American Express Names Edward P. Gilligan President

American Express has promoted Edward P. Gilligan to the role of president, the company announced April 15.

Gilligan, 53, has worked at Amex since 1980 and has been Amex's vice chairman since 2007. He led a business-to-business group that handles the company's relationships with merchants, corporations and bank partners.

Gilligan continues to report to Kenneth I. Chenault, Amex's chairman and chief executive, Amex says. Daniel H. Schulman, group president of enterprise growth; Stephen J. Squeri, group president of global services; and others continue to report to Chenault.

"Today's appointment recognizes the important role Ed has played over the last four years in helping to lead our largest business group out of the recession and gaining ground on the competition during a period of profound change in the payments industry," said Chenault in a press release.  "Under his leadership, we've brought the global network and card groups closer together to enhance the way we deliver value to cardmembers and build business for merchants.  Ed has been leading a successful drive to grow our share of online spending. He's energized the organization with a series of digital partnerships that reach customers through a range of social media channels, and he's expanded our international business into new areas of loyalty marketing."