Joseph W. Saunders, who was tapped Monday to manage the soon-to-be- combined credit card portfolios of Fleet Financial Group and Advanta Corp., knows the industry will be watching his every move.
In the five weeks since the deal was announced, credit card executives have talked constantly about the daunting task of knitting the operations together. Adding an extra layer of pressure is Fleet's ambition to fashion the disparate units into a unified, top-performing card portfolio.
But the fishbowl aspects of the job don't bother Mr. Saunders. "When I put it all together in my mind, this is what I wanted to do," he said in a telephone interview.
Card industry experts called Mr. Saunders, a 12-year veteran of Household International Inc., Prospect Heights, Ill., one of the few people qualified for the job. He is widely credited with the tremendous success of the General Motors MasterCard program that Household launched in 1992.
While Mr. Saunders has proved his ability to make card portfolios grow, his new job may require additional finesse.
"To take Fleet and Advanta and combine them together is going to be a task in itself, and then to grow from there to a world-class organization will require an extraordinarily good management team," said Robert K. Hammer, a California investment banker who deals in card portfolios.
"Joe will no doubt forge a team of extraordinary managers to accomplish Fleet's growth and profit objectives," said Mr. Hammer, president and CEO of R.K. Hammer Investment Bankers, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Mr. Saunders, 51, will assume the post by the end of the month and will relocate to Philadelphia, where Advanta has its headquarters. Boston-based Fleet is expected to complete its acquisition of Advanta's card unit early next year.
The $14 billion combined portfolio will be slightly smaller than the $17.5 billion one Mr. Saunders oversaw at Household's Credit Services division, where he was president and chief executive officer.
Besides helping drive the success of the General Motors card, Mr. Saunders shepherded Household's rise as a powerhouse card issuer with savvy acquisitions and cobranded card programs.
"I am absolutely confident that Household is in an outstanding position to be successful next year and beyond," Mr. Saunders said. "I just thought it was time to do something a bit different and give some other people an opportunity to operate it from under me."
Household has not named a successor to Mr. Saunders. Household's credit card unit now reports to William F. Aldinger, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.
At Advanta, Mr. Saunders succeeds Alex W. "Pete" Hart, who relinquished the top job after the sale and has not announced any plans.
Mr. Saunders said his new post will probably require him to resign as chairman of the board of directors of MasterCard International. Representatives of the same organization are not allowed to serve simultaneously on the boards of the two rival bank card associations, and Fleet currently holds a seat on the Visa board.
Analysts said Mr. Saunders' biggest challenge would be trying to reverse the spotty performance of Advanta's card portfolio this past year.
Moshe A. Orenbuch, senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, said Mr. Saunders' marketing experience will come in handy. "I think Advanta had something of a void in their marketing effort over the last year or so," he said.
Questions remain about how closely the two geographically disparate portfolios will be linked. Mr. Saunders said he expects the combined portfolio to be run as one with "different arms," much like the scenario at Household. He said it was premature to talk about plans for the combined unit.
"Theoretically, there may be some opportunity for integration of Advanta's customers into the Fleet family," said David B. Hilder, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter in New York. "But that will be limited to Advanta customers who are located in Fleet's geographical footprint, which is essentially New England and New York."
Whatever the outcome, Mr. Saunders said, he is looking forward to the challenge. "When I look at what is to be done at Fleet, it re-energizes me and gives me a sense of excitement."
