Digital Commerce Alliance Top 20 Women
Since 2019, the Digital Commerce Alliance (DCA) has published a list of the top women in our industry. This year is no exception. For the fourth consecutive time, we are pleased to honor outstanding women in leadership positions at card-linking, banking, financial data, mobile wallet, digital advertising, fintech, payments and merchant organizations from around the world—and to highlight the contributions they’re making in the digital commerce space.
The list has been compiled in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022—years that challenged us all, but also presented unprecedented opportunities to make an impact. Organizations in our industry have overcome obstacles, including the pandemic, and forged ahead with innovations to advance digital commerce for the benefit of all. Increasingly, women executives are leading the charge.
This year the Digital Commerce Alliance once again researched women at the forefront of the industries our non-profit trade association serves. It is the DCA team’s pleasure to recognize 20 business leaders who are making a real difference across the globe.
To create the Top 20 Women in Digital Commerce, DCA evaluated numerous candidates. Stand-out individuals were selected based on the following criteria:
- Acknowledged by peers as industry leaders
- Have demonstrated ability to drive innovation
- Hold a high impact role in their business/organization
- Support issues important to women everywhere
Congratulations to the Digital Commerce Alliance (DCA)
Top 20 Women in Digital Commerce for 2022!
1. PEGGY MARIE ALFORD, EVP, GLOBAL SALES, PAYPAL
As executive vice president, Peggy Marie Alford is responsible for global sales and distribution of PayPal’s products and services. She also leads the strategic customer success and go-to-market teams that drive PayPal’s position as the preferred digital payment method for consumers and businesses. She was previously SVP of core markets at PayPal. Peggy Marie is also a member of Facebook’s board of directors and is on the board and chair of the audit committee at Macerich Company, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). A CPA and University of Dayton grad with 25+ years of finance, management, and product development experience, Peggy Marie has served as president and GM at Rent.com and has also held leadership positions at eBay. She’s known for leading intentionality, with a passion for curating digital experiences that enrich lives and build human connection.
2. BEVERLY ANDERSON, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL CONSUMER SOLUTIONS, EQUIFAX
Named to her current position at Equifax in 2019, Beverly Anderson is responsible for strategy, development, growth, and profitability of businesses serving consumers with credit, identity and financial education products and services. She’s also served as Wells Fargo’s EVP of cards and retail services. In addition, Beverly is an executive at American Express, Fleet Bank (BoA), and First USA/Bank One (J.P. Morgan Chase)—and was the first female partner at Novantas Consulting. Other distinctions include: Former chair of the Card Policy Council of the American Banker Association; former board chair of the Council of Urban Professionals; and one of Black Enterprise’s Most Powerful Women in 2019. She’s a member of the Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association, serving as past co-president and recipient of the Kenneth A. Powell Award for professional achievement. Beverly has an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and a BS from Florida A&M University.
3. JENNIFER BAILEY, VP, INTERNET SERVICES, APPLE PAY, APPLE
As vice president of internet services, Jennifer Bailey leads teams around the world for Apple Pay, Apple’s transformative mobile payments offering. She’s been with Apple for close to 20 years. Prior to Apple Pay, she ran the Apple Online Store, and under her leadership, the store grew to operate in more than 40 countries. She’s held senior positions at myCFO, a financial services firm, and Netscape Communications, where she led outbound marketing and launched Netcenter, Netscape’s online portal business. An advocate for compassionate care for those in need, Jennifer serves on the American Red Cross board of governors. She received her MBA from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her undergrad degree is in mathematics at Middlebury College where she graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors.
4. ROSALIND BREWER, CEO, WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCES
Rosalind “Roz” Brewer was named CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance and joined the 9,000-store pharmacy company’s board of directors in 2021. Her move to Walgreens was prompted by the pandemic and her desire to help people access vaccines. She’s the only Black woman serving as chief executive of an S&P 500 company. Previously Roz was COO and group president at Starbucks. Other prior professional roles include president and CEO at Sam’s Club (a division of Walmart) and executive positions at Walmart and Kimberly-Clark. She’s currently chair of trustees for Spelman College, where she did her undergrad work. Roz is also a board member of VillageMD, World Business Chicago, Business Roundtable, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Previous board memberships include Starbucks, Amazon, Lockheed Martin Corporation and Molson Coors Beverage Company.
