Alliance Data Systems has approved a leadership succession plan. Under its terms, on March 1 J. Michael Parks will relinquish his CEO position, although he will remain chairman of the board of directors. Edward J. Heffernan, currently CFO and executive VP, will become president and CEO.
John W. Scullion, the current president and COO, will step down from both positions. According to spokesperson Shelley Whiddon, the company determined the COO position was no longer required, and it was no longer necessary to separate the role of president from CEO. Scullion will remain in a consultative role with Alliance Data for the next several months, Whiddon added.
Michael D. Kubic will serve as interim CFO while Alliance Data conducts a search for Heffernan’s replacement.
Parks joined Alliance Data as chairman and chief executive officer in March 1997. From March 1997 until October 2006, he also served as the company’s president. Before joining Alliance, Parks was president of First Data Resources, the credit card processing and billing division of First Data Corp., from Dec. 1993 to July 1994. Parks first joined First Data Corp. in July 1976.
Heffernan signed on with Alliance in 1998, and became an executive VP and CFO in May 2000. Before joining the company, he served as vice president of mergers and acquisitions for First Data Corp.from Oct.1994 to May 1998. Prior to that, he served as vice president of mergers and acquisitions for Citicorp from July 1990 to Oct. 1994, and prior to that he served in corporate finance at Credit Suisse First Boston from June 1986 until July 1990.
Kubic joined the Alliance as senior vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer in Oct. 1999. Before joining the company he served as vice president of finance for Kevco Inc. from March 1999 to Oct. 1999. Prior to that he served as vice president and corporate controller for BancTec, Inc. from Sept. 1993 to Feb. 1998
