Tag: Equifax



Olin alumnus, Paulino Do Rego Barros Jr., EMBA ’91, has been named interim CEO of Equifax, Inc. following the departure of several top executives at the credit rating agency that revealed a major data breach that exposed the personal information of as many as 143 million people. Below is the press release from the company.

ATLANTA, Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — The Board of Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) today announced that Richard Smith will retire as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, effective September 26, 2017. The Board of Directors appointed current Board member, Mark Feidler, to serve as Non-Executive Chairman. Paulino do Rego Barros, Jr., who most recently served as President, Asia Pacific, and is a seven-year veteran of the company, has been appointed as interim Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Smith. The Board will undertake a search for a new permanent Chief Executive Officer, considering candidates both from within and outside the company. Mr. Smith has agreed to serve as an unpaid adviser to Equifax to assist in the transition.

Mark Feidler stated, “The Board remains deeply concerned about and totally focused on the cybersecurity incident.  We are working intensely to support consumers and make the necessary changes to minimize the risk that something like this happens again. Speaking for everyone on the Board, I sincerely apologize.  We have formed a Special Committee of the Board to focus on the issues arising from the incident and to ensure that all appropriate actions are taken.”

“Our interim CEO, Paulino, is an experienced leader with deep knowledge of our company and the industry.  The Board of Directors has absolute confidence in his ability to guide the company through this transition,” Feidler continued.

Richard Smith said, “Serving as CEO of Equifax has been an honor, and I’m indebted to the 10,000 Equifax employees who have dedicated their lives to making this a better company.

“The cybersecurity incident has affected millions of consumers, and I have been completely dedicated to making this right.  At this critical juncture, I believe it is in the best interests of the company to have new leadership to move the company forward,” Smith added.

“On behalf of the Board, I express my appreciation to Rick for his 12 years of leadership,” Feidler said. “Equifax is a substantially stronger company than it was 12 years ago.  At this time, however, the Board and Rick agree that a change of leadership is in order.”

Feidler is a partner and co-founder of MSouth, a private equity investment firm.  He has served as an independent director for Equifax since 2007.  Feidler served as president and COO of BellSouth Corporation until its merger with AT&T in December 2006.  Previously, from 2000 to 2003, Feidler was the COO of Cingular Wireless, commencing upon the formation of Cingular when BellSouth and AT&T (formerly SBC) merged their domestic wireless operations to form Cingular.

Paulino Barros most recently led the company’s Asia-Pacific business, which includes the largest acquisition in Equifax’s history – Veda, the leading provider of credit information and analysis in Australia and New Zealand. Previously, Barros led the company’s U.S. Information Solutions (USIS) business and prior to that led the company’s International business unit. Prior to Equifax, Barros founded and served as president of PB&C – Global Investments, LLC and previously served in several executive positions at BellSouth Corporation and AT&T, including president of Global Operations for AT&T. His previous experience includes executive and managerial roles at Motorola, Inc., The NutraSweet Company and Monsanto Company.

About Equifax

Equifax is a global information solutions company that uses trusted unique data, innovative analytics, technology and industry expertise to power organizations and individuals around the world by transforming knowledge into insights that help make more informed business and personal decisions.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. It is a member of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500® Index, and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. Equifax employs approximately 10,000 employees worldwide.




Supply chain students at SCOPA Symposium.

On February 25, the Olin Supply Chain and Operations Association (SCOPA) held its second annual symposium at Knight Center. Seven Olin alumni and industry experts from Deloitte, Accenture, Equifax, Express Scripts, and BJC Healthcare joined a mixed group of 33 students in the MBA and Master of Supply Chain and Customer Analytics programs to discuss the topic of ‘Big Data Analytics in Supply Chain & Operations.’

The topics that we discussed included the definition of big data in various industries, types of big data, the IT implementation and human resources support, the use of big data in real-world business and lastly, the soft and technical skills students need to learn before going into the advanced data analytics field. The discussion was very inspiring. We were not only able to gain industry insights first hand, but some of us also discovered career opportunities and even potential business opportunities among participating companies and students’ employers.

Panelists speak at the 2016 SCOPA symposium.

Panelists speak at the 2016 SCOPA Symposium.

The symposium was very successful. Both the students and the panelists believed that it was a great learning opportunity. After the event, the panelists from Deloitte explicitly expressed that they would love to come back next year to meet more students and provide more learning and networking opportunities. Events like these makes them even more interested in our talent here at Olin.

Last but not least, I want to express my special thanks to Mark Schlafly, Karen Heise and Lisa Hebert from the Weston Career Center and Sally Michael from the Management Communication Center. The event would not have been this successful without their huge support. At the beginning of the preparation stage, we experienced some difficulty inviting the right industry experts. Karen and Sally even generously shared their personal contacts to help SCOPA with the event. This is a great example of the collaboration among WCC, MCC, and student organizations. Olin is really a place where everyone truly cares about your success. You know you could always get genuine support from this close-knit community.

Moving forward, SCOPA plans to maintain and expand its network with companies. We hope to host another symposium in the Fall semester when most students are looking for internship/full-time opportunities, and organize more Lunch & Learn opportunities.

Guest blogger: Joyce Song, MBA ’17