive leadership team, as well as its board of directors.
Following the announcement, MPD CEO Karen Webster caught up with Joseph to find out what brought her back to the space, and what lies ahead at TSYS. Joseph took a rather short 10-month retirement — after a 21-year career at U.S. Bank – drawn to the opportunity to jump back into a payments space that is more dynamic than ever – with a firm that she knew well as a business partner.
“I have known and done business with TSYS for more than 20 years and am thrilled to be joining the team. TSYS clearly has best in class technology platforms and a blue chip customer roster. I look forward to driving additional client and partner benefits through product innovation and service enhancements,” Joseph explained.
Joseph highlighted mobile and security as two particular areas of future opportunity and personal interest. And those always-evolving topics, as well as an admiration for TSYS, made the role a “perfect fit,” Joseph said.
Joseph retired in June of 2015 from her role as the vice chairman of U.S. Bancorp’s Payment Services Division, which she held since 2004. Prior to that, she served as Chairman and CEO of Elavon.
Joseph told Webster that she thinks her experience on both the issuing and acquiring side will serve her well.
“When you look at loyalty, when you look at rewards, when you look at security and fraud and all of those value-added opportunities, it really helps if you understand both the merchant side as well as the issuing side, and I think that’s where the focus is going to be for a while,” Joseph said.
In her role as President, Joseph said that one of the things she’ll focus on is helping issuers refine and extend their value proposition to consumers, helping them “close the engagement loop,” while differentiating their brands from the competition.
“I think that in the end, customers pick the cards based on what they know they’re going to get out of the experience — and everybody has their favorite,” she said. “I also think that issuers should really focus on being the authenticator — the entity that knows the customer and can stand behind the customer, and I think if they stay focused on those primary roles — providing that value to the cardholder and also making sure that they know the cardholder in whatever form that happens to take as we move forward — I think that’s what’s going to provide the most value.”
At U.S. Bancorp, Joseph was responsible for all electronic payment product lines including consumer credit, debit, small business, prepaid, corporate, purchasing and fleet card programs and global acquiring. She has been regarded as one of the Most Influential Women in Payments by Payments Source and one of the Most Powerful Women in Banking by American Banker.
“We are delighted that Pam will be joining our executive team as President and COO and is the newest member of our board of directors,” M. Troy Woods, chairman, president and CEO of TSYS, said in the company’s press release. “She is immensely respected within the payments industry and has a deep familiarity with our company from years of working together which are tremendous assets as we strive to deliver People-Centered innovation in this rapidly evolving payments industry.”