American Express today announced that Andy McGraw, current vice president for global travel sales, will succeed Pam Arway as senior vice president and general manager for American Express Business Travel North America. McGraw will assume his new post on Jan. 2, 2005, as Arway moves into her new role of leading Amex's consumer card business in Australia
(BTNonline, Oct. 27).
In his new position, McGraw, as stated in today's release, "will have full accountability for leading the successful and profitable growth of the business across all segments and markets." He will continue to lead all North American, multi-regional and global business development activities.
McGraw said he is thrilled about the appointment and excited about the prospect of integrating his current global sales responsibilities and his new managerial role. "I'll still be responsible for new client acquisition, for example, but now I'll be responsible not only for selling the product, but also for delivering what we sell," he said. "I'm used to spending time around new customers in my current position, but I'm really looking forward to now spending a lot of time with our current customers. We'll be successful if our clients are successful, and I'm looking forward to delivering on that commitment."
McGraw doesn't expect to implement any major changes. "I sat on both Pam Arway's and Charles Petruccelli's leadership teams. The course we're on globally is the one that all of us, as a leadership team, decided was the right course. I think you'll find consistency in terms of the initiative, implementation and execution of all our programs," he said.