Ralph Andretta Of Bread Financial: 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Level Leader Of A Bank
An interview with Kieran Powell
Place value on authenticity — Authenticity is vital to leading effectively, fostering a culture of transparency and building trust. Setting the precedent at the top to be yourself drives that philosophy throughout the organization and empowers associates to show up as their best, authentic selves each day.
In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, the role of C-level leaders in banks is more critical than ever. These leaders must navigate complex regulations, drive innovation, maintain financial stability, and foster a strong organizational culture. What does it take to be an effective leader at this level? We had the pleasure of interviewing Ralph Andretta.
President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Andretta joined Bread Financial in February 2020 and is responsible for the company’s growth, development and financial performance. With more than 30 years of experience driving positive results through a variety of macro-economic conditions, throughout his career, Ralph’s executive leadership approach has focused on empowering teams and leading organizations to deliver strong, sustainable growth.
Ralph successfully led Bread Financial through a multi-year business transformation, solidifying its position as a leading tech-forward financial services company. During this time he streamlined the company’s business model and oversaw a number of large-scale initiatives that included rebranding the business, modernizing its technology, acquiring a fintech and expanding its product offerings. In addition to championing the company’s brand promise of empowering customers and leading with transparent communication and empathy, Ralph has also fostered an award-winning culture focused on excellence, corporate responsibility, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Ralph is an executive committee member of the American Banker Association’s Card Policy Council and the Columbus Partnership. In the community, he is passionate about the advancement and support of women, children and veterans, serving on the board of trustees at the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) and on the board of directors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Bob Woodruff Foundation. Ralph earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Siena College. Outside of the office, he enjoys golf and tennis, and spending time with his wife and their two daughters.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person.Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
I really enjoy biographies of individuals who have made a marked impact on society. In particular is Winston Churchill’s biography, The Last Lion. It was fascinating to read about how he led a nation that was crumbling under siege and became a victorious and esteemed wartime leader. In fact, one of my favorite quotes is from Churchill — “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” You can apply that to so many facets of life, personally and professionally. When I joined Bread Financial in February 2020, in a way, we were also “under siege,” battling the pandemic and embarking upon one of the most significant business strategy pivots in our company’s history. We kept going, persevered and have since completed a multi-year business transformation that positioned us for a sustainable and successful future.
Another biography I thoroughly enjoyed was Billie Jean King’s, All In. Billie Jean is a close friend of mine and her impact on the advancement of women is undeniable. She is a trailblazer who I have always admired for continuously leveraging her platform to elevate and advocate for women. Billie Jean has paved the way for future generations of female athletes, enabling a more open, equitable opportunity for girls like my daughters to play college sports.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person that you are grateful for, who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
As a leader, you want to emulate the great leaders you have encountered. Two instantly come to mind for me.
First is former Visa CEO and American Express executive, Al Kelly. Al made you feel like you mattered and that your work mattered. He was engaging, inclusive and empathetic. He also had an incredible attention to detail. Once, I sent him a presentation to review before a meeting. I anticipated answering his questions about the content, but the first thing he said to me was, ‘Ralph, I have a question about a footnote in the appendix I did not understand.’ Of all things, a footnote? It caught me off guard but showed me he cared about the details of your work, however minute it seemed. Attention to details is something I still value and carry with me as a leader today.
The second is Jud Linville, an executive leader from American Express and Citi. My favorite story about Jud occurred after my first-ever analyst meeting. I had spent months with my head down working on my presentation. The presentation went well, so I celebrated with the team, but Jud had the kindness to call my wife afterward to tell her what a great job I did. It was just a great example of how intuitive and empathetic he was. It was a small gesture and something he didn’t need to do, but it made a big impact on me and my family.
Can you share a funny mistake that you made when you were first starting out?
Early in my career, I was eager to make a big splash with a bold campaign. Despite my team’s suggestions for a different approach to the campaign, I was fixated on my vision of what a successful campaign execution would look like, and as you can imagine when you operate myopically like that, there were of course hiccups with the launch. This humbling experience taught me the invaluable lesson of embracing leadership growth and development, and the importance of listening to the expertise of my team. I sought guidance from our marketing leaders to better understand their processes, which ultimately led to more strategic and collaborative decision-making. It was a mistake that turned into a pivotal moment of professional development, reminding me that every voice on the team is vital for our collective success.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership is about guiding others to achieve their goals and clearing the path for them to excel in their roles and contribute to the organization’s success. It is about setting the tone so associates can bring the best version of themselves to work, and embodying values that should be upheld and emulated throughout the company. For me, transparency, authenticity and empathy inform every decision I make so we can foster an authentic culture where all associates feel valued and understood. I prioritize building trust, respect and relationships among my direct reports and challenge them to embody similar behaviors as leaders of their own teams.
Throughout my career, I have emphasized these values and behaviors because of my own experiences and roots, and I have developed respect for every role within an organization as every person’s role, regardless of level, matters, and is valuable. It is important to me to stay grounded and connected to the people at the heart of the company to drive mutual respect and success.
Can you share an example of a challenging decision you faced as a C-level leader and how you navigated it?
