- After almost 10 years in the position
- Praise and thanks for Sloan
- Cameron Bready taking over
- Sloan said 103 words
(exechange) — Atlanta, Georgia, May 1, 2023 — Jeff Sloan, chief executive of Global Payments, leaves his position. As announced by Global Payments Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Monday, May 1, 2023, Jeffrey S. (Jeff) Sloan leaves his post as chief executive officer at the payments technology company, after almost 10 years in the role, effective June 1, 2023.
The average tenure of CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 7.7 years. This is according to data collected by CEO-exit research firm exechange.
exechange tracks CEO departures at the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., examines the reasons CEOs leave and determines the Push‑out Score™, a measure of pressure on departing chief executives on a scale of 0 to 10.
Jeff Sloan’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Cameron M. Bready, currently President and Chief Operating Officer at Global Payments Inc.
“Now is the right time”
The management change is explained as follows. M.Troy Woods, Chairman of the Global Payments Board of Directors, stated: “Global Payments today is the leading technology-enabled, software-driven payments business worldwide, with unmatched scale and global reach. It is from this position of strength that the Board believes now is the right time to initiate this transition of leadership responsibilities.”
The top three reasons cited in corporate announcements for CEO departures over the past 12 months are performance issues (26.8% of cases), implementation of a planned succession (16.6%) and the statement that the time was right for a change (10.5%), according to exechange data. Other motives given for leadership changes included the outgoing CEO’s wish to pursue other opportunities (6.4% of cases), personal reasons (4.1%) and conduct issues (2.2%). Rather rarely stated reasons are health problems (1.6% of cases), disagreement (1.3%), death (1.3%), the desire for more time with family (1%) and career change (0.6%). Sometimes, more than one reason was given. In 27.7% of cases, no reason was given.
Precise information regarding Jeff Sloan’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Stepping down”
Global Payments said: “Jeffrey S. Sloan is stepping down as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board, effective June 1, 2023.”
Share price decline since May 2021
The announcement follows a decline in Global Payments Inc.’s share price of 47% since May 2021.
In the position of CEO since 2013
Jeff Sloan became CEO of the Company in 2013.
Sloan joined Global Payments as president in 2010 and became chief executive officer in 2013.
Prior to joining Global Payments, Sloan was a partner and the worldwide head of the Financial Technology Group in New York for Goldman Sachs & Co.
He pioneered the development of the payments practice in investment banking, where he led many of the industry’s landmark transactions over two decades.
He earned dual BA and BS degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 (summa cum laude) and a JD from New York University of Law in 1992 (magna cum laude).
Sloan and his wife, Vicky, have three children and live in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sloan has been recognized by FinTech Breakthrough as one of the “Best FinTech Company CEOs,” by Institutional Investor as one of “America’s Best CEOs,” and by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of “Atlanta’s Most Admired CEOs.”
He serves on the executive committees and the boards of directors of Fleetcor Technologies, Inc. and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; and on the board of the Atlanta Committee for Progress.
In 2017 and 2018, Sloan was the president and chairman of the board of directors of the Electronic Transactions Association.
103 words by Jeff Sloan
In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of Global Payments Inc., Jeff Sloan received praise and thanks.
In announcing his departure, Jeff Sloan said 103 words.
“We have successfully completed our strategic pivot”
Jeff Sloan stated: “It has been the highest honor of my 30 plus year career to serve as CEO of Global Payments for nearly a decade. 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. I have worked side-by-side with Cameron for nearly nine years, and he has my complete confidence as our next CEO and my total support as we effect a smooth transition over the coming weeks.”
Over the past 12 months, 25% of all outgoing CEOs remained silent in the departure announcement, according to data compiled by exechange. Departing CEOs who did make a statement said an average of 110 words. The longest statement was 510 words. The shortest statement was 23 words. Leadership transitions in which departing CEOs provide conspicuously short, excessively long or no explanations for their move are statistically associated with elevated pressure and show an increased incidence of Push-out Scores above the critical threshold of 5.
40% of CEOs are forced out or fired
When CEO departures are announced, exechange determines the Push-out Score on a scale of 0 to 10 to assess how likely it is that the chief executive was pushed out or felt pressure to leave the position, with 0 being most likely a voluntary move and 10 being most likely a forced exit. Anything over a 5 indicates that there are valid reasons to believe an executive may have been pushed out.
Of the 314 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023), the average Push-out Score was 6.2, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When performance issues, pursuit of other opportunities or time with family were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.
Around 40% of the CEO departure events from the past 12 months received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher.
In other words, in the past 12 months, two in five departing CEOs were forced out or fired.
Push-out Score for Jeff Sloan’s move determined
The Push-out Score regarding Jeff Sloan’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.
exechange reached out to Global Payments and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 19.2023 ($).