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0:00Alex Pete heart former president and CEO
0:02of MasterCard international show 002
0:06friend your business it’s your family if
0:12you’re like let’s get started
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1:19now on to our show we are so glad to
1:22have with us today Alex Pete heart and
1:25he is a true business leader and who’s
1:27who in all things banking financial
1:29services and just a wealth of experience
1:31and wisdom decade after decade in terms
1:35of his career and his longevity in the
1:37profession from mastercard international
1:39where he was president and CEO and now
1:42he is chairman of the board at verifone
1:44a credit card terminal company he was
1:46also president of silicon valley bank
1:49and the former chair and board member at
1:51NC software which is a financial
1:54services technology company which is now
1:57fair isaac psycho where he was also on
1:59the board and currently he is now on the
2:02board at my tech systems which is a
2:04mobile capture deposits company so you
2:07really are a financial services industry
2:09rockstar from all things consumer
2:12finance and
2:13no I mentioned a lot of companies but
2:15maybe you can fill in some of the gap of
2:17your personal story so let’s jump in
2:20lumpy are you excited about this as I am
2:23Mitchell yes are you there hi there i am
2:25and so I thank you for that generous
2:28introduction may be overstated but in
2:32every term accept my longevity and I
2:35have spent about 50 years in the
2:37financial services industry and
2:39increasingly focused around the payment
2:41side of the business and it continues to
2:44be very stimulating and i added
2:47virtually every day
2:48well that’s terrific let me ask you how
2:51fast you think the mobile devices the
2:53world will penetrate the credit payment
2:55space i mean if you look at it i pay
2:58really doesn’t seem it doesn’t see it
3:00seems to be less pervasive than what we
3:03expected
3:04well I think it’s hard to change
3:05consumer behavior Mitchell particularly
3:08when the the existing system works
3:10rather well and I think that the credit
3:13card has been around for 50 years and it
3:16does most of what consumers wanted to
3:18and I think transition do the mobile
3:21device for this waste credit cards is
3:24going to take some time but i think that
3:26that we see everyday evidence that more
3:28people are using it and I think it’ll
3:31take a bit of time but it will go to be
3:33inevitably happen I you probably saw
3:36that both UVA and Wells Fargo are now
3:39moving to use NFC conjunction with their
3:43ATM devices and that’s just one more
3:46awesome step along the way you know I i
3:49agree how do you define success
3:51I mean like you said before you you’ve
3:53had many many years in the profession
3:55and and I know that there’s a lot of
3:57people out there who are either just
3:59starting out in the financial services
4:01industry there’s people that are
4:04transitioning would you define success
4:06well I think that’s a very personal
4:07subject and everybody has their own
4:10definition for me it’s always been that
4:12being able to do the things I like to do
4:15with people like doing them with and
4:17feeling as if i’m being paid acceptable
4:20beyond that there’s a little more to it
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5:11going over to Mitchell chatter dot-com /
5:14snappa a lot has talked about successes
5:18and a lot of times we hear a lot of a
5:21lot of the success stories that that
5:23business leaders have but they don’t
5:26really see the behind-the-scenes what it
5:28takes to get there so to speak and can
5:31you can you tell us a little bit about
5:33some of the failures what you’ve
5:35actually learned from them and how you
5:38actually overcame them to sort of become
5:41you know a better business leader and a
5:43better person and and colleague to to
5:47the other people that you work with
5:48well I suppose that one of my earliest
5:52lessons was envied the first days of
5:55automated teller machines i was working
5:57for bank Ohio back in the late sixties
6:01and diebold provided me with a look at
6:04their first cash dispensers that the
6:08precursor to ATMs and I was completely
6:12taken with it and convinced that these
6:14were going to revolutionize the business
6:16overnight i convince my bank to be among
6:21the first to install an ATM and every
6:25branch and we were underwhelmed by the
6:29speed at which the customers converted
6:32and i have been the very cautious about
6:35predicting that
6:36they’ll be a rapid pick up on any new
6:39technology going forward so that was a
6:42lesson I learned almost 50 years ago and
6:45remains true today
6:47sure what what advice do you have for
6:51whether it be a young person who’s
6:55trying to possibly start a new business
6:57or get into a business or transition
7:00their career
7:01what do you think some of the things
7:03that they can do some of the things that
7:04that you’ve gained knowledge over these
7:07last decades working from different
7:10types of companies that you can impart
7:11on them so that they can sort of take
7:13away one or two or maybe three practical
7:16tips from someone who has as much wisdom
7:19and as much our breadth and depth as you
