Pasadena-Based Green Dot Names New Chairman

Pasadena-based debit card and online banking company Green Dot Corporation announced Monday it named William I. Jacobs as new Chairman of its board of directors effective June 23, 2016.

The move is in fulfillment of a commitment made last month to separate the role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, both of which used to be held by founder Steve Streit.

Streit remains as Chief Executive Officer.

In a statement last month, the company said it was planning to appoint George Gresham, a nominee of Harvest Capital Strategies LLC, as chairman while Streit was to remain CEO. It did not say now why Gresham was not appointed.

“I’m honored to have been selected by my fellow board members to serve as Chairman of the Board of Green Dot Corporation,” Jacobs said in response to the appointment. “It is a very exciting time for Green Dot as the company seeks to grow its business and maximize shareholder value by providing millions on Americans with low cost, high quality and easy-to-access financial products and services.”

Green Dot has been in a big proxy fight with Harvest Capital over the company’s direction and Streit’s role in the company.

Jacobs is Chairman of the board of Global Payments, a payment processing firm, and has also served at The New Power Company, MasterCard International, and Financial Security Assurance, in addition to serving on the boards of Asset Acceptance Capital Corp., Investment Technology Group, and Alpharma.

Jacobs holds a BS degree in business administration from The American University and a J.D. from The Washington College of Law of The American University. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American University.