5. SPARKLE DOUGLAS, SVP, DIGITAL STRATEGY, TRUIST
A senior vice president of digital strategy at the sixth largest bank in America, Sparkle Douglas brings more than 10 years of experience to her role at Truist. She’s adept at leading large, cross-functional projects, managing teams across multiple locations, and successfully implementing innovative solutions in the financial services, retail, and energy sectors. With a focus on maximizing efficiency, reducing costs, and increasing profitability, Sparkle applies her leadership skills to advance digital commerce. She has previous experience at Bank of America, as well as Greenway Solutions and Open System Technologies, and earned an MBA from the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business, as well as an undergraduate degree in business administration/management from Howard University.
6. ALISA ELLIS, VP, INNOVATION & EMERGING PRODUCTS, DISCOVER
A seasoned product and innovation executive with a track record of driving new businesses from idea to scale in the payments and fintech industries, Alisa Ellis has been a VP for the Discover Global Network since 2011. From solution development to product deployment and management, she manages full product lifecycles in the areas of mobile/digital payments, security/authentication, and emerging payment modalities. Previously she was chief of staff to the senior exec responsible for payment services at Discover, including Discover Network, PULSE and Diners Club International. Alisa’s also served in various capacities at HSBC North America where responsibilities included developing and operationalizing new payment capabilities. Prior to that she held a variety of positions in corporate strategy and finance. Alisa has an MBA in strategy, finance and accounting from the Kellogg School of Management, a BS from Northwestern University, and is a member of the Digital Commerce Alliance board of directors.
7. KRISTY WILLIAMS FERCHO, EVP, HEAD OF HOME LENDING, WELLS FARGO
A senior executive recognized for strong business acumen and ability to translate strategy into results, Kristy Williams Fercho joined Wells Fargo in 2020. As head of home lending for Wells Fargo, she leads a team of more than 25,000 mortgage professionals in sales, operations, servicing, capital markets, portfolio management, and related business, risk management and supporting functions. Known for delivering results, impacting a range of audiences across organizational and cultural boundaries, facilitating teams, and creating effective organizations, Kristy’s previous experience includes president of mortgage for Flagstar Bank, a 15+ year tenure in increasingly senior positions with Fannie Mae, as well as positions at PepsiCo and Baxter International. She has a BS in business administration, finance and psychology from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University/Erivan K. Haub School of Business.
8. JANE FRASER, CEO, CITI
Jane Fraser heads Citi, the world’s most global bank, serving millions of consumers, businesses, and institutions across 160 countries and jurisdictions—and is the firm’s first female CEO. With the organization for 18 years before taking the helm, Jane has deep experience across Citi’s businesses. During the financial crisis, she led the corporate strategy and M&A groups and went on to lead Citi’s Global Private Bank, U.S. Consumer and Commercial Banking and CitiMortgage, Citi Latin America, and the Global Consumer Bank. She was previously a partner at McKinsey. Jane is also vice chair of Partnership for New York City and a member of the Board of Business Roundtable, Harvard Business School’s Board of Dean’s Advisors, the Stanford Global Advisory Board, the Economic Club of New York, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MA in economics from Cambridge University.
9. LAUREN HOBART, PRESIDENT, CEO, BOARD MEMBER, DICK’S SPORTING GOODS
Lauren Hobart has held the top job at DICK’s Sporting Goods since 2021, one of a few dozen women CEOs to head an American Fortune 500 company. She joined the largest sporting goods retailer 10 years prior and helped grow the organization into the largest sporting goods retailer in the U.S. with more than 800 stores and 50,000+ employees. Known as a people-first leader, Lauren has served as SVP/chief marketing officer as well as EVP/CMO/chief customer and digital officer. Previously she held leadership positions with Pepsi-Cola North America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lauren currently serves as a board member of Yum! Brands, and SONIC Drive-In. She is also president of the DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation. She has an MBA from Stanford University and earned her undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania.
10. CHARLOTTE HOGG, CEO, EUROPE VISA
Charlotte Hogg is chief executive officer for Visa’s European operations. She joined Visa in 2017, bringing more than 25 years of experience in financial services, bank operations and management consulting. Prior to joining Visa, Charlotte was chief operating officer for the Bank of England; head of retail distribution for Santander in the U.K.; and managing director of Experian’s U.K. and Ireland operations. Earlier in her career, Charlotte held executive positions at Goldfish Bank at Discover Financial Services, Morgan Stanley, and McKinsey & Company. A proponent of bringing business experience to the classroom, Charlotte serves on the board of Now Teach. A graduate of the University of Oxford with a BA in economics and history and a Kennedy Memorial Trust Scholar from Harvard University, Charlotte also has an honorary Doctor of Laws from Warwick University.
11. FARRELL HUDZIK, EVP FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, CARDLYTICS
Farrell Hudzik is executive vice president of financial institutions at Cardlytics—the company that helps financial organizations deliver personalized offers to their customers. A visionary leader, accomplished speaker and experienced mentor and coach, Farrell is a key member of the team helping Cardlytics’ customers drive incremental sales and grow market share. Before joining Cardlytics, Farrell was senior vice president, enterprise customer engagement at Synchrony. Earlier in her career, she served as managing director at Accenture Interactive, leading its global loyalty and rewards practice; a client relationship executive at Epsilon; and business development executive at Quaero. Farrell holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Colby College and is a member of the Digital Commerce Alliance board of directors.
12. UZMA MAKHDUMI, HEAD OF ECOSYSTEMS PARTNERSHIPS, GOOGLE PAY
Uzma Makhdumi heads payments partnerships at Google, where she helped launch Google Pay internationally in multiple markets. She leads new business development initiatives for consumer payments globally—working with banks, payment networks, regulators, and financial technology companies to incubate new use cases to support consumers and merchants. Previously Uzma led commercialization for Visa Digital and was a product manager for mobile at Yahoo! where she managed their first revenue-generating mobile product. A former consultant at McKinsey and engineer at Bose Corporation, Uzma majored in electrical engineering & computer science, and management science at MIT, and earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is also a certified leadership coach, advising and investing in select companies.
13. KATHRYN McLAY, CEO, SAM’S CLUB
Kathryn McLay is the top executive at Sam’s Club, a members-only warehouse club with more than 100,000 employees at close to 600 locations across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico, and a division of Walmart Inc. She’s also held a number of leadership roles at Walmart, including vice president of U.S. finance and strategy and executive vice president of Neighborhood Markets. Her career began at Deloitte as an undergraduate and includes tenure at Qantas Airlines and Australian retailer Woolworths Limited. One of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in 2020, Kathryn is past president and chairwoman of the Institute of Internal Auditors and past member of ECRA, an industry board comprised of retailers and suppliers—and she is a supporter of Make-A-Wish. She has a degree in accounting and finance from the University of Technology in Sydney.
14. JILL (YATES) MOSER, SVP, LOYALTY INNOVATION & PLATFORMS PARTNERSHIPS, BANK OF AMERICA
Jill Moser is Bank of America’s senior vice president responsible for business strategy, innovation, and partnership development for third-party rewards offerings across the digital rewards platforms. Her teams’ responsibilities include vetting, prioritizing, and negotiating strategic partnerships that increase clients’ digital engagement through incremental rewards, offers, deals, experiences, and events—and subsequently enhance the BoA experience. Previously Jill served as GM and director of strategic partnerships for Shop Your Way, where she successfully negotiated the launch of the SYW GasBuddy partnership—and drove relevance and incremental revenue for Sears Holdings Company. She is also on the BoA volunteer honor roll for helping to make financial lives better through the power of every connection. Jill is a graduate of the University of Louisville, and a member of the Digital Commerce Alliance (DCA) board.
15. HEIDI O’NEILL, PRESIDENT, CONSUMER & MARKETPLACE, NIKE
Shaping the future of Nike and sport: That’s Heidi O’Neill’s goal as president of consumer, marketplace and geographics. Heidi leads Nike’s four geographic operating regions: North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Greater China; and Asia Pacific and Latin America (APLA). With Nike for more than 21 years, she’s also responsible for Nike’s Global Sales and Nike Direct organizations. Other roles she’s filled include VP/GM of Nike Stores, VP/GM of Nike Global Women’s & Training businesses, and VP of U.S. Apparel. Prior to Nike, Heidi worked as marketing director for Levi Strauss & Co. She studied at the University of Colorado, Boulder, before starting her career at the global ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding. She serves on the board of Spotify and is a founding board member of the Nike School Innovation Fund.
16. SHERYL PFLAUM, PRESIDENT, THE AMERICA’S, COLLINSON
Sheryl Pflaum leads the Americas team at Collinson, a London-based loyalty and benefits company serving airlines, hotels, financial institutions, and banks. An energetic leader, she and her teams prioritize delivering value to clients, partners, and employees. She joined Collinson in 2005 with a focus on Priority Pass and has expanded contactless business line transactions over time. Her career also includes roles in sales, marketing, and business operations, with a priority to help companies grow. In 2014, committed to enhancing the communities where she lives and works, she created a non-profit, TSO Community Foundation, the largest third-party donor to the southern U.S. region of the American Cancer Society, with the mission to free the world from cancer. She graduated from East Central University and the Southern Methodist University Management Development Program.
17. DEBRA TAYLOR, FOUNDER, COO, OPENSPARKZ
OpenSparkz, a Sydney-based global technology company providing an end-to-end platform as a service (PaaS) solution that powers rewards or offers programs, was co-founded by Debra Taylor in 2018. She’s the chief operating officer for the fintech organization that allows consumers to pay with payment cards and receive rewards, in real-time, without need for separate loyalty cards, offer codes, or coupons. The company is the first member of the Digital Commerce Alliance (DCA) in Australia, and the first APAC company to become a Certified Provider of DCA division CardLinx Forum, the non-profit global card-linking trade association. Debra previously served in executive roles at Stone and Chalk, PAX Technology Australia, iDATS, and eFunds Pty Ltd. She was named Fintech Leader of the Year at the 2019 Women in Finance Awards, and the 2019 Innovator of the Year by Women in Payments. In 2020 she received a Distinguished Payments Professional Lifetime Achievement Award.
18. ESTER SHIN VALENZUELA, HEAD OF OPERATIONS, PENTADATA INC.
Ester Shin Valenzuela has a demonstrated history of working in the financial technology space. She currently heads up operations for Pentadata, a scalable API development platform requiring consumers’ permission before their data is used; encouraging developers to access multiple data sources to protect consumers; and building analytical tools that provide insight needed to present meaningful offers. Ester plays a key role in the organization’s mission to help consumers align with their favorite finance and commerce applications on a single, scalable, secure platform. Previously vice president and chief of staff for the CardLinx Association (now the Digital Commerce Alliance, or DCA), Ester currently serves on the advisory board for the Financial Data Forum, a division of non-profit trade association DCA. She attended George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
19. ERIN WARREN, GM, RAKUTEN CARD-LINKED OFFER NETWORK, RAKUTEN
Currently serving Rakuten as general manager, Erin Warren is a marketing veteran with 20+ years of experience—including 15 years in direct-to-consumer digital marketing. She’s motivated by the opportunity to enhance the way companies execute marketing strategies to attract, retain and grow customers. Previously serving as SVP of Cartera Commerce, Erin is a former CollegeWeekLive, Sallie Mae, and UPromise executive. A member of the 1994 and 1998 U.S. Winter Olympic Luge Teams, Erin is currently president of the U.S. Luge Association’s board of directors. A motivator, Erin inspires others in her work and personal life to focus on small wins to meet long-term goals. She’s a Northwestern graduate; has an MBA from Babson; and serves as a Digital Commerce Alliance (DCA) board member.
20. JUDY WERTHAUSER, EVP & CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER, FIVE BELOW
Judy Werthauser joined Five Below in 2019 in the newly created role of chief experience officer. The fast-growing retailer of items valued from $1 to $5 has grown rapidly since she joined the 950+ store organization. Prior to Five Below, Judy was executive vice president and chief people officer at Domino’s Pizza. She’s also held leadership positions at Target, US Bank and Marshall Field’s Department Stores. Throughout her career, the global retail and financial services exec has become known for her abilities to lead organization strategy, promote operational effectiveness, and elevate team performance. With an MA in organization development and training from the University of Minnesota, Judy currently serves on the board of directors of BJ’s Wholesale Club.