Payments processor Fiserv has struggled to meet growth expectations over the past year so the question now is will the new CEO, Takis Georgakopoulos, deliver better results.
It’s impossible to know the answer to that question, but what is known is that Georgakopoulos, 56, has the experience needed to lead a payments company.
Georgakopoulos was hired at the Milwaukee company in June 2024 as a senior adviser and member of the management committee, and then rose quickly up the ranks.
By April of last year, Georgakopoulos had become an executive vice president and the company promoted him that month to chief operating officer, replacing Guy Chiarello. A few months later in October, he became a co-president, overseeing the merchant and technology areas, working alongside Co-President Dhivya Suryadevara.
Georgakopoulos’ Fiserv experience builds on 17 years at the biggest U.S. bank, JPMorgan Chase, where he was global head of payments when he exited in 2024.
“We believe Mr. Georgakopoulos is a strong candidate with extensive experience in payments/technology,” analysts at Cantor said in a Monday note to clients. Nonetheless, “the sudden nature of the transition is likely to catch some investors off-guard.”
Georgakopoulos will earn an annual salary of $1.3 million and have the opportunity to earn an additional bonus equal to twice his salary, according to a Fiserv filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. He will also receive a $6 million equity award and be eligible for an “annual equity incentive compensation opportunity of $18,600,000,” the filing said.
Analysts at Baird Equity Research said many people had expected Georgakopoulos to be in line to become Fiserv’s CEO after he arrived at the company two years ago.
“We view Takis as a logical replacement, as he has been in an executive role at Fiserv since 2024 and spent 17 years as a payments executive at JP Morgan Payments,” the Baird analysts said in a note to clients on Monday.
The company took immediate steps to retain other top executives. Suryadevara was promoted to president on Monday, according to an analyst report from TD Cowen. A Fiserv spokesperson declined to comment on that information.
Also, Chief Financial Officer Paul Todd received a stock grant equal to $5 million, according to the SEC filing, amounting to a measure designed to retain him.
The company may have provided additional information on a conference call it hosted with analysts Monday. Details of that call haven’t been made public by the company. The Fiserv spokesperson declined to comment on the call.
The management moves underscored “efforts to stabilize and retain the senior leadership team,” the TD Cowen note said. While Fiserv recommitted Monday to growth goals laid out at a lengthy investor day presentation last month, the CEO change continues the upheaval that began with the exit of Frank Bisignano as CEO last May.
“This leadership change adds another layer of uncertainty,” the TD Cowen note said, leading to “heightened scrutiny” for investors.
With the company’s stock having dropped 70% over the past year, expectations are high for Georgakopoulos to return the company to profitable growth. Fiserv reiterated its near-term growth goal of 1% to 3% organic revenue growth this year, but investors may be skeptical, given the dramatic change. Mike Lyons, the exiting CEO, had held the post for just 13 months.
The Baird analysts said they expect some investors to view the CEO change as an admission “that growth targets could remain difficult to achieve,” the Baird analysts said.
