TSYS unveils changes in business segments, among top executives

TSYS unveiled a flurry of changes Thursday among its top executives and business segments, including the pending retirement of one key person.

The global credit-card and payment processor, headquartered in downtown Columbus, said it is combining its North America Services and International Services business lines into one entity starting Jan. 1. The streamlined segment will then be called TSYS Issuer Solutions.

With that move, longtime company executive William “Bill” Pruett will retire from TSYS on April 1. He has been with the firm for 40 years, working his way up the ranks to senior executive vice president and president of North America Services. Pruett’s career began at Columbus Bank and Trust in 1976, before that bank’s card-processing operation was spun off into publicly traded Total System Services Inc. in the 1980s by then-parent company Synovus Financial Corp.

“I have had the privilege of knowing and working with Bill for 40 years, and no one has had a greater positive impact on TSYS,” TSYS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Troy Woods said in a statement. “His legacy of strong leadership and lasting customer relationships will influence our company for many years to come.”

With Pruett’s departure, Gaylon Jowers will take the helm of TSYS Issuer Solutions, reporting to Pam Joseph, the firm’s president and chief operating officer. Jowers has been with the card processor for 25 years, currently serving as a senior executive president and president of International Services.

Reporting to Jowers will be Allen Pettis and Kelley Knutson. Pettis, who has been with TSYS for three decades, becomes president of North America Issuing under the restructured operation, while Knutson, with the firm 13 years, takes charge of International Issuing. They each currently are the second-in-commands under Pruett and Jowers.

The “executive transition,” as TSYS termed the changes, follows a restructuring earlier this year in which the company carried out a restructuring to eliminate unnecessary expenses, which included the departure of employees across the firm, the number which TSYS has not released. The firm at the time said it was charging off expenses amounting to between $5 million and $7 million in the July-September quarter related to paying severance to those leaving the company.

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TSYS employs about 11,600 around the world. Of those, roughly 4,950 people work in Columbus at its corporate headquarters in downtown Columbus and at other facilities in the city, including a card and statement production operation off Moon Road.

The processor does business in more than 80 countries around the world, with clients including banks, card issuers and retailers.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 3:17 PM with the headline "TSYS unveils changes in business segments, among top executives."