Advanta Corp. has dipped into MasterCard International's talent pool yet again, hiring Arthur D. Kranzley as senior vice president.
Mr. Kranzley, who oversaw debit programs, will report to Alex W. Hart, the former MasterCard chief executive who holds the same title with the Horsham, Pa., marketer of credit cards and home equity products.
Mr. Hart had previously brought in MasterCard executive vice president James W. Johns as senior vice president of corporate administration.
Mr. Kranzley's is the first senior-level departure attributed to the move of MasterCard's headquarters from New York City to the northern suburb of Purchase, N.Y.
Advanta's suburban Philadelphia base is closer to Mr. Kranzley's central New Jersey home. Effective Oct. 16, he will be responsible for developing new markets and strategic alliances in emerging payment systems and new technologies.
"Art comes aboard to give us some better insights to the debit side of the payments industry," said Mr. Hart. "As we sit down to try to find the optimal partnerships, I think Art is unusually well qualified to work with us."
Liam Carmody, president of Carmody & Bloom, a consulting firm in Ridgewood, N.J., said he expects Advanta to push hard into debit, stored value, and smart card opportunities.
Advanta is best known for credit cards. Most are issued through a Delaware subsidiary, Colonial National Bank USA, which ranks 14th in U.S. outstandings. The company also offers mortgage, lease, insurance, and deposit products.
Mr. Kranzley said Advanta will explore alternative delivery vehicles such as automated teller machines, home computers, and interactive television, in hopes of becoming a broader consumer services and information provider.
"This is just the next step," said Mr. Kranzley, who was MasterCard's senior vice president and general manager of U.S. debit products as well as president and CEO of Maestro U.S.A. "I'm looking forward to doing more with Advanta; the environment is right, the management is right. It's a very progressive, forward-looking company to do these sorts of things."
"We're terribly sorry to lose his services," said Alan J. Heuer, president of MasterCard's U.S. Region, calling Mr. Kranzley "a terrific contributor to MasterCard. We're happy for him - and glad he's ending up with a great member of MasterCard like Advanta."
During 10 years at MasterCard, Mr. Kranzley helped combine the MasterCard and Cirrus ATM networks and introduced Maestro, the on-line debit program, now in 70 countries. His most recent focus at MasterCard was "The Complete Debit Program," which integrates Cirrus, Maestro, and MasterMoney, the off-line debit card.
Mr. Kranzley, 45, is a son of the late Arthur S. Kranzley, a pioneering developer of electronic funds transfer technology. They worked together on the first point of sale system in the United States that integrated credit and debit acceptance. The younger Mr. Kranzley also was involved in building the first shared ATM network for Rocky Mountain BankCard System.
