Barclaycard US Hires New Managing Director to Oversee Customer Care and Bank Operations

WILMINGTON, Del., March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Barclaycard US todayannounced the appointment of Tom Karinshak as Managing Director, CustomerCare and Bank Operations. In this role, Mr. Karinshak will be responsiblefor creating the overall strategy and leading the execution of CustomerCare and Bank Operations, including driving customer satisfaction andloyalty, call center operations and working with Barclaycard US partners indelivering best in class customer service. Mr. Karinshak will reportdirectly to Chief Operating Officer Joe Purzycki and join the BarclaycardUS Executive Committee. Mr. Karinshak comes to Barclaycard US with extensive experience in allareas of customer support, cross-sell and retention, as well as marketingand people management. He recently spent eight years at AOL Time Warner,most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Customer Management.During his tenure, Mr. Karinshak was responsible for all membercommunications, product marketing, retention and loyalty programs, drivinginnovation and creating and implementing the marketing strategy to growAOL's membership base. Mr. Karinshak's leadership and organizational skillswere forged throughout his distinguished military career as a CombatEngineer Captain in the United States Army. He is a graduate of the UnitedStates Military Academy at West Point and received his masters inEngineering Management from the University of Missouri-Rolla. "Tom Karinshak brings extensive experience in overseeing two criticalaspects of our business -- customer care and bank operations," said LloydM. Wirshba, CEO of Barclaycard US. "We are increasing and broadening thesophistication of customer care solutions for our four million cardmembersand Tom's significant operational and customer management experience willsupport our aggressive growth strategy." "I'm proud to be joining a world-class organization such as BarclaycardUS with its impressive track record and future growth prospects," said Mr.Karinshak. "I look forward to contributing my expertise toward enhancingthe already positive relationships Barclaycard US enjoys with itscardmembers and partners." About Barclays PLC Barclays PLC is a major global financial services provider engaged inretail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealthmanagement and investment management services. It is one of the largestfinancial services companies in the world by market capitalization. Withover 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates inover 50 countries and employs over 135,000 people. Barclays moves, lends,invests and protects money for over 27 million customers and clientsworldwide. For further information about Barclays, please visit our websitehttp://www.barclays.com. Headquartered in Wilmington, DE, Barclaycard US has more than 60partnerships with some of the country's most successful travel,entertainment, retail and financial institutions including US Airways,Lufthansa, Barnes & Noble, Best Western, BJ's Wholesale Club, Travelocityand Carnival Cruise Lines. The company employs more than 1,100 associatesand was named a Top Employer in Delaware in 2007. For more informationplease visit http://www.barclaycardus.com.