GoCardless hires Franck Cohen as chair in profitability ‘push’

Bank payment company GoCardless has appointed former EMEA president of business software provider SAP Franck Cohen as the first chair of its board of directors.

During his 10-year tenure at SAP, Cohen was EMEA president and global chief commercial officer.

He also serves as chair of the board of Israel-based cybersecurity company CYE.

Franck Cohen, chair of GoCardless

The appointment of Cohen follows a tough period for GoCardless, which announced a 15% headcount reduction in June.

In a blog post last month, Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and chief executive officer of GoCardless, wrote that the proposed redundancies will affect those in the UK, US and ANZ.

Commenting on the appointment of Cohen, Takeuchi said: “Franck is a very welcome addition to our growing roster of experienced leaders and advisors, all of whom will help us move to the next stage of our journey.

“Not only am I looking forward to learning from him on a personal level, I’m excited about the focus he’ll bring to the leadership team and his ability to help us make fast and effective decisions. Both of these will become even more important over the next 18 months as we push towards profitability.”

He added: “We’ll also benefit from his track record of driving multiple M&A transactions, which will support our ambitious growth plans.”

“I’m excited to join GoCardless, a business that is in prime position to take off in the fast-growing and fast-moving payments industry,” said Cohen.

“Throughout my career, my roles have had a heavy emphasis on technology and transformation, so I look forward to joining the board to steer GoCardless into the next phase of its growth. And, as an entrepreneur myself, I’m very keen to work with Hiroki to get all the pieces in place so the business can execute on its vision to become the world’s bank payment network.”

GoCardless recently made two hires to its senior team, with the addition of Alan Cairns, as chief people officer, and Kamila McWilliam as director of corporate development.

Listen to Tom Burton, director of external affairs and public policy at GoCardless, discuss JROC’s recommendations for UK Open Banking on the Open Banking Expo Unplugged podcast.