Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) Rewards Executive Leaves for Start-Up Business

Posted by on Aug 26th, 2010

Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C)’s ThankYou credit-card rewards network head, Nancy Gordon, has left the New York-based bank after 12 years to join a start-up business that has a patent to aggregate customer loyalty programs, according to a Thursday report from Bloomberg Businessweek.

Gordon, age 41, left the company in July to join Miami-based Signature Systems LLC as the company’s chief operating officer. She told Businessweek that the company will create “a promotional wallet” which will help customers combine points from their loyalty programs. The company may begin taking business near the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012.

Gordon joined Citigroup as an assistant vice president of marketing in 1998. She began the “ThankYou Rewards” program in 2004, a credit card points rewards system.

“She’s going to be running the company in terms of bringing it to market,” said Signature Systems CEO Richard Postrel, 58, in an interview. “We made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.”

Postrel holds 16 patents for technologies relating to rewards systems since 2003, according to data from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

“Nancy has been a valued member of the Citi cards business and a key member of the team that built ThankYou into one of the industry’s leading reward networks,” Citigroup spokesman Samuel Wang said in a statement. “We wish her every success in her future endeavors.”

Citigroup Inc. (Citigroup) is a global diversified financial services holding company. The Company provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a range of financial products and services. As of December 31, 2009, Citigroup had approximately 200 million customer accounts and did business in more than 140 countries. Citigroup operates through two primary business segments: Citicorp, consisting of its Regional Consumer Banking (RCB) businesses and Institutional Clients Group (ICG), and Citi Holdings, consisting of its Brokerage and Asset Management (BAM), Local Consumer Lending (LCL), and Special Asset Pool (SAP). In April 2010, Barclays PLC acquired Italian credit card business of Citibank International Bank plc. In May 2010, the Company announced the creation of a new Collateral Management Services unit within its Securities and Fund Services business.

Shares of Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C) traded up 1.22% on Thursday hitting $3.72 during mid-day trading.