Visa announces the promotion of Ryan McInerney to CEO post as Al Kelly's replacement

Visa Inc. announces on Thursday, Nov. 17, that it has found a replacement for its outgoing chief executive officer, Al Kelly, who is retiring at age 64. The American financial service company said it has promoted Ryan McInerney and will be the new chief once Kelly officially steps down on Feb. 1, 2023.

While Kelly is retiring from the chief role, he will still be in the company as a member of the board as executive chairman. He has been in the CEO position since 2016 and, in 2019, became the chairman of the board. Before this, he spent 23 years working as president at American Express.

In any case, it was reported that the incoming CEO McInerney has been the company’s president since 2013, and in this role, he has been managing Visa’s financial institutions, merchants, partners, and acquirers.

According to CNBC, McInerney worked at JPMorgan Chase as chief of consumer banking before moving to Visa. At Chase, he has also held operations and risk chief roles at its consumer and lending business units. He was also credited for the launch of its mobile banking service.

He also held the CEO and president role at a tech and digital media company. Lastly, under former President Ronald Reagan, he was the head of information systems at the White House.

“I cannot think of a finer leader to continue to position Visa at the center of money movement in increasingly innovative ways,” Visa’s CEO, Al Kelly, said in a press release. “Ryan has boundless energy and passion for this business and in his role as President, and as my close partner for the past six years, he has become intimately familiar with how Visa operates and the exciting opportunities this industry presents.”

He added, “I feel privileged to entrust Ryan with the leadership of this great company and am confident Visa is poised for more success in the years to come.”

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