By Christine Imbs
Robert Reeg is the first to admit he was never a great athlete.
"I played some golf and basketball in high school, but not very well," he says. "But then I was a Gold Bug, so that may have been the problem."
Growing up, Reeg attended Alva High School in Alva, Okla. where the girls sports teams were known as the Lady Bugs and the boys teams were called... well, the Gold Bugs.
"Now I ask you, what the heck kind of mascot is that?" he asks laughing. "It didn't exactly inspire fear in anyone."
He may not have inspired fear in his opponents on the basketball court, but you might say this former Gold Bug is a Michael Jordan when it comes to information technology. As President of Global Technology and Operations at MasterCard Worldwide, Reeg, from GTO headquarters in O'Fallon, Mo., manages operations in 210 countries and territories, including major processing centers in Brussels, Belgium; Sydney, Australia; and Chennai, India. The O'Fallon location is MasterCard's largest worldwide.
And yet it's a career that may have taken another turn were it not for an astute college professor.
"I was attending Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and Northwestern didn't have a major or minor in computer science at the time. So, I was a math major," he explains. "One professor thought I might like information technology. So, I started doing some programming courses on my own. I guess he was right."
After graduation, Reeg went to work for Conoco Oil Company in Ponca City, Okla., as a programmer and eventually a data base engineer. He left Conoco to work for Totco, an oil fields tool company in Norman, Okla.
"I did this because my wife wanted to go to the University of Oklahoma to get her masterÕs degree in library science," he explains. "It really worked out great, because she got me student tickets to all the sporting events."
Eventually, Reeg left Totco and Oklahoma, spending time at Cleveland Pneumatic—maker of aircraft landing gear—and Sprint in Kansas City, Mo., before finally making the long trek across state to MasterCard in St. Louis.
"I've been here for 13 years now, and the reason I've stayed is twofold," he says. "First, the people are some of the most talented I've ever worked with. In fact one employee has a definition for integrity that I really like. He says, "Integrity is when a person does the right thing even when no one is looking." The people working here truly exhibit that characteristic. Secondly, this job gives me the opportunity to work in a great industry with lots of changes and lots of opportunities. It's energizing."
One opportunity in particular gave Reeg a tremendous sense of accomplishment—MasterCard's system enhancement strategy. It was a $160 million, multi-year reengineering of MasterCard's core processing system. Today that globally deployed software and computer network annually processes more than 18 billion payment card transactions, and transfers more than $2.3 trillion among financial institutions each year.
"Being involved with this project is one of my high points of working for MasterCard," Reeg says. "It now gives us the infrastructure that we believe puts us at the top of the class, in terms of the payment industry."
Of course with the industry and technology constantly changing, Reeg says anticipating trends and opportunities is the biggest challenge for MasterCard's GTO division. And it appears Reeg and company are up to that challenge. Recently they announced a new debit processing platform that Reeg says they believe is unique to the industry.
"We already have our first customer on board, and we've started their pilot program," he adds. "It's very exciting."
Reeg says he's fortunate to have found a career that he loves.
"You spend way too much time at work not to look forward to coming in each morning," he says. "When I look at what I do here and the people I have the opportunity to work with, I have to pinch myself. All in all, it's been an interesting journey."
| TalkingPOINTS
BORN: El Paso, Texas
FAMILY: Wife, Cynthia, and two sons.
EDUCATION: B.S. in mathematics from Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
FAVORITE BOOK: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
FAVORITE MUSIC: I like all kinds. The last thing I downloaded was some Coltrane.
FAVORITE MOVIE: Anything by Mel Brooks, but especially "Blazing Saddles."
HOBBIES: I play a little golf and tennis.
FAVORITE TRAVEL SPOTS: Australia for the scenery and Belgium for the food.
AFFILIATIONS: Chairman-elect of Junior Achievement of Mississippi Valley. |
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