Not many CEOs can say they've worked with the Pope, President Reagan and planning the Super Bowl. But Visa CEO Alfred Kelly knows how to put himself in the center of the action.
And the same philosophy explains his tremendous success running Visa. Kelly positioned the ubiquitous payment processor in the middle of 258 billion transactions last year, more than any other U.S. payment processing company. That's equal to a staggering 707 million transactions a day, moving $14 trillion in volume annually. Visa's technology can authorize more than 76,000 messages per second, settling them to the penny, ruble, rupee, yen, centavo or santang.
His secret? Knowing how to spot opportunity. "I never pretended to be an expert on anything, but a generalist who knew a fair amount about many functions ranging from finance and technology to product development and marketing," Kelly told Investor's Business Daily. "I learned the payments business from a lot of people I admired, who challenged me and made me better, preparing me to become the CEO I am today."
Find Success Like The Visa CEO
Investors appreciate Kelly's knack at putting Visa in the right place at the right time. Shares of the payment processor soared nearly 180% after he took over as CEO in December 2016. That slides past the nearly 80% gain by the S&P 500 during that same period.
It wasn't just a hot stock, either. During that time, revenue nearly doubled to $29.3 billion. And adjusted earnings soared 164% to $7.50 per share. That's largely due to Visa's nearly unheard of net profit margin of 41%, meaning it keeps in profit 41 cents of every dollar of revenue. That ranks it among the top 1% most profitable companies in the S&P 500.
Kelly: Find Ways To Stand Out
As the oldest of seven kids, Kelly, now 64, found ways to stand out from a young age.
He was born in Bronxville in Westchester County, New York, son of the president of the Canada Life Insurance Company of New York. He earned his B.A. in computer and information science summa cum laude in 1980 at Iona College, a private Catholic institution in New Rochelle, N.Y. He earned his MBA with honors there the following year.
Kelly quickly jumped into corporate America. He started in information systems and financial planning at PepsiCo and stayed there until 1985. But he scanned for new challenges and ways to learn. And then, at 27, he found one. President Ronald Reagan's White House put him in charge of technology for eight of the 11 agencies that comprised the Office of the President.
Gain Hands-On Experience To Rise In The Ranks
Working for The Gipper was tough to beat, given the high-profile and important nature of the job. But Kelly grew interested in learning about the emerging field of digital payments.
American Express recruited Kelly in 1987. He initially joined its strategic planning department. And he rose through the ranks over the next 23 years. He eventually served as president for the global consumer group before being named president of the company. He served in that role from 2007 to 2010.
"Amex was very formative for leadership building and gaining new competencies," Kelly said. But without a path to becoming CEO at Amex, at 51, Kelly took a break. A break, not a vacation.
Learn From Your Distractions Like The Visa CEO
Kelly took a break in 2011 from the credit card industry. He became president and CEO of the New York/New Jersey 48th Super Bowl Host Committee. The big game drew 115 million viewers when it took place in 2014. He picked up valuable experience running an operation with enormous scale.
And in 2015, he took over as chairman of the Papal Visit Committee for Pope Francis' tour of New York City. That included a massive prayer service at Madison Square Garden. In 2020, Kelly was named a guardian for the Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican.
Kelly draws lessons from every experience — even if they have nothing to do with credit cards.
"I think Pope Francis has done a very good job of drawing attention to the marginalized people of the world who do not have access to financial services, which we estimate at 1.7 billion," Kelly said. "And at Visa we are teaching the basics of finance in 80 languages around the world to help bring them into the financial mainstream."
After these giant opportunities, Kelly bounced around a bit. He joined TowerBrook Capital Partners in 2015 as a management advisor. Then Intersection, an Alphabet-backed company that operates kiosks with maps, directions, advisories and ads for metropolitan transportation agencies, named him CEO.
But then in December 2016 he took the helm at San Francisco-based Visa, adding the chairman title in April 2019.
Visa CEO: Supercharge Leadership
Kelly put all his management skills to work at Visa. "I put a huge premium on recruiting, orienting, motivating and coaching talent," Kelly said.
He personally writes a welcome letter to all new leaders on their first day. In the letter, Kelly outlines what he expects from them. "Their bonuses are based half on their contribution to the business and half on their demonstrated leadership skills," he said.
All new leaders also get a list of Visa's six key leadership principles. Leaders are to lead by example, communicate openly, enable and inspire, excel with partners, act decisively and collaborate. These principles help Visa find new opportunities. "We are also enabling cash flows faster, so that an Uber driver can be paid by the end of the shift via an app, a remittance can be sent from a worker in the U.S. to his family in Manila, and in the case of a home incident or car accident."
Enable the Future of the Workplace
Staying on top of innovation, though, is a challenge as the Visa workforce shifts. Visa will continue to offer flexible work-at-home arrangements.
But Visa is a far-flung empire. It has over 21,500 employees in 80 countries. Kelly has modified his management, too, for an online world. But he's urged employees to try to be in their office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. He calls those Visa's "collaboration days." Participation in person is productive for working with others and for career advancement, he says.
Working solely online "you can't walk the halls and meet new people or be on call for meetings," he said. "I've had employees tell me they were glad to be back in the office. Coming in also means they can build personal relationships by going out for meals and drinks."
"Al is an outstanding leader, and I am so grateful for all that I have learned from him over the years," said Kelly Mahon Tullier, vice chair, chief people and administrative officer at Visa. "Al has an amazing ability to bring out the very best in every person he meets. His courageous yet empathetic style sets a uniquely energizing and engaging tone from the top at Visa."
Kelly announced he'll be retiring early next year as the Visa CEO. But he's worked hard to leave it in a place to thrive, even when he's not there. "We expect 2023 to be challenging economically, but we'll manage through it and I am very bullish about the payments business in the medium- and long-term," he said.
Visa CEO Alfred Kelly's Keys
- CEO and chairman of Visa, the world's leading credit and debit card and digital payments company outside of China.
- Overcame: The challenges of combining work at home with the need to have employees work closely together in offices.
- Lesson: "It's never been harder to be a leader, so you need to really plan more things with care and vision."