Any decision that involves ending a team member’s tenure with the company is inherently challenging, as I deeply value the contributions and well-being of everyone. This only becomes harder after investing in building strong relationships and trust with that individual and your team. Any time I am faced with a difficult personnel decision like that, I take a step back to examine what is in the best interests for the future success of the organization and aligns to our goals. From there, I make a commitment to handle these decisions with the respect, dignity and empathy that the team member deserves.
How do you balance the demands of regulatory compliance with the need for innovation and growth within your bank?
Responsible business practices are the cornerstone of our operations. We understand that a strong compliance program is necessary to uphold integrity and maintain our customers’ trust. At the same time, we must strike a balance between adhering to these responsible practices of being compliant, while still fostering innovation to create the best experience for our customers and of course growing our business. This means our compliance, technology, digital innovation and client partnership teams collaborate closely to ensure that while we drive value for all stakeholders, compliance, prudent risk management and responsible decision-making remain at the heart of our culture and drive our success.
How do you foster a culture of ethical behavior and integrity within your organization?
Transparency and open communication are key to engaging associates and building an authentic culture. When associates believe in their leadership team and buy into the company mission, they are more likely to prioritize integrity and responsible business practices themselves. To foster a culture of ethical behavior and integrity within an organization, it is essential to start at the top, and this includes myself, my leadership team and our Board of Directors. As a leader, demonstrating integrity and authenticity in every decision and action sets the tone for the company, and a commitment to ethical business practices — and “doing the right thing” builds trust with our customers, investors, associates, suppliers and other stakeholders. By extension, my leadership team also leads by example to ensure those expected leadership behaviors are seen throughout their respective organizations as well.
What strategies do you use to stay ahead of industry trends and ensure your bank remains competitive in the market?
Our strategies are customer centric. We offer simple payment, lending and saving solutions designed to empower our customers by providing financial flexibility and exceptional experiences. We have been prioritizing tech modernization and innovation to enable improved customer experiences. Additionally, we have unique insights through sophisticated data analytics capabilities that allow us to stay on top of ever-changing customer preferences and have diversified our product offering to ensure our products align to the customer’s journey throughout the customer lifecycle.
We take a similar customer-centric approach to developing strong relationships with our brand partners by working together to develop compelling customer acquisition campaigns and programs that meet the needs of today’s customers and assure mutual success for Bread Financial and our brand partners. Our relentless commitment to the best customer experience means we are continuously evaluating and refining customer touchpoints, as well as ensuring that we remain responsive, adaptive and ahead of customer needs and industry changes.
What are “5 Things You Need to Be a Highly Effective C-Level Leader of a Bank”?
There are five things you need to be an effective leader for any industry that will benefit the culture within your organization and drive value for external stakeholders.
- Place value on authenticity — Authenticity is vital to leading effectively, fostering a culture of transparency and building trust. Setting the precedent at the top to be yourself drives that philosophy throughout the organization and empowers associates to show up as their best, authentic selves each day.
- Lead with empathy — I am a firm believe that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. Our associates are people first — sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, friends, etc. and leaders always need to remember that. We are living in a highly volatile and disruptive global environment right now, and we also all go through challenging times; and it is not reasonable to expect associates to fully detach from those various pressures, which is why modeling empathy is so important and shows in the decisions we have made to prioritize mental health and wellness for our associates Sometimes tough decisions must also be made that impact people, but that does not mean that actions cannot be taken without showing humility, respect and care for one another.
- Be decisive — There is nothing more frustrating than being in a critical moment, needing clear direction, and having a leader that cannot commit to a decision. It halts progress and can create confusion and ambiguity. As a leader, I challenge myself to make informed decisions that perpetuate momentum, and if the decision does not end up working out, I am quick to learn from the findings, communicate transparently with the team and pivot toward a better solution and outcome.
- Surround yourself with people who have diverse thoughts and experiences — I am a staunch believer that there is always something more to learn, and hearing diverse perspectives always enhances the decision-making process. I actively seek the counsel of my leadership team, subject matter experts, our board, and my mentors to ensure we analyze all options before reaching a decision. This leads to more well-informed decisions, better collaboration and understanding, setting us up for continuous improvement.
- Never forget where you came from — I have supported myself financially since the age of 16, and I paid for my college tuition by working on the back of a garbage truck and as a short-order cook at Nathan’s Hot Dogs. These experiences taught me the importance of diligence, gratitude and hard work, and they taught me lessons I still carry with me today as a CEO. At a young age I learned first-hand that you should never forget where you came from, and no job is beneath anyone.
How can our readers further follow your work?
I love to connect with others on LinkedIn — Ralph Andretta | LinkedIn and you can follow the growth of Bread Financial online — Bread Financial: Credit Card, Loan, Saving & Payment Solutions and on LinkedIn — Bread Financial | LinkedIn.
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
About The Interviewer: Kieran Powell is the EVP of Channel V Media a New York City Public Relations agency with a global network of agency partners in over 30 countries. Kieran has advised more than 150 companies in the Technology, B2B, Retail and Financial sectors. Prior to taking over business operations at Channel V Media, Kieran held roles at Merrill Lynch, PwC and Ernst & Young. Get in touch with Kieran to discuss how marketing and public relations can be leveraged to achieve concrete business goals.
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