PayPal, American Express and Wells Fargo are making changes in their executive suites as the way consumers pay for goods and services rapidly evolves.
The president of enterprise services for New York-based Amex, Anré Williams, is stepping down after 35 years at the card network, the company said in an SEC filing Thursday. And PayPal Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer John Kim will leave the San Jose-based online payment firm in March, the company said in a Jan. 22 SEC filing.
By contrast, former JPMorgan Chase executive Ed Olebe will be the new head of cards and merchant services for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the bank said in a Jan. 21 news release.
Williams, who was also chief executive of American Express National Bank, will pursue a leadership role outside of Amex, company CEO Steve Squeri said in a letter to employees included in the SEC filing, although the letter did not say what role he is pursuing.
“Anré will be transitioning the various components of his current role and has graciously agreed to stay on and work with me as Senior Executive Advisor until early November,” the letter said. “I will announce the reassignment of his current responsibilities shortly.”
Williams’ duties “are being reallocated across various executive committee members,” an Amex spokesperson said in an email.
Williams held multiple roles during his more than three decades with Amex, including president of global commercial cards and president of global merchant services, according to his LinkedIn page.
Olebe will replace the retiring Ray Fischer effective immediately, Wells Fargo’s news release said. Fischer apprised the bank of his intent to retire last year, the release said.The incoming executive held a variety of roles in JPMorgan, including head of co-branded cards, ultimate rewards and loyalty services, and president of branded cards, the news release said.Olebe also held leadership roles at Mastercard in the areas of digital payments as well as consumer credit, according to the release.
Olebe worked for Mastercard for eight years and had prior experience at Amex as a director of products and partnerships before he moved in 2014 to co-found the software development company Grasp Mobile Commerce, where he was also the CEO, according to his LinkedIn page. He joined JPMorgan in 2016.
The details of Kim’s departure from PayPal are not clear. He entered into a “separation agreement” with PayPal, the SEC filing said, but the document does not elaborate. The filing said he qualifies for severance, bonus treatment and health benefits, among other things.
Spokespeople for PayPal did not immediately respond to questions about the circumstances related to Kim’s exit.
Kim was an executive vice president of PayPal for roughly two and a half years, according to his LinkedIn page. He joined the company in September 2022, just a few months before long-time CEO Dan Schulman announced in February of the following year that he would retire.
Before Kim worked for the payments company, he was president of the marketplace division at the online travel company Expedia Group and had been president for the home-stay company Vrbo as well as Homestay, his LinkedIn page said
PayPal doesn't plan to appoint a new chief product officer, a spokesperson for the company said. "We now have a strong bench of product and design leaders now in place within our customer-focused business units," the spokesperson said.
