Jeff Sloan to Step Down as Global Payments CEO

Payments technology firm Global Payments has named a new chief executive.

Jeff Sloan, who has held the CEO post for nearly 10 years, announced his departure Monday (May 1), with Chief Operating Officer Cameron M. Bready set to take his place.

“It has been the highest honor of my 30-plus-year career to serve as CEO of Global Payments for nearly a decade,” Sloan said in a news release.

“With the closing of our acquisition of EVO Payments and divestitures of our Netspend consumer and gaming solutions businesses, we have successfully completed our strategic pivot to simplify our businesses, focus on our core corporate customers and provide enhanced confidence in our growth and margin targets.”

Sloan joined Global Payments as president in 2010 following an 11-year stint with Goldman Sachs, and became CEO in October 2013.

Much of that time was spent working alongside Bready, who Sloan said has “my complete confidence as our next CEO and my total support as we effect a smooth transition over the coming weeks.”

The company announced its succession plan on the same day it released first quarter earnings that Sloan said represented the Global Payments’ best quarter in four years.

“Both of our key businesses posted exceptional results. Our merchant business proved highly resilient as we saw accelerated growth across a number of worldwide markets and ongoing stability despite incremental macroeconomic distractions,” he said.

“And our core issuer business improved 340 basis points sequentially and delivered its highest rate of year-over-year growth in more than five years,” Sloan added.

Monday also saw the conclusion of Global Payments’ sale of its Netspend business to Rêv Worldwide for $1 billion.

The transaction, first announced last year, is part of a series of moves by Global Payments to shift focus from the consumer side of its business to its corporate clients.

In February, the company sold its gaming division — Global Payments Gaming Solutions — to private equity firm Parthenon Capital, which planned to turn it into a stand-alone independent company called Pavilion Payments.

Sloan said at the time that the $415 million deal was “consistent with our efforts to refine our portfolio to focus on our corporate clients and away from consumer-centric businesses.”

And last year, the company announced plans to purchase payment technology and acquiring solutions firm EVO Payments for $4 billion.

The deal — which became final in March — is aimed at adding accounts receivable software with broad third-party acceptance to Global Payments’ B2B software and payment solutions.