American Express Names New CFO as Jeffrey Campbell Announces Retirement

After a decade with the company, American Express Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Campbell is set to retire.

The company announced Campbell’s departure in a Tuesday (June 27) press release, saying he would be succeeded by Deputy CFO Christophe Le Caillec.

Campbell will step down Aug. 14 and remain with American Express as vice chairman until March of next year, according to the release.

“As we continue to deliver on our growth plan, Jeff’s disciplined approach and astute financial stewardship have positioned us well for the future,” said American Express Chairman and CEO Stephen J. Squeri in the release. “I am looking forward to working even more closely with Christophe, a deeply experienced American Express executive who will bring his own substantial talents to the role.”

Campbell joined American Express as CFO in 2013 and has played a key role in the company’s growth strategy, according to the release. Before joining the company, he worked as CFO of American Airlines and medical/healthcare company McKesson.

Le Caillec has been with American Express for 25 years, and now leads the company’s corporate planning team, the release said.

American Express’ most recent earnings report showed slowing growth in categories like billed business, which is a measure of member spending including cash advances.

The company’s report showed that spending on goods and services, which is almost three-quarters of American Express’ worldwide billed business, slowed to 8%. That growth rate had reached 19% a year ago.

Campbell’s retirement comes amid what PYMNTS described in March as “an ongoing changing of the CFO guard,” with companies like Wise, Revolut, Payoneer, Intuit and Visa all bidding farewell to their finance chiefs in recent months.

In many situations, these exits involve longtime leaders stepping down to make way for “younger and frequently digital-first colleagues,” PYMNTS wrote, as the digital resources available to CFOs continue the job’s evolution.

“I’ve compared being a CFO to the idea of a navigator on a plane…,” Jerry Fadden, CFO at direct-to-consumer (D2C) insurance provider Kin, told PYMNTS in an interview, for example. “You’re constantly making adjustments and covering a broad array of both operational issues as well as treasury and cash management issues, as well as capital planning — and, of course, financial reporting — both management reporting and external reporting.”