Global Payments Inc. (GPN) Appoints New Board Directors

By Ahmed Jameison • Monday, September 29 15:34 • Permanent Link

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) has announced the appointment of Patricia “Patty” Watson and Archana “Archie” Deskus as independent Board directors, effective immediately. The company has also agreed with Elliott Investment Management L.P. (“Elliott”) to appoint an additional mutually agreed independent director by or immediately following the conclusion of the 2026 annual meeting of shareholders.

The size of the Board will expand to 12 directors with the appointment of Mses. Watson and Deskus and will remain at 12 directors following the 2026 annual meeting.

A new ad-hoc Integration Committee will be established to oversee the integration of Worldpay following the completion of the Company’s pending acquisition. The committee will focus on execution of integration initiatives and synergy realization from the Global Payments and Worldpay combination.

Patricia (Patty) Watson, an experienced technology executive, most recently served as Chief Information and Technology Officer at NCR Atleos. She previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of NCR Corporation and Global Chief Information Officer at Total System Services (TSYS). Ms. Watson currently serves on the board of directors of Southwest Airlines and Rockwell Automation.

Archana (Archie) Deskus, an accomplished technology executive, most recently served as Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer at PayPal Holdings, Inc. Over the course of her career, Ms. Deskus has held CIO roles at Fortune 200 companies, including Intel Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Baker Hughes, Ingersoll Rand, Timex, and Carrier. Ms. Deskus currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cognizant and East West Bancorp.

Global Payments CEO, Cameron Bready, expressed appreciation for the constructive engagement with the Elliott team and emphasized that the enhancements announced will help ensure the company is well positioned to successfully manage the combination with Worldpay.

As of the writing of this press release, Global Payments has a team of 27,000 members across 38 countries, and is a Fortune 500® company and a member of the S&P 500.

The press release does not include specific financial metrics or changes in financial performance. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved 2.48% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $86.41. Check out the company's full 8-K submission here.

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