7:23do
7:24Mitchell I think the most important
7:27thing of all is to find a business that
7:30really excites you stimulate you I
7:32finished college married with one child
7:35and having a need to make income and i
7:39spent seven years as a commission lumber
7:42broker and while it was a role lucrative
7:45business for someone of my age and it
7:48certainly prepare my family needs uh
7:51when you sold one car happens part of
7:54what you’ve sold them all mental it and
7:56i found that there was very little
7:58stimulation and that business banking
8:01with something that that stimulated me
8:03and the increasingly the consumer side
8:06of the business and the advent of
8:09Technology and and the the
8:12ever-increasing application of of
8:16emerging technologies something that is
8:18get me fascinated and excited about the
8:21business ever since I’ve starts start
8:24off saying find something that that
8:26excites you just from up a an
8:30application standpoint after that make
8:35sure you find people that that you enjoy
8:38being around and that the enterprise
8:40that you’re engaged with as the values
8:44that you’re comfortable with
8:46excellent excellent advice from the true
8:48business leader as far as MasterCard
8:51goes you know it’s not easy overseeing a
8:55membership of over 27,000 banks
8:58financial institutions organizations arm
9:02what well first of all how did you how
9:04to just sort of get into that role you
9:07know cuz cuz right now people are are
9:09saying you know i’m i’m somewhere and I
9:11want to get to the next step whether
9:12it’s their their first job their first
9:15position whether they want to go to
9:16another industry or another career they
9:19want to move up that ladder so to speak
9:22how do you get how does someone like
9:23yourself sort of break into a mastercard
9:26how do you how do you lead a group of
9:29consensus among and between various
9:31people how are you able to do that
9:36well i was involved in the industry for
9:38a long time at from a bank issuer and
9:41acquire standpoint mitchell and overtime
9:45got to know the mastercard people better
9:46and better all the way was invited to to
9:50join the board and and only then to
9:53become see you know are you right i
9:55think that that at the time mastercard
10:00was a collection owned by 27,000 banks
10:05around the world and so you had too many
10:08masters and i found that disenchanting
10:12and that was probably the biggest reason
10:13I left mastercard but having said that
10:17you know every business has good and bad
10:20things about it and you gonna have to
10:24sit down from time to time and take a
10:27look at the balance sheet determine
10:29whether this makes sense for your not
10:30i’m one of those people who has changed
10:33jobs many times and I’ve had the benefit
10:37of a lot of different corporate
10:38environments and each one has some
10:41positives negatives and death as long as
10:44the positives are dramatically stronger
10:47than the negatives I’ve stuck with them
10:49when I found something that was more
10:51stimulating and more appropriate for me
10:54i I’ve moved on hostgator to sponsor my
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10:59what’s because students business owners
11:01those individuals out there who want to
11:03start of something new they need a
11:06presence online and they need a web
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11:29that Mitchell Chad row.com / hostgator
11:32start your plan today you know there’s a
11:34lot of people out there that are going
11:37from job to job just because you know
11:39staying with the same company for 20 or
11:4130 years that just doesn’t you don’t you
11:43don’t see a lot of that out there and so
11:45how does someone who has been at three
11:49or four or five or six different jobs
11:51over the last 15 to 20 years either a
11:54explain that or use that to their
11:57advantage because it used to be not too
12:00long ago that that was a disadvantage
12:02are you are you now saying that that’s
12:04more of something that you look at as
12:07being a pro vs a con
12:09you know I i think that we crossed the
12:12Rubicon in that regard i will say that
12:14there are there those for whom I 20
12:18years experience the same company is is
12:21is a good thing but I think increasingly
12:23we’re looking for people who have
12:26multiple experiences because in almost
12:30every situation there is a a learning
12:34curve that begins and those over at a
12:37certain point that in terms of years of
12:40service now if you’re a big company you
12:42may be able to get mobile experiences
12:45and and continue to grow but i think
12:48most of us would say that that the
12:51repotting process so to speak is
12:54typically a real growth opportunity you
12:56know we we we left out a few of the
12:59other companies that you’re involved
13:00with like for example lending club you
13:03know it’s kind of interesting because
13:04you know a lot of our our people are
13:07trusted friends in our audience are
13:09either
13:10new business owners or they’d been in
13:12existence for just a short period of
13:14time and sort of going to that
13:16traditional bank is not an option for
13:20them and so they look to either
13:22non-banks or other non-traditional type
