Bob Hedges is Visa’s Chief Data Officer responsible for driving the company’s value creation from data and Visa’s global data programs. In this role, Bob drives the development of strategy and program execution for how Visa collects, manages, and uses data to create value for banks, acquirers, retailers, governments, and consumers. Bob leads Visa’s data-related activities including data policy, data governance, product development, data analytics, consent management, data for purpose, and responsible data use. As Chief Data Officer, Bob chairs Visa’s Data Leadership Team and provides strategic and execution leadership to day-to-day data activities as well as efforts to explore new data technologies, consumer privacy, and strategic partnerships as potential sources of strategic differentiation. He was the principal architect of the creation of Visa’s Data Values, the company’s “North Star” for data use.
Bob has more than 30 years of experience in payments and financial services, including two decades of experience in financial services strategic consulting and 12 years of experience in senior operating and leadership roles at financial institutions. Prior to joining Visa, Bob was a partner at the global consulting firm A.T. Kearney where he led the global financial services practice. At A.T. Kearney, Bob’s work focused on retail banking, digital commerce, innovation and growth in retail financial services, and consumer data privacy. A hallmark of Bob’s consulting work was his consistent and persistent application of a data-driven analytical approach to assessing and modeling unmet consumer needs and developing solutions.
Bob has held senior executive leadership roles at Shawmut Bank, FleetBoston, and Fidelity Investments, with operating responsibilities for retail banking, retail investments, digital channels, consumer credit, and payments. Managing the digital evolution of financial services has been a major operating theme in all of his past executive roles. Bob is the past Chairman of NYCE, the regional ATM/debit network, and served on the advisory boards of multiple past industry groups including Integrion, Managing Your Money, and the Consumer Bankers Association. Early in his career, Bob gained consulting experience at the MAC Group (now Gemini Consulting) and First Manhattan Consulting Group. Bob is a highly regarded and widely-quoted industry commentator and author.
Bob earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
