Englewood-based Western Union on Monday named a former McDonald’s Corp. chief executive as chairman and appointed five other directors to its board as the money-transfer giant prepares to spin off from parent First Data Corp.
The appointments take effect when Western Union executes its tax-free spinoff, which is expected this year.
Jack Greenberg, 63, who retired as chairman and chief executive of McDonald’s in 2002, will be the chairman of Western Union, the world’s largest money-transfer company.
New directors include Dinyar Devitre, 59, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Altria Group Inc., and Betsy Holden, 50, former co-CEO of Kraft Foods. The others are Alan Lacy, 52; Roberto Mendoza, 60; and Mike Miles, 44.
“The combined global marketing, finance and consumer expertise that these individuals offer will play an important role in guiding our company as we emerge as an independent organization,” Christina Gold, president and chief executive of Western Union, said in a statement.
First Data announced it would spin off Western Union earlier this year, saying it wanted to focus on its slower-growing credit-card and ATM-card businesses.
First Data, with a market capitalization of $32.05 billion, employs 33,000 people worldwide, including 5,000 in Colorado.
Western Union employs about 5,000 worldwide, including 2,500 in Colorado, and has more than 245,000 agent locations spread across more than 200 countries and territories.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-954-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
