Joseph W. Saunders, the previous chairman and CEO who took Visa public in what was then the most important preliminary public providing in U.S. historical past, died Nov. 2, in accordance with an official obituary. He was 81.
Saunders turned chairman and CEO of Visa Inc. in May 2007. He oversaw the corporate’s shift from a non-public affiliation of monetary establishments right into a publicly traded company. Visa accomplished its IPO in 2008. Saunders then guided the corporate’s enlargement into digital funds earlier than he retired in March 2013.
His profession in monetary providers started at Household Credit Services, which he constructed into an $18 billion enterprise. There he was finest identified for launching the GM Card, the most important co-branded bank card. He later served as chairman and CEO of Providian Financial Corp. and Fleet Credit Card Services. In 1996, he was chairman of GraspCard International’s board of administrators.
After leaving Visa, Saunders stayed energetic in investing. He was a particular adviser to Reverence Capital Partners and chairman and common companion of Green Visor Capital.
A Chicago native, Saunders earned a bachelor’s diploma in enterprise administration and an MBA from the University of Denver. The college awarded him an honorary doctorate in enterprise in 2009, and he later sat on its board of trustees. In 2018, he and his spouse, Sharon, arrange the Saunders Leadership Academy Endowed Scholarship Fund at DU. The fund presents scholarships, mentoring and management coaching to college students with important monetary want, lots of whom are the primary of their households to attend school. He additionally chaired the board of Teach For All.
The obituary describes him as a person remembered for his humor, integrity and sense of equity.
He is survived by his spouse, Sharon; his son, TJ, and daughter-in-law, Molly; his daughter, Christine, and son-in-law, Peter; three granddaughters, Anna, Sophie and Charlotte; and his sister, Laura. A celebration of his life shall be held Nov. 20 from 4 to eight p.m. on the Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco.
PYMNTS coated Saunders throughout his years at Visa, together with how the corporate responded to the Federal Reserve’s debit guidelines below the Durbin Amendment. On a July 2011 earnings call, he mentioned Visa would implement new fees within the wake of the Fed’s ultimate debit guidelines, including a community participation charge within the U.S. whereas decreasing the variable price it charged on transactions.
