John Hayes

Most recently, John Hayes was Chief Marketing Officer of American Express. He has overseen American Express’ marketingefforts worldwide, shaping the Company’s products, strategy, sales and operations for the past 21 years.

As a member of Amex’s officers group, John has been at the center of developing the company’s strategic direction, overseeing the management of its businesses and geographies, developing new products, as well as working with the board on key corporate decisions and initiatives.

In American Express’ matrix organization, John’s organization was integrated with the company’s major divisions and operating units through global brand management, digital marketing, product marketing, marketing research and all traditional and digital advertising as well as American Express’ Publishing Business. Over the past twenty one years his work has resulted in many of the most innovative marketing programs in financial services as well as major product launches including B to C products (Blue, Centurion) and B to B services (Plum and Open). John has created products and programs to help small and medium sized businesses grow revenues through their relationships with American Express. More recently, he took responsibility for many of Amex’s new digital business lines. These include products and partnerships that are enabling card members to use their points as virtual currency for small transactions such as taxis, Uber and McDonald’s.

In addition, he has been on point for forging relationships with corporate partners including: Apple, AirBnB, Facebook, Google and Samsung. John has served on a number of boards including Keurig Green Mountain from 2014-2016, Save the Children, Seton Hall University, “The Well” at Charity Water as well as the Yahoo, Inc. board from 2012 to 2014. Today, John advises a group of companies on their growth and customer strategies, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to digital start ups. John is also a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company advising both McKinsey’s internal groups as well as their clients. John is also a fellow in Harvard Business School’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. Prior to joining American Express, John was president of Lowe and Partners and also held senior positions at Geer DuBois, Ammirati and Puris, and Saatchi & Saatchi. He received a BA incommunications from Seton Hall University.