American Express taps Sprint execs to lead mobile finance efforts

Financial services giant American Express has hired former Sprint/Virgin Mobile USA chief operations officer David Messenger to serve as executive vice president and head of its new Online and Mobile business unit. According to AmEx, the unit will be responsible for developing new online and mobile payment capabilities and associated services and applications, with an emphasis on creating strategic partnerships with digital giants including Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple, Zynga and Twitter. AmEx adds that all marketing, business development, customer care and CRM functions that were previously part of its Revolution Money digital unit will now fall under the Online and Mobile umbrella.

Messenger's team will include ex-Virgin Mobile USA general counsel Peter Lurie as SVP of strategic partnerships and business development--in addition, onetime Nokia portfolio management and planning head Jason Alexander was named VP of strategic program management. The moves were announced in a memo credited to AmEx Enterprise Growth group president Dan Schulman--the former Virgin Mobile USA CEO and Sprint Prepaid president left the operator to join American Express in July 2010.

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