MY mother is a Christian from Austria and my father a Muslim from Turkey. They met and married in Paris and settled in Istanbul, my father’s home. I was born there and attended an Austrian school in the city. At 19, I moved to Austria to attend what is now the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
I’m 6-foot-2 and was good at basketball. While attending university, I was recruited to play semipro ball in Austria. As a result, it took me longer than usual to complete a combined undergraduate and graduate degree in economics, called a magister, in Austria. But it was worth it. I was able to be paid for my hobby and travel around Europe for tournaments.
My first job, in 1986, was in sales for Europay MasterCard, now MasterCard. I was responsible for signing up merchants such as hotels and restaurants. I rose to vice president for sales and marketing and left 10 years later to work for GE Capital as vice president for retail sales finance and then for consumer financing. A year later, in 1997, General Electric asked me to be national executive for GE Corporate as well, responsible for Austria.
In 1999, I joined Western Union Financial Services and held various executive positions and traveled throughout Europe and Asia. Over more than 25 years, I’ve learned how globalization works and how to navigate in new countries, traveling to 81 so far.
In January 2010, I was promoted to chief operating officer of the Western Union Company and moved to Colorado. Eight months later, I became president and C.E.O. Western Union had always been a brick-and-mortar company, where customers sent or received funds through our agents in grocery stores, post offices and the like. When I took over, I instituted a number of changes to modernize operations. Not only did we add more agent locations, but customers can now send money using a credit card. We also added prepaid cards and a mobile wallet application.
Last year, we bought Travelex Global Business Payments and introduced a business-to-business electronic money transfer service for importers and exporters and other small- and medium-size businesses. People are often surprised that Western Union has transformed itself in two years, but it’s still happened too slowly for me.
I can relate personally to one of these changes. My parents divorced years ago, and my mother moved to Vienna. My father, 88, still lives in Turkey. I’ve been sending him money for medicine and other needs every week for years, from whatever country I’m in. He has a cellphone but doesn’t use it. Before I became C.E.O., he had to walk a mile or two to the closest Western Union agent. Now there’s one much closer, and thousands of other people can send and receive funds in several ways.
We’ve been criticized for our fees, but we have been an industry leader in providing transparency to our customers about our prices. And we have millions of satisfied customers, which is why we continue to grow. We have just under an 18 percent market share in an extremely competitive environment for money transfers, and consumers have more options today as to how, where and when they can send money. I believe that in an open market, competition and consumer behavior determine the price.
Besides the diversity I experienced as a child, I married Nayantara Ghosh-Ersek, who is half-Austrian and half-Indian. We met in Austria. At home, we celebrate Christmas as well as Hindu and Muslim holidays. Our company serves a global population, so we pay attention to traditions around the world. Diversity attracts diversity.
As told to Patricia R. Olsen.
First Published July 29, 2012 1:01 pm