MAY 10, 2015
Margaret Keane: How Synchrony Financial Built A Winning Culture
Dan Schawbel , CONTRIBUTOR , FORBES MAGAZINE
I recently spoke to Margaret Keane, who is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Synchrony Financial. In the following interview, Keane talks about how women are well represented at her company, the various programs they have to fill their leadership gap and innovate, and how they’ve integrated volunteering into the company culture.
Before Synchrony Financial, Keane led the Retail Card platform at GE Capital as President and CEO beginning in 2004, later expanding her responsibilities to become President and CEO of the GE Capital Retail Finance business in 2011. In her 18 years at GE Capital, she held additional leadership roles spanning consumer finance, vendor financial services, operations and quality. She began her career at Citibank, where she provided leadership in Sales, Marketing and Operations over the course of 16 years. As a leader, Margaret is also known for championing her employees, having initiated several development programs at GE Capital and serving on the cabinet of the GE Women’s Network. She expanded the business focus on ecommerce and mobile capabilities, developing new tools for business clients and consumers alike.
Dan Schawbel: Women in the workplace is a big topic in corporate America. How have you actively supported women and developed them to be your next leaders? Please talk about the programs you have that support women and the results you’ve achieved in the process. (i.e. retention of women, percent of women in leadership roles, etc.)
Margaret Keane: Women in the workplace continues to be a topic of conversation, and often times it is in reference to the lack of women in leadership roles, especially in financial services. Just as important, I think this topic opens the door to a broader dialogue on the importance of diversity in the workplace. Synchrony Financial has a diverse client base of major retailers, small-to-mid-sized businesses and health care providers who in turn have their own diverse customers. I believe that having employees with diverse backgrounds and experiences help us better meet the needs of our clients and their customers. They share different perspectives that factor into better solutions for our partners and customers.
At Synchrony Financial, we have women in very senior roles, including our Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Securities Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer. We also have a Women’s Network that focuses on developing, retaining and supporting women in our workforce. Our retention rate for women is 95% for exempt and 85% for nonexempt globally.
Schawbel: How do you foster innovation at Synchrony? What programs are in place to support entrepreneurial minded employees so they can thrive?
Keane: As a new standalone company, we had an opportunity to create our own culture, sense of purpose and identity. At our core, we are an engagement company, meaning we engage deeply with our partners and provide them with tools, such as data analytics, loyalty and marketing expertise, to help them engage and build long-term relationships with their customers. The culture we are developing is reflected in our core values, which are being honest, passionate, driven, caring, bold, and responsible.
