Dive Brief:
- NCR Voyix, which provides payments software and services, named James Kelly as the company’s new chief executive officer and president in an announcement Wednesday.
- Prior to becoming the company’s board chair in October 2023 and its executive chair last May, Kelly was the CEO of EVO Payments for 12 years before Global Payments purchased the company in March 2023, according to the company’s website. Previously, Kelly held other executive titles at Global Payments, including chief operating officer, president and chief financial officer.
- Kelly is replacing David Wilkinson, who is exiting the company as president, CEO and a board member. The company also appointed its lead independent director, Kevin Reddy, to become its non-executive chair, the release said.
Dive Insight:
Kelly brings an extensive background in finance and payments to his new role at the Atlanta-based company, which provides services to major retailers, including Walmart, Macy’s, Circle K Stores and DSW, as well as restaurant chains, including Firehouse Subs, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Starbucks.
Before joining Global Payments, Kelly was a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, a global financial services firm, and a manager at Ernst & Young for its merger and acquisitions group as well as its audit group, according to NCR Voyix’s website.
Kelly also serves on the board of another payments company, cross-border service provider MoneyGram International, which was acquired by Chicago private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners as of June 2023, after the buyout firm proposed the purchase in February 2022. He is also on advisory boards for that investment firm, NCR Voyix’s site said.
“Jim is a proven customer-centric business leader with deep experience in technology and payments,” Reddy said in the statement. “He has been a valuable Board member and chair since the spin-off of our ATM-related businesses in 2023 and drove the sale process of our digital banking business last year as executive chair.”
Kelly is being tapped to lead NCR Voyix in its next stage of growth, Reddy said in the release.
NCR Voyix’s leadership shake-up follows a challenging year during which the company reported a $193 million loss from continuing operations for the first nine months, on a 10% drop in revenue to $2.14 billion for the nine-month period, according to its earnings report. However, that was an improvement from a $457 million loss for the same nine-month period in 2023. The company will deliver its fourth-quarter results release on Feb. 27.
Prior to the leadership shift this month, the company formerly known as NCR took on a major restructuring of the business in recent years. In June 2023, it began gearing up for a spin-off of its ATM business and then completed that sale in October 2023, creating the digital commerce company NCR Voyix and the ATM business NCR Atleos.
Also that October, NCR Voyix sold more assets for $82 million, divesting some merchant contracts, its Voyix front-end authorization platform and other intellectual property.