13:26of places like for example lending club
13:29or some others out there like credit
13:33unions or a local bank or a private bank
13:36what what how did you get involved with
13:39lending club and you know how can some
13:41of these other organizations benefit and
13:43help and some of some of the people kind
13:45of just starting out who don’t have a
13:47lot of wherewithal well i was invited to
13:50to meet the the people who are
13:53organizing the lending club back in 2007
13:57we found that the chemistry was good and
14:00I became an advisor them i don’t want to
14:03overstate my relationship with them
14:05because they they did all the work and I
14:08simply offered input time to time but i
14:11think that you know increasingly there
14:13are there non-traditional players who
14:16are taking a fresh approach and applying
14:18these emerging technologies to almost
14:20every aspect of financial services and
14:23we see the companies out there by that
14:26the hundred we see dozens of successes
14:29and and we see many of them either going
14:32public out in the case of the lemon club
14:35or where or paypal our people that sword
14:38or many of farm anymore required very
14:41attractive valuation or braintree or
14:44some of these others that are accepting
14:46you know global payments for example
14:48then you’re also involved in my tech
14:50might as well how did you get involved
14:52with them well I i live part time in san
14:56diego and I got the notion fellow the
14:58CEO of my tech and the gym invite me to
15:02to get involved there as he was changing
15:05their business bottles essentially and
15:07so I came on board about six years ago
15:10and we have certainly come to dominate
15:13the mobile chick capture business and
15:16we’re doing some very exciting things
15:19now in the identification space that are
15:21taking us out of the face
15:23services vertical and expanding us into
15:25a variety of other business lines that
15:28were very excited about the reason why i
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16:06going over to Mitchell chatroulette.com
16:08/ audible now it’s very exciting you
16:11know one of these fun facts that I had
16:12here I actually read that you were
16:15actually the captain of the Harvard
16:17football team in 1961 is that how you
16:21sort of started to develop that
16:22leadership by all and you know I mean to
16:26have your teammate you know nominate you
16:28as the captain you know that that’s
16:31pretty interesting and and i would think
16:33you know that that that talks a lot
16:35about your leadership style and and your
16:37likability and talk to us a little bit
16:40about that and how that influenced you
16:42as an individual as a person as you go
16:44from career to career
16:46well I think that um yeah it is pretty
16:48hard to set out to become captain of a
16:51sports team by and large your teammates
16:54decide whether or not they’re going to
16:56look to you for some element of
16:58leadership or not having that I don’t
17:00take much credit for that 1i was pretty
17:03ways to play on a good team that won the
17:07league championship that year and it
17:09certainly was an excellent leadership
17:11experience I think more importantly I
17:14think that that the benefit of playing
17:18football taught me that that there’s a
17:22position for almost everyone and that
17:24the best of tackles will probably never
17:27make it as a quarterback and vice versa
17:30and yeah that you you look at
17:34organizations
17:35and determine where people are likely be
17:38most effective and so if i learn any
17:41lesson from that experience that’s
17:43probably it
17:44sure you know I i see here that you’re
17:48on the board at p harmony you know we we
17:51see a lot of these commercials and so
17:53someone who like for example like
17:55yourself has always been involved in a
17:56lot of different financial services
17:58organizations
18:00how did you find yourself kind of you
18:02know this its financial services
18:05career-oriented industry focused
18:09individual kind of come over here to
18:12eharmony I mean how did have it
18:14how did that happen how did that all
18:15come about well I think he was involved
18:19in starting harmony and that it was
18:22really driven by my personal experience
18:25with with my own relationship and and my
18:30belief in predictive analytics and
18:33harmony to probably greater extent than
18:36anyone in that field out goes through a
18:40very elaborate process of factor
18:43analysis and predictive science to match
18:47people up for relationship purposes and
18:51in some ways is this is no different
18:53than a lot of the work we did that
18:55credit scoring at psycho and and other
18:58predicted businesses i have a particular
19:02affection for that business and while
19:04i’m not on the board any longer i still
19:06am very close to the founder and and two
19:09other directors and so what do you what
19:13is your advice because you know you hear
19:15a lot of these gurus talking about fico
19:17scores and building up your credit and
19:20establishing your credit whether you’re
19:22a young person who’s just kind of
19:24starting out or whether you’re someone
19:26who you know had a bad experience are
19:28either trying to rebuild or someone who
19:31has good credit wants to continue it
