American Express Makes Executive Committee Reporting Changes

The following is a condensed memo from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen J. Squeri that was shared in September, 2024, with all American Express colleagues:

Over the past few years, we’ve made significant investments in new products, services, capabilities and experiences to further enhance our unique Membership Model and meet the evolving needs and preferences of our Card Members. To build on our strong track record of innovation and to further enhance the value we offer to our customers and our merchant partners, I’m pleased to announce that Alex Drummond, currently our Chief Strategy Officer, will take on the new role of Executive Vice President, Membership Portfolio Services, within the U.S. Consumer Services Group (USCS). Alex will report directly to Howard Grosfield, President of USCS, effective October 8.

In this newly created role, Alex will be responsible for developing and scaling several growing businesses that are strategically important to American Express Membership and represent a significant opportunity to help drive our growth over the mid-to-long term. This includes our dining businesses as well as bringing over the Amex Offers team from Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS).

Each of the businesses within Membership Portfolio Services connect Card Members with merchants, which is a key differentiator of our Membership Model, and they are all at an important, transformative period in their strategic development. By bringing them into one organization under Alex’s leadership, we aim to accelerate their strategic development and scale, while continuing their strong growth momentum.

Alex’s experience at American Express and in payments and financial services more broadly make him an excellent leader for this new organization. As our Chief Strategy Officer for the past three years, Alex has worked closely with leaders and teams across the enterprise to successfully lead critical initiatives and bring greater clarity to some of our most important strategic questions. These include our business growth strategy, the adoption of new technologies such as Generative Artificial Intelligence, and the modernization of key enterprise functions. He has done so while embodying our values, making collaboration essential, and leading with an external perspective. Alex has also proved to be a champion of innovation and a passionate advocate for our colleagues. Under his leadership and that of his predecessor, Mohammed Badi, we have built a strong, supremely talented Enterprise Strategy team who are making significant contributions to many of our most important strategic imperatives across the company.

With Alex’s move, I’m pleased to announce the appointment of Nicole Hildebrandt as our new Chief Strategy Officer and head of the Enterprise Strategic Planning team. Nicole will join American Express on October 8 from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she is currently Managing Director and Partner, Financial Institutions Practice. She will report directly to me and become a member of the Executive Committee (EC). In this role, Nicole will work closely with EC and me to continue the evolution of our longer-term strategy for growing our business, expanding our capabilities, and enhancing our competitive position.

Nicole is a great fit for this role. She is a strategic and innovative leader with extensive experience in banking and payments, and a strong record in delivering transformative, enterprise-wide solutions for her clients. Nicole joined BCG in 2015 and became a Partner in 2021. In her current role, she developed payments strategies for large U.S. banks and worked extensively on topics in the B2B payments space with a range of clients. Her expertise will be instrumental in helping us identify and capitalize on emerging trends and opportunities in the payments space and related adjacencies. Prior to BCG, Nicole worked as an economic consultant at Charles River Associates where she supported financial services clients on a range of important topics, including regulatory reviews and antitrust matters. She holds a BA in Economics from Stanford University and a PhD in Economics from New York University.

Alex and Nicole will work closely together in the coming weeks as she transitions into her new role.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Nicole to American Express and congratulating Alex on his new role.