Page 36 - Pay Magazine s2014

The Women of BlackhaWk neTWork
companies & people
Women Driving Payments Change
When Blackhawk Network started in 2001, nobody knew what a Gift Card Mall was. If you wanted a gift card, you went to a specific retailer.
Fast forward to 2015 and nearly every grocery and discount retailer has racks and racks of gift cards for their stores, as well as other iconic brands, digital content and more. Consumers have embraced this convenience, and gift cards have become the No. 1-requested gift for the holidays, eight years and counting.
How did this transformation hap- pen? Look no further than the women of Blackhawk Network.
Of course countless men, includ- ing co-founder Don Kingsborough and CEO Bill Tauscher, have been instrumental in getting Blackhawk to where it is today. But at the Pleasanton, Calif.-based company women have been at the executive table from the start. Half of its global workforce is female as is 46 percent of its leadership, in- cluding President Talbott Roche, one of the founders.
“We have strong and talented women in many critical roles in
our organization,” says Roche.
“I am passionate about women supporting women across Black- hawk and our broader industry. Fintech and payments have tradi- tionally been dominated by men. Our organization benefits from strong women leaders. Real change has to be supported from the top.”
Suzanne Kinner, who heads up human resources, says, “We’ve found great success hiring lead- ers—men and women—who combine their passion for their work with a passion for people.”
Part of Blackhawk’s appeal has been its collaborative approach to creating a new industry. “When I joined Blackhawk Network, there was no prepaid industry and no operations department,” recalls Amie Miller, who manages opera- tions. “The exciting thing for me has been that as we were building Blackhawk, we also were building an industry.” Streamlining opera- tions has led to faster time to market for new products. What used to take 90 days, now takes 60, Miller notes. “This collaborative effort required working with many manufacturers and processors to perfect our timing.”
Collaboration is key to Kirsten Richesson’s job, as well. As general counsel, she works with Black- hawk’s global team of lawyers, contract managers, paralegals and compliance staff to sign new commercial deals and stay in front of evolving regulation. “The biggest challenge is adapting to the constant change within our space,” she says. “We invest significant time and resources in the analysis of proposed regulations and often write comment letters offering our view to regulators.”
Post-IPO Boom
In April 2013, Blackhawk Network
Talbott Roche
President
Kirsten Richesson
General Counsel
marked a major milestone—a $230 million IPO and successful spinoff from Safeway. It gave the company new freedom, responsibility and resources to expand. As Controller and Chief Accounting Officer Joan Lockie was pivotal to the transition. “The IPO was one of my busiest times, but it has not stopped,” she says. “Blackhawk is committed to achieving profitable growth and keeping pace with the industry moving forward.”
That profitable growth strategy in- cludes acquisitions—five of which have been in the incentives space, leading to the creation of Blackhawk Engagement Solutions. “The incen- tives market is an attractive adjacent market moving more toward pre- paid solutions,” says Roche. “There are powerful operating synergies
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