Margaret Keane

Biography

Margaret Keane is the former Executive Chair of the Board of Directors of Synchrony, one of

the nation’s premier consumer financial services companies. She assumed that role in April

2021, having previously served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of

the Board of Directors.

As CEO, she led the company’s initial public offering in 2014 and subsequent separation from

GE in 2015. During her tenure she built Synchrony into a sustainable, innovative, and

industry-leading business with an exceptional culture. Through her leadership and vision,

she created a workplace committed to caring, inclusion and innovation at every level, while

balancing the needs of all stakeholders—including Synchrony’s partners, customers,

communities, shareholders and more than 16,000 employees. Under Margaret’s leadership,

Synchrony grew to 170 on the Fortune 500 list and was consistently named among Fortune's

Top 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Margaret’s passion for emerging technology, innovation and employee development has

solidified her reputation as a top leader in financial services. She has been consistently

recognized as one of Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women” and American Banker’s “Most

Powerful Women in Finance.” Fortune has also named Margaret to their “Businessperson of

the Year” list, and she’s been included as one of the “Most Influential Women in Finance” by

Barron’s.

During her 18-year career with GE Capital, where she led the retail card platform as

President and CEO beginning in 2004. She later expanded her responsibilities in 2011 to

become President and CEO of the GE Capital North American Retail Finance business. Earlier,

she held leadership roles that spanned consumer finance, vendor financial services,

operations, and quality. Margaret spent the first 16 years of her career at Citibank in various

leadership roles.

Margaret is dedicated to giving back to the community. As former President of the Synchrony

Foundation, she was instrumental in building Synchrony’s corporate citizenship platform

that today continues to focus on moving those in need forward. Margaret also serves on the

board and is passionately committed to the work of buildOn, a nonprofit dedicated to

empowering urban youth to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations.

Margaret serves on the Boards of Directors for the Allstate Corporation and Cisive, a

provider of compliance-driven human capital and risk management solutions. She is an

Independent Director at Tenable, the Exposure Management Company, and sits on the

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Board of Trustees and Audit Committee. Margaret

also serves on the Board of Directors for AdvanceCT, an organization committed to engaging,

retaining and recruiting businesses and advancing economic competitiveness in the state of

Connecticut, and, she is an Advisor to AX Partners, A Capital Markets service provider, as

well as an Advisor and Coach for G100, a peer-to-peer executive development company for

c-suite professionals.

Margaret earned a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from St. John’s University and is a member of the St. John’s University Board of Trustees. She is married with two children.

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