19:32being involved with fair isaac and
19:36and what are what are some of the words
19:38of wisdom that you might have for them
19:40in in terms of you know just you know
19:43good financial practices just that just
19:47as a practical matter of practical tips
19:49that they can take away well you know I
19:52think that particularly for those
19:55entrepreneurs who are part of your
19:57audience we know that credit is a very
20:00important part of starting most
20:02businesses and most businesses at a
20:06shortage of cast for most of their early
20:09years the the a good credit reputation I
20:16we didn’t go good credit score is very
20:20important personal and from a corporate
20:22standpoint and increasingly is a factor
20:26in in most of the things we do now
20:30insurance underwriters take a look at
20:33your credit score’s just determine your
20:36lifestyle and how much risk is likely to
20:40come from a relationship with you and so
20:43for anyone just starting out i’d say
20:46work hard to maintain a good credit
20:49score for those who have run into a
20:52brick wall and and they had some
20:55difficulty i would say do everything you
20:56can do rebuild your credit score because
20:59it’s something would be with you the
21:01rest of your life into snap sponsors the
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21:27interview with Christopher gamer and I
21:30just have a few more here I know where
21:32we’re on a tight schedule here in terms
21:34of time but you’ve been involved in so
21:36many different organizations that you
21:39know we like to get through it just a
21:40few more here if we could you were the
21:43president of silicon valley bank
21:46tell us about that because you know it’s
21:50it’s an unbelievable area
21:52I’m like you said you you live in San
21:54Diego but but being involved with
21:56silicon valley bank
21:58how do you get how do you see what a
22:00break into that I mean I know you’ve had
22:01your other experiences but but i think
22:04you know let us be a fly on the wall and
22:06take us sort of in a little bit because
22:08I i think that there’s a lot of people
22:10out there who would who would be very
22:11interested to to hear that dynamic well
22:15i was actually chairman and and nothing
22:18executive chairman that silicon valley
22:20bank so I wasn’t involved in the
22:22day-to-day operations the bank i was
22:25brought aboard by virtue of my
22:27background in banking and and the fact
22:30that i had a reasonably comfortable well
22:32fuel for technology and had been
22:36involved in some other technology
22:38companies i spent two years on the board
22:42before I was elected chairman and then
22:45spent some guys I guess 11 years as
22:49chairman of the bank and it was a it was
22:51a great experience
22:52I in that you had an opportunity to meet
22:55many of the entrepreneurs that we read
22:59about today I think that Silicon Valley
23:03is banks about half of all the
23:07venture-backed companies in the United
23:09States and we have a unique
23:13understanding of early-stage businesses
23:16and and how those businesses involved
23:19and what their credit needs might be
23:21throughout that evolution and so was a
23:25really unique experience and I really
23:29treasure my time there the bank’s been
23:31extraordinarily successful certainly I’m
23:35what what’s next for you i mean i know
23:37your chair of their phone
23:39i meanwhat water what are you doing are
23:41you know if you know it
23:44what are you promoting or you know how
23:46can we be of service and assistance to
23:48you our audience
23:51well that’s all I think that verifone is
23:53a business in transition
23:56we’re spending all time on it
23:59I can’t talk a great deal about what
24:03we’re doing obviously because it’s a
24:05public company and I can’t share with
24:07you very much inside information but
24:10publicly we can just say that we believe
24:13that the point of sale is changing
24:15dramatically and that the the
24:18traditional point-of-sale device that
24:22that wasn’t very smart frankly have to
24:25become smarter has to become
24:28interconnected has to do a variety of
24:31other things for the customer and the
24:33and their customers and just a few
24:38additional things here in in closing we
24:40want to really thank you for your time I
24:43i know that this is going to be a real
24:44benefit and enjoyment for people to
24:47listen to
24:48well this has been Alex heart better
24:50known to his friends as Pete and we just
24:52want to thank you very very much for all
24:54your time and we wish you all the best
24:57and if people wanted to get in contact
24:59with you or if there’s any there’s
25:02anything else that you want a promoter
25:04or additional parting words that you
25:07think would be practical to the audience
25:09i think that that would be that would be
25:11great to hear right now
25:12well nothing in particular Mitchell but
25:15I always welcome hearing from people
25:17with ideas particularly as it relates to
25:20the payments industry and it’s nice to
25:24reconnect with you after all these years
25:27and I wish you the very best thank you
25:30so much meeting will be in contact soon
25:32you take care now
25:33thank you bye-bye now in closing let me
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