We shape the future of global branded payments
Blackhawk Network delivers branded payment programs to help meet today’s most challenging business objectives. We collaborate with our partners to innovate, translating market trends in branded payments to extend reach, build loyalty and increase revenue.
We offer a full portfolio of comprehensive services to ensure the success of our partners’ branded payment programs, including design, distribution, fulfillment and marketing. Our proven reliability and scale under-pins every program, enabling our partners to be confident that business objectives will be met-or exceeded.
2001
was the year we introduced the idea of selling gift cards in grocery stores
3,000+
employees in locations around the world
28
countries served by our global branded payment solutions
The Blackhawk Network Story
In 2001, Blackhawk Network disrupted the branded payments industry by creating a gift card category in grocery stores. At that time, the only way to purchase a merchant gift card was to visit that brand’s brick-and-mortar location. By bringing gift cards into grocery stores, we set a new standard for consumer convenience—and an opportunity for grocery stores to grow revenue from selling gift cards.
The very first in-store display started with just six cards, but the concept caught on quickly. Today, we feature over 1,000 brands in dining, entertainment, retail, home improvement and many other categories. Plus, we have developed our own exclusive gift cards that offer themed choices, such as Happy Dining, MAX Prepaid Cards and Spafinder gift cards.
As our vision of helping companies grow reach, loyalty and revenue using gift cards expanded, we started making strategic acquisitions that allowed us to seamlessly add additional services, including online gift card sales, international offerings, and B2B products and services.
In 2013, we held an IPO, trading under the symbol HAWK. This offering initiated a period of great growth. Having already acquired Retailo and InteliSpend, we also acquired Parago, Achievers, GiftCards.com, OmniCard.com, Didix, Grass Roots, CