amex

Anthony Mavromatis is Head of Enterprise Customer Data Science and Platforms at American Express. As one of the financial company's machine learning experts, he discusses how the company has spent years building out technology that promises to change how it operates internally, how it corrals and leverages endless data, and how it interacts directly with customers. Mavromatis thinks machine learning is set to revolutionize multiple industries and eventually reshape the workforce, but he also hits on how resistant some companies may be to change.

Guest: Anthony Mavromatis

Host: Mike Shields

Producer: Kenya Hayes

1. Start of interview [1:25]
2. Esther's "origin story" [1:50]
3. Her experience at Occidental College [3:55]
4. Her transition from CA to Washington DC [4:36]
5. Introduction of the Latino Corporate Director Association (LCDA), founded in 2016 [6:20]
6. History of LCDA [7:15] Links with the Hispanic Association of Corporate Responsibility (HACR)
7. The Mission of LCDA is to 1) develop, 2) support & 3) increase the number of Latinos on Corporate Boards [8:56]
8. LCDA Pillars [9:06]: 1) Increase supply (Latinos hold less than 3% of Fortune 1000 company board seats) 2) Increase demand, 3) Research and Raising Awareness, 4) Engage with Companies.
9. The LCDA Board Ready Institute for aspiring directors [12:10]
10. LCDA Memberships (115 current members: 2/3s corporate directors, 1/3 aspiring directors):
    1. Aspiring Directors (executive membership).
    2. Corporate Directors  (as of 2019, Latino directors held 275 board seats in F1000 companies for a total of only 209 individuals)
11. CA's Women on Boards Legislation (2018): SB-826 (Gender) [21:16]
    1. LCDA found that out of 511 seats filled by women on California public company boards since SB 826 was enacted, just 17 (3.3%) are Latina, compared to 77.9% white women.
12. CA's Corporate Boards Diversity Legislation (2020) (pending signature): AB-979 (Minorities)
    1. LCDA found that out of 662 California companies registered on the NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX, 35%, or 233 companies have all white boards of directors.
    2. LCDA also found that out of these 662 CA companies, only 13% had at least one Latino on their board.
13. "What ends up happening is that you're setting up winners and losers: if there is only a focus on gender, Latinos and African-American lose out." [24:50]
14. LCDA's Latino Voices for Boardroom Equity Initiative in partnership with leading business and civic leaders [28:41] The Latino Voices initiative asserts that diversity without the inclusion of Latinos is not acceptable:
    1. Call to triple Latino representation on public company boards by 2023 (currently Latinos hold only 2.2% of Russell 3000 companies per ISS)
    2. Act to target corporations with no Latino representation (for example, Del Taco, Chipotle and el Pollo Loco)
    3. Track progress through publication of a quarterly scorecard.
15. "If Latinos were a nation, they would be the 8th largest economy in the world, right behind India. IThey are growing at ~5% (similar to India)"
16. "Diversity is a business and governance imperative"
17. LCDA has a national campaign (starting in CA). They have a Latino Board Tracker. [36:40]
18. Her favorite authors: [38:30]
    1. Maya Angelou (poetry)
    2. Rodolfo Anaya (history)
    3. Martin Luther King (struggle)
19. Her professional mentors: [40:12]
    1. Bill Richardson (former Governor of New Mexico, US Ambassador to the UN, Energy Secretary and U.S. Congressman)
    2. Xavier Becerra (current Attorney General of the State of CA)
    3. Ed Pastor (former U.S. Congressman for Arizona)
20. Her favorite quote: [43:46]
    1. Bernard Tyson (former Chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente): "When Corporate America lets us Into the room, our contributions are going to be massive when we're given a shot and a chance."

Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

You can follow Evan on social media at:

Twitter: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ 

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

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You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:

Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Slack vs. Microsoft Teams, Tattoos 101, Vikings, Aliens, and Women in Tech

From Nebraska to Florida and now a powerhouse in tech, meet Andrea Patterson. Tune in as we discuss Nasa's Moon to Mars plan, Tattoos 101, the terrible jobs that made us, Slack vs. Microsoft Teams, a mustache named Darius, and a real Viking's tale.

This podcast is an interview with the Project Director at Amex Global Business Travel about the roll out of Praxis within their organisation. He talks about why they chose Praxis, the lessons learnt, and the impact of using Praxis across their world wide network for major projects.

Happy listening!

www.trainingbytesize.com

Paul Metselaar knows a thing or two about corporate travel. He also knows how to steer his business through difficult times.

Created in 1984, Ovation Travel Group remains an independently owned company with 700 employees and over 200 travel advisors.

It currently works with 700 businesses on plans for over 300,000 travelers a year.

Metselaar has managed to operate the company alongside the so-called giants of the travel management world and push through major downturns following the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and the global economic crisis.

He joins us for the latest episode of How I Got Here.    

HIGH is a weekly show produced by PhocusWire and Mozio, aimed at getting the inside stories behind startups and innovation in travel and transportation.

It's hosted by PhocusWire's editor in chief, Kevin May, and Mozio co-founder and CEO David Litwak.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travel Tips: Airport Lounges - 
While traveling on an airplane and waiting at the airport usually isn't the funniest part of one travels, you can definitely make the best of it by taking advantage of airport lounges. Its the best way to have a relaxing few hours at the airport in which you don't mind staying around for a couple hours. I have 5 tips for you to make your lounging as perfect as possible! 

To listen to more Traveling on Limekiln Pike Podcasts episodes please like and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or any other one of your preferred podcasting players. As well please visit our website.

Visa, Mastercard, and Verve. These are currently the dominant card networks in Nigeria. But in September 2018, American Express - the world's largest integrated global payments platform - made waves by announcing their entry into the market.

In this episode, we speak with Catherine Malec, Vice President of Business Development at American Express. Catherine shares a brief history of Amex, what Amex looks for in local partners, and exactly what American Express' launch means for card users and business owners.

In this episode, we talk about

01:12 - Catherine's journey from animal physiology to marketing

04:41 - What it means to be the world's largest global payments network

05:10 - A brief history of American Express

08:19 - American Express' Africa presence

10:31 - [Paystack Merchant Alert] Introducing Cowrywise paystack.com/cowrywise

13:20 - Behind the scenes of the Amex launch in Nigeria

16:52 - What the launch means for Amex users within and outside Nigeria

21:09 - What Amex looks for in local partners

27:29 - The most important question

Links Mentioned

• American Express' Nigeria website

Follow Us

The Decode Fintech newsletter is a weekly email summary of the most important news in African fintech. Subscribe to receive original commentary and curated stories, as well as the latest episode of the podcast.

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Decode Fintech is brought to you by Paystack

Paystack helps Africa's most successful fintechs build powerful and scalable financial service products with the industry's best-documented APIs. Please visit paystack.com/fintech to find out more.

Six years is all it took for LoungeBuddy to go from creation to a sale to one of the loyalty biggest brands: American Express .

The idea behind the company is actually simple - a booking app for airport lounges - but, like many startups, LoungeBuddy's story is not without a few twists and turns along the way.

From tweaking the pitch deck when pitching to investors to settling on a brand name, LoungeBuddy's evolution is an example of having a very focused vision of solving a problem that exists with solid technology, good partnerships and excellent design.

LoungeBuddy's CEO and co-founder is Tyler Dikman, who created the company after a number of jobs, including seven years at a video streaming business.

He's not short of an opinion or two about the venture capital market, as well as describing how the eventual sale came about.

Dikman (who now goes by the title of vice president of global premium products and benefits at Amex) joins us for the latest episode of How I Got Here.

HIGH is a weekly show produced by PhocusWire and Mozio, aimed at getting the inside stories behind startups and innovation in travel and transportation.

Other episodes: on PhocusWire and Mozio.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Six years is all it took for LoungeBuddy to go from creation to a sale to one of the loyalty biggest brands: American Express .

The idea behind the company is actually simple - a booking app for airport lounges - but, like many startups, LoungeBuddy's story is not without a few twists and turns along the way.

From tweaking the pitch deck when pitching to investors to settling on a brand name, LoungeBuddy's evolution is an example of having a very focused vision of solving a problem that exists with solid technology, good partnerships and excellent design.

LoungeBuddy's CEO and co-founder is Tyler Dikman, who created the company after a number of jobs, including seven years at a video streaming business.

He's not short of an opinion or two about the venture capital market, as well as describing how the eventual sale came about.

Dikman (who now goes by the title of vice president of global premium products and benefits at Amex) joins us for the latest episode of How I Got Here.

HIGH is a weekly show produced by PhocusWire and Mozio, aimed at getting the inside stories behind startups and innovation in travel and transportation.

Other episodes: on PhocusWire and Mozio.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Six years is all it took for LoungeBuddy to go from creation to a sale to one of the loyalty biggest brands: American Express .

The idea behind the company is actually simple - a booking app for airport lounges - but, like many startups, LoungeBuddy's story is not without a few twists and turns along the way.

From tweaking the pitch deck when pitching to investors to settling on a brand name, LoungeBuddy's evolution is an example of having a very focused vision of solving a problem that exists with solid technology, good partnerships and excellent design.

LoungeBuddy's CEO and co-founder is Tyler Dikman, who created the company after a number of jobs, including seven years at a video streaming business.

He's not short of an opinion or two about the venture capital market, as well as describing how the eventual sale came about.

Dikman (who now goes by the title of vice president of global premium products and benefits at Amex) joins us for the latest episode of How I Got Here.

HIGH is a weekly show produced by PhocusWire and Mozio, aimed at getting the inside stories behind startups and innovation in travel and transportation.

Other episodes: on PhocusWire and Mozio.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Six years is all it took for LoungeBuddy to go from creation to a sale to one of the loyalty biggest brands: American Express .

The idea behind the company is actually simple - a booking app for airport lounges - but, like many startups, LoungeBuddy's story is not without a few twists and turns along the way.

From tweaking the pitch deck when pitching to investors to settling on a brand name, LoungeBuddy's evolution is an example of having a very focused vision of solving a problem that exists with solid technology, good partnerships and excellent design.

LoungeBuddy's CEO and co-founder is Tyler Dikman, who created the company after a number of jobs, including seven years at a video streaming business.

He's not short of an opinion or two about the venture capital market, as well as describing how the eventual sale came about.

Dikman (who now goes by the title of vice president of global premium products and benefits at Amex) joins us for the latest episode of How I Got Here.

HIGH is a weekly show produced by PhocusWire and Mozio, aimed at getting the inside stories behind startups and innovation in travel and transportation.

Other episodes: on PhocusWire and Mozio.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're going deal hunting this week and who better to lead the way than Jen Yellin from Deals We Like! She joins guest host Ed Pizza this week to chat about maximizing bonus miles on back to school shopping, Amex offers and a recent promotion on purchasing Hyatt points.

Today's Guest

Deals We Like was started in January 2011 by Jennifer Yellin. The blog became part of the well known travel network BoardingArea in June 2011 and became a featured blog just a month later. Almost every post is written by Jen with the occasional guest blogger. In just four years, Deals We Like is now read by over 65,000 people a month across 150 different countries.

Links

New Promotion: 40% Bonus on Purchasing Hyatt Points... A Great Way to Save Money!

Earn 8,000 Bonus Miles for Your Back to School Shopping

Many New Amex Offers to Save Money!

Thanks to Our Sponsor

Fly smarter by receiving premium flight deal alerts straight to your inbox from Thrifty Traveler Premium. This includes mistake fares, tailored deals from your selected departure city and even Delta SkyMiles Flash Sale alerts. Sign-up today and try it for free.

Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community

For questions, you can join us in the free 100,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community.

1. For more intermediate and advanced strategies, join Award Travel 201 community
2. To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
3. You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com.
4. Our next meetup is located in San Antonio, TX on April 26–28, 2024, and we’ve opened up a few more tickets for members! To learn more visit Taco 'Bout A Fiesta! on Eventbrite

Support the AT101 Podcast/Community

Guest Host Ed Pizzarello from Miles to Go is filling in for Jeff while he's on vacation with the family. This week we tackle a on of questions submitted with the Award Travel 101 Facebook Group. Touching on elite status, flight bookings, point transfers and the like. Speaking of transfers, Gary Leff from View from the Wing joins us for a special discussion on how to best transfer any Citi ThankYou Rewards points. If you are planning on closing accounts due to their recent cut to card benefits you can't miss Gary's expert tips and advice!

Today's Guest

Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.

Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler(2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. 

Thanks to Our Sponsor

Earn Instant Gold status when you join Fuel Rewards. Save 5 cents/gallon on every fill-up. Terms and Conditions apply, max 20 gallons per fill-up.

Visit AwardWallet for more info on the Award Travel 101 Podcast!

Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community

For questions, you can join us in the free 100,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community.

1. For more intermediate and advanced strategies, join Award Travel 201 community
2. To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
3. You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com.
4. Our next meetup is located in San Antonio, TX on April 26–28, 2024, and we’ve opened up a few more tickets for members! To learn more visit Taco 'Bout A Fiesta! on Eventbrite

Support the AT101 Podcast/Community

"There is nothing greater in this world then walking off a flight, scooping up your bag and skipping that massive line of people waiting to pick up their rental car as you head to pick whatever you want to drive from that elite status row..."

Anyone who has rented a car knows that it can be a stressful and confusing process! But, what if if didn't have to be? Richard's got some of the best ways to not only ensure that you're getting the best price, but also how to skip those long lines and save from having to pay for extra insurance. After that, he's joined by Wayne Lin, co-founder of GetUpside an app that scores you unbeatable deals on gas, groceries and restaurants. Learn how to save up to 25¢/gal on filling up, 35% on dining out and 15% on your trip to the market. Last but not least, we wrap up the show with a new segment - "Award Redemption of the Week"! So many Award Travel 101 members share their awesome redemptions in the group that we figured why not offer a shout out here too? Who is the inaugural recipient? You'll have to tune in to find out!

Timestamps

3:10 - Finding the best price for a rental car

8:15 - Why rental car elite status is so good (and easy to get)

11:55 - Using credit card benefits for rental car insurance

17:24 - Meet Wayne Lin, co-founder of GetUpside

31:50 - Can you stack rewards using GetUpside?

34:30 - Redemption of the Week

Links

Sign up for GetUpside

Best Credit Cards for Rental Car Insurance [2019]

How to Get Rental Car Elite Status for Free

Today's Guest

Wayne Lin is the co-founder and COO of GetUpside, a startup that personalizes brick-and-mortar commerce to help communities thrive. With GetUpside, consumers see their dollar go further on everyday purchases like gas and food, while merchants earn more incremental profit. GetUpside is available at 10,000+ locations in 31 states across the U.S.

Thanks to Our Sponsor

Fly smarter by receiving premium flight deal alerts straight to your inbox from Thrifty Traveler Premium. This includes mistake fares, tailored deals from your selected departure city and even Delta SkyMiles Flash Sale alerts. Sign-up today and try it for free.

Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community

For questions, you can join us in the free 100,000+ member Award Travel 101 Community.

1. For more intermediate and advanced strategies, join Award Travel 201 community
2. To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
3. You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com.
4. Our next meetup is located in San Antonio, TX on April 26–28, 2024, and we’ve opened up a few more tickets for members! To learn more visit Taco 'Bout A Fiesta! on Eventbrite

Support the AT101 Podcast/Community

Betsey Chung is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for TD Canadian Banking, but her career path has been anything but a straight line. Following her graduation from the University of Toronto Betsey worked for a time in Canada and then headed to the United Kingdom to work as a consultant with KPMG.

While in the UK Betsey got her Masters of Business Administration from the London School of Business. Once back in Canada she entered the corporate world, working in executive roles with American Express and BMO before joining TD.

Betsey says she had to find her voice in the corporate world, and believes in cultivating an open and trusting environment within her team, where all voices are heard.

Betsey Chung is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for TD Canadian Banking, but her career path has been anything but a straight line. Following her graduation from the University of Toronto Betsey worked for a time in Canada and then headed to the United Kingdom to work as a consultant with KPMG.

While in the UK Betsey got her Masters of Business Administration from the London School of Business. Once back in Canada she entered the corporate world, working in executive roles with American Express and BMO before joining TD.

Betsey says she had to find her voice in the corporate world, and believes in cultivating an open and trusting environment within her team, where all voices are heard.