Following is the text of a note that Chairman and CEO Steve Squeri sent to American Express employees worldwide:
I am excited to announce that Anna Marrs will be joining American Express as President, Global Commercial Services, reporting to me. Anna is currently the CEO of Commercial & Private Banking and Regional CEO ASEAN & South Asia for Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). She will join the American Express Executive Committee and I expect she will be elected an officer of the company by our Board of Directors when she officially joins us.
One of the four strategic imperatives in our Framework for Winning is to build on our strong position in commercial payments, and Anna has the ideal qualities and experience to lead these efforts. In her time at SCB, she transformed a number of the bank’s core businesses through her principled leadership, strong strategic thinking and a consistent focus on the customer. In her current role, Anna led the turnaround of the Commercial Banking division by investing in data and analytics and introducing compelling products and services to meet their commercial customers’ needs. She also led a major technology transformation in SCB’s Private Banking and Wealth Management division to enhance operations and customer service. More recently, Anna was given additional general management responsibility for leading the bank’s ASEAN and South Asia division, spanning all consumer, commercial and wealth management activities in the region. Prior to joining SCB, Anna was a partner in the banking practice at McKinsey & Co.
During my conversations with Anna, it was clear that she is a terrific leader and a person of high integrity whose core beliefs are consistent with our Blue Box Values. Throughout her career, she has built collaborative, diverse teams that are focused on doing what is right for the customer and delivering results that help the entire enterprise succeed. She will be an excellent addition to our team, bringing new ideas, enthusiasm and a strong commitment to both customers and colleagues.
Anna is currently based in Singapore and will be relocating to London when she joins us. I am excited to have one of our executive officers based outside New York, as I believe it will help us grow and develop our global talent and businesses. Anna will travel between London and New York extensively to ensure she builds strong partnerships with her colleagues and peers.
Standard Chartered Bank, like many large companies, has a garden leave policy that requires a waiting period with restricted access for executives who are leaving to take positions in other companies within their industries. We are working with SCB on a start date for Anna, and while we would like to be able to introduce her to her new team as soon as possible, we need to respect the bank’s policies governing her transition. We will let you know when Anna can start as soon as we agree on a date.
I know everyone at American Express will join me in giving Anna a warm welcome – showing her what we mean by “the powerful backing of American Express.” We look forward to working with her and getting to know her.
Rosa Alfonso
212.640.1712
Rosa.M.Alfonso@aexp.com