We are BHN

Talbott Roche is chief executive officer and president of Blackhawk Network. As Blackhawk’s co-founder, she was integral to the company’s transformation from a gift card network in one grocery chain to a global prepaid leader. Before becoming CEO, she served as Blackhawk’s president through a successful IPO (2013), and led the growth of the company’s retail and digital businesses. In recent years, she integrated multiple acquisitions in incentives, making Blackhawk a leader in commerce and incentive solutions, employing over 3,000 people in 26 countries. 

Prior to Blackhawk, Talbott held leadership roles with News America Marketing, a News Corp company, and The Clorox Company, among others. Roche sits on the board of directors of Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), and previously served as an Executive board member of the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA).   

Talbott has received awards recognizing her professional achievements, most notably the PYMNTS Innovator Award for Women Driving Innovation in Payments, and Paybefore’s Industry Achievement Award. She is regularly asked to speak on payment innovation and was included in Progressive Grocer’s list of Top Women in Grocery and the San Francisco Business Times’ list of the Most Influential Bay Area Women.  

She holds a B.A. in economics from Stanford University.  

David McLaughlin is chief financial officer at Blackhawk Network, and has executive oversight of Blackhawk’s global accounting, financial planning, internal audit, tax, treasury and settlement functions.

McLaughlin has more than 25 years of finance experience at several Fortune 500 companies across multiple sectors, including in financial services and fintech. He spent nearly a decade at Fiserv, a leading global provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for the financial services industry. While at Fiserv, McLaughlin served as SVP, Group CFO, where he oversaw multiple operating divisions, led various business transformation efforts, and supported the integration of several strategic acquisitions. Prior to joining Blackhawk, he served as chief financial officer for Hiscox, USA, a division of London-headquartered insurance company Hiscox Ltd., where he led its finance, accounting, treasury, government affairs, and legal functions. McLaughlin has also held finance leadership roles at Bank of America and Delta Airlines.

McLaughlin holds a Master in Business Administration from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Bryant University.

Nik Sathe is the chief technology officer (CTO) at Blackhawk Network where he leads the company’s global technology strategy and teams in the expansion of its global footprint and capabilities in payments and payment technologies.

A veteran technology executive, Sathe has built, led and scaled teams and platforms across technology and financial services. Most recently, he served as vice president of engineering for Google Nest, where he was responsible for the strategy, design and development of Google's Nest, Chromecast and Home branded products and Smart Home ecosystem. Previously, Sathe was CTO of American Express, co-CTO at PayPal, and part of Google’s Wallet team, giving him experience and insight into the changing payments landscape.

Sathe has prior experience at JP Morgan Chase and several start-up and public technology/software companies. He has a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Lafayette College and serves as an advisor to technology start-ups and entrepreneurs.

Cory Gaines is Chief Product Officer at Blackhawk Network. Gaines leads Blackhawk’s continued innovation in payments products, including globalizing the company’s solutions, building upon its Pay4It™ suite and launching new innovative products to help partners drive scale, revenue and loyalty.

As Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Blackhawk Network, Jay Jaffin supports the organization’s continued growth and success as an innovative leader in the payments and payment technology industries. Jay leads a talented team of individuals united by the goal of powering Blackhawk as a leader in the future of payments.

Jay is a proven transformational leader in the technology, fintech and telecommunications industries. Guided by his long-standing belief that innovation and results are best achieved by building a culture that fosters transparency, empathy and diversity, Jay has built and leveraged diverse teams that have delivered growth at scale for nearly 20 years.

Jay brings more than 20 years of marketing experience in payments, fintech and telecommunications, including former CMO roles with Western Union and Verizon Connect. Jay received his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jeff Haughton is Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy at Blackhawk Network. In this role, he leads the growth and development of Blackhawk’s incentives business around the globe. Jeff is an expert on data strategy and the impact it has on overall growth across segments, specifically commerce and incentives.   

With more than 20 years of experience, Jeff has a deep understanding of how organizations can use rewards and incentive programs to drive operational efficiency, increase engagement and generate revenue. Prior to joining Blackhawk, he served as chief operating officer at Performant Corp, a provider of technology-enabled recovery and related analytics services. He also previously held leadership roles at Financial Technology Partners and Goldman Sachs, where he was the managing director of its financial technology group.

Brett Narlinger is Senior Vice President, Global Commerce at Blackhawk Network. In his role, he leads and drives growth across Blackhawk’s physical and digital retail global businesses. Brett is an expert in leading high-performance sales and business development teams, spearheading successful marketing campaigns and driving payments innovation. 

A veteran payments executive, Brett has more than 25 years of experience in numerous leadership positions throughout his career. Prior to joining Blackhawk, he served as chief revenue officer for both Green Dot and Mercury Payments, one of the fastest growing payment and gift card processors, now part of World Pay. He also served in several senior management roles throughout First Data, now Fiserv.

As SVP, Global Operations & Transformation at Blackhawk Network (BHN), Cara Renfroe has executive oversight of the organization’s Supply Chain, Fulfillment, Merchandising, Customer Support, Account Management, Procurement, International Operations, and Transformation functions. She is a seasoned technology and business professional with deep experience in operations, enterprise systems implementation, product management, business operations, and strategy.

Cara has held progressively increasing leadership roles at BHN, across operations, technology, and product. Prior to BHN, she spent many years in the retail industry at Macy’s and Mervyns LLC as a Corporate Buyer.

Cara holds a B.A. in Business from the University of Oregon.

Suzanne Kinner is Group Vice President of Human Resources at Blackhawk Network, where she oversees the global human resources function for the organization. In this role, she is responsible for driving and executing Blackhawk’s people strategies in support of the company’s overall business plan and strategic direction. She leads the Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, HR Operations & Compliance, and Facilities teams.

With over 20 years of executive-level HR experience prior to Blackhawk, Suzanne has served as Global Head of HR for many technology companies, including Tellme Networks, Procket Networks, Actel and S3.

She has a B.A. in Business Administration and Management from Holy Names College.

Vikram Varma is general counsel at Blackhawk Network (BHN) and oversees the company’s global legal and compliance activities.  Before joining BHN, Vikram was the general counsel of Cutera, a publicly-listed medical devices company, and Verifone Systems, a leader in global payment services and solutions.  Previously, he was a corporate associate at Sullivan & Cromwell and began his legal career as a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. 

Vikram holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and his J.D. from the University of Chicago.