Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, First Data
Frank Bisignano has spent his 30-year career leading by example, serving in integral executive roles at some of world’s largest financial services companies, giving back to his surrounding communities, and providing support and opportunities for the men, women, and their families serving in the armed forces. Currently, Bisignano serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Data – one of the largest FinTech companies, providing commerce solutions to businesses and financial institutions across the globe.
Early in his career, Bisignano worked at First Fidelity Bank, where he was an executive vice president overseeing technology and operations, and later served as chief consumer lending officer. At First Fidelity, Bisignano earned a reputation for skillfully managing complex mergers and integrations, overseeing 13 acquisitions into the business and consolidating eight banks into one.
Following First Fidelity, Bisignano joined Citi in 1994. As he took on more senior roles at Citi, he played a key role in a series of historic transactions. These deals included the merger of Citicorp and Travelers and the acquisitions of Salomon-Smith Barney and Primerica Financial Services, among others.
Bisignano then held several roles at Citigroup that included serving on the bank’s management committee and roles as chief administrative officer for the Corporate and Investment Bank and CEO of Citigroup's Global Transactions Services business. While CAO, Bisignano also served as the firm-wide deputy head of technology and operations, a post he held during 9/11, when he deployed and ran Citigroup's business continuity plan. The plan required emergency relocation of 16,000 employees displaced by the loss of 7 World Trade Center, which was crippled by the terrorist attack. In later years at Citi, as CEO of the bank’s Global Transactions Services business from 2002–2005, Bisignano’s unit’s revenue grew to $6 billion from $4 billion annually, with bottom line performance swinging from a net income loss of $400 million to a profit in excess of $1 billion during his tenure.
After Citigroup, Bisignano was the co-chief operating officer for J.P. Morgan Chase and the chief executive officer of its Mortgage Banking unit. As co-COO, Bisignano's responsibilities included overseeing global technology, human resources, real estate, operations, procurement, compliance, regulatory control and oversight, resiliency, security and safety, and general services for all of J.P. Morgan Chase’s businesses in over 60 countries. Under Bisignano’s leadership, the Mortgage Banking unit reported 2012 net income of $3.3 billion, a turnaround that reversed a net loss of $2.1 billion in the prior year.
Bisignano joined First Data as Chief Executive Officer in 2013 and added the title of Chairman of the Board in 2014. Upon his arrival at First Data, Bisignano began to rapidly transform the 48-year-old company from its position as the world’s largest traditional payment processor into a technology innovator, industry collaborator, and commerce enabler for the 21st Century.
One of Bisignano’s first big moves as CEO was launching a company-wide equity ownership program, turning all of First Data's employees into shareholders. In his early days, he steered the rollout of Clover Station, a breakthrough point-of-sale platform designed for small and midsized businesses to track inventory, manage employees, build lasting customer relationships, and accept the full array of payments, from cash to Apple Pay. The spirit of a technology company soon took hold as Bisignano partnered with, or acquired, leading startups to further strengthen First Data’s portfolio of cutting-edge solutions and services.
In June 2014, First Data announced an historic $3.5 billion private placement of equity which began a deleveraging effort that continues today. The private placement was followed by a $2.6 billion IPO in October 2015, the largest U.S. IPO of the year. These transactions, along with substantial refinancing of First Data’s debt, ratified the transformation begun under Bisignano’s leadership and set the course for First Data’s future.
Today, First Data is the largest merchant acquirer in the world, enabling electronic payments around the globe, 3,000 times a second, for more than 6 million merchant locations, 3,700 financial institutions, and millions of consumers. As a payments industry leader, First Data gives its clients the tools they need to thrive in today’s fast-changing world. In 2018, the company processed approximately 100 billion electronic transactions worldwide, representing $2.6 trillion in transaction volume. Headquartered in Atlanta, First Data operates in 27 countries spanning the globe.
Throughout his career, Bisignano has worked to create career opportunities for men and women who served in uniform. While at J.P. Morgan Chase, he was a founder of the 100,000 Jobs Mission, an original coalition of 11 companies that has since grown to a roster of more than 200 firms, hiring more than 450,000 veterans. Bisignano’s commitment to veterans has continued at First Data, where the First Data Salutes program provides broad opportunities and support for returning service members, veterans and their families.
A strong supporter of diversity, Bisignano also helped create seven new employee resource groups at First Data, earning the company a roster of accolades for its efforts, ranging from veterans’ groups to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Bisignano is a member of the Board of Directors of Humana Inc. Among his non-profit commitments, he serves on the boards of the Partnership for New York City, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, The Perelman Center for Performing Arts at the World Trade Center, the Mount Sinai Health System, the advisory board for the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and The Battery Conservancy. In addition to being a Centennial Society member of The Economic Club of New York, he also serves on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and The Commerce Club of Atlanta. Bisignano was previously vice chairman of the Options Clearing Corporation and a board member for the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, the Alliance for Downtown New York, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and PENCIL.
In 2010, Bisignano was awarded Syracuse University’s Chancellor's Medal for Outstanding Achievement for his innovation in technology and education. Bisignano received accolades in 2012 for his work leading the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, which digitized hundreds of thousands of documents of Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders. In 2014, Bisignano received the Colonel Michael Endres Leadership Award for Individual Excellence in Veteran Employment from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The New York Institute of Technology honored Bisignano in May 2014 with a Doctor of Commercial Science degree for his achievements in business and his philanthropic endeavors. In 2017, Syracuse University bestowed Bisignano with an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree for his distinguished business career and his work in championing higher education and supporting the disadvantaged.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He has three children, Morgan, Alexa, and Henry. He and his wife, Tracy, reside in New Jersey.