Few enterprises survive without useful products and a strategy aligned with customers’ needs, making the chief product officer a critical cog in company operations. In May, a trio of companies announced new product executives to bolster this significant corporate function.
One of the biggest executive transitions in May was at processing giant Fiserv, which welcomed Michael Lyons as its new chief executive on May 6. That was the same day the U.S. Senate confirmed former CEO Frank Bisignano as the new Social Security Administrator.
Bisignano was sworn in at the agency on May 7. Lyons, a former private equity executive and PNC Financial Services Group president, joined Milwaukee-based Fiserv in January as president and CEO-elect.
Swiss financial services software provider Temenos appointed two U.S.-based executives with broad mandates over products.
Rohit Chauhan was named chief technology officer, charged with leading Temenos’ “overall technology strategy, innovation, research and development driving co-innovation with customers and partners,” the company said in a May 16 press release.
Chauhan was previously a managing director and head of digital channels for JP Morgan Chase, where he worked in various roles for about 12 years, per the release. Chauhan was a Morgan Stanley technology executive prior to joining JP Morgan.
Temenos also hired Eugene Khmelevsky as its global head of architecture and data, a new role for the Geneva-based company.
Khmelevsky’s role will involve ensuring that the company’s data “supports a modular, flexible product strategy,” Temenos said. Khmelevsky is a former technology executive at Fidelity National Information Services and Plano, Texas-based retailer JCPenney.
Medius, a provider of accounts payable and spend-management tools, named Gary Hall as chief product officer to direct the company’s product strategy, according to a May 12 press release.
Hall, the former product chief for GSCF, a Swiss-based “working capital as a service provider,” is based in Boston, a Medius spokesperson said in an email. Medius is a Swedish company with its U.S. offices in Jacksonville, Florida.
“Medius is redefining the experience of managing spend with AI,” Hall said in the release. “Leading this next chapter of product innovation is a rare opportunity, and I'm eager to help shape what the future of spend management looks like."
The payments subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America, ICBA Payments, on May 8 appointed Kelly Kroskie as executive vice president, digital transformation. Kroskie’s dual role as EVP also includes TCM Bank, the organization’s card-issuing bank.
“Kelly brings a deep understanding of digital strategy and operational leadership that will help us evolve our payments offerings to better serve community banks,” Jacob Eisen, the chief executive officer of ICBA Payments and TCM Bank, said in a press release.
AffiniPay, a software firm that specializes in practice management and payment systems for legal operations, announced May 5 that it had appointed Leslie Witt as chief product officer. She will be “responsible for leading the company’s product transformation,” AffiniPay said in a May 5 press release.
Witt is a former executive at Intuit and Headspace. “I found a company with both the zeal and the ability to deeply invest in product and brand,” Witt wrote of Austin, Texas-based AffiniPay on her LinkedIn page.
A California regional bank, Pasadena-based Wescom Financial, announced May 15 that it hired Cristobel von Walstrom as its new vice president of payment systems. Von Walstrom was previously a consultant with Retail Payments Global Consulting Group and a vice president of payment networks and partnerships at Synchrony Financial.
Latin American fintech EBANX has hired Marie-Elise Droga, a former senior executive with Visa and Western Union, as its new chief revenue officer to help grow in emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Droga will lead EBANX’s commercial and partnership teams, the Brazilian-based company said in a May 22 press release. Previously, Droga oversaw fintech partnerships for Visa, following a similar role at Western Union.
“Having witnessed firsthand the struggles for financial inclusion in emerging markets, I am driven by a purpose to create real change and impact in these communities,” Droga said in the press release.
