PayPal Names Fiserv Veteran Suzan Kereere as Global Markets President

PayPal has appointed Fiserv executive Suzan Kereere as its new global markets president.

Kereere, who will take the role beginning Jan. 1, will be responsible for leading the company’s local businesses and growth strategies in markets around the world, PayPal said in a news release provided to PYMNTS Wednesday (Dec. 6).

“Suzan is a highly accomplished executive with extensive experience leading global payments and technology platforms and businesses at Fortune 100 companies around the world,” said Alex Chriss, PayPal’s president and CEO.

“Throughout her more than 30-year career, she’s led successful transformation, sales, and customer initiatives with a proven track record of championing a more inclusive culture in the workplace, maximizing value for customers, and driving growth.”

Kereere is now Fiserv’s head of global business solutions and has also served as that company’s chief growth officer. She joined Fiserv following five years at Visa and has also held leadership roles in her 18 years at American Express.

“I’ve dedicated my career to driving innovation in the payments industry and have long been inspired by PayPal,” Kereere said. “I’m delighted to join PayPal to serve this iconic brand and deliver on the mission to empower consumers and businesses to reach their full potential.”

Peggy Alford, an 11-year PayPal veteran who serves as the company’s executive vice president for global sales and merchant services, will leave that role — and the company — next year after making “meaningful contributions through numerous senior leadership roles across the business,” the company said.

The announcement comes one day after news reports that PayPal is working on new features, with a focus on improving its checkout experience as it strives to compete with rivals like Stripe and Apple Pay.

The project, known as “Quantum Leap,” hopes to streamline the checkout process, revamp PayPal’s consumer app and speed up integration for merchants.

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that although PayPal and Square dominate the market and 85% of Main Street small to midsized businesses (SMBs) report being highly satisfied with their current payment processors, there is a fight for market share among the remaining 15% of SMBs who do not count themselves as highly satisfied.

Discussing customers’ checkout experience on an earnings call last month, Chriss said it is the company’s “end-to-end consumer experience with checkout at the center that will bring value to consumers with every single purchase.”