Amex appoints Glenda McNeal as first Black woman to its executive committee

American Express has named Glenda McNeal, honored by PaymentsSource last year as one of the Most Influential Women in Payments, to its executive committee, marking the first time a Black woman has held that role.

Amex CEO Stephen J. Squeri made the announcement late last week when he appointed three new executives — two men plus McNeal — to the executive committee effective immediately, Black Enterprise reported. Amex’s executive committee now has 18 members.

McNeal, president of strategic partnerships at Amex, has served at Amex for more than 30 years. She’s handled key negotiations with partners for cobranded credit cards and marketing initiatives including Delta, Marriott, Hilton, PayPal and Amazon.

Most recently McNeal co-led Amex’s Stand for Small coalition, which provided support for more than 70 companies coping with the effects of coronavirus, Squeri said.

“Going forward, identifying and delivering innovative partnership opportunities will play an ever more important role in our overall growth strategy, and having Glenda’s expertise and experience on the executive committee will be a huge asset for us,” Squeri said in the announcement.

The other employees named to the executive committee were Andres Espinosa, executive vice president of enterprise credit and fraud risk management, and the company’s chief credit officer; and Pierric Beckert, who is president of Amex’s Global Network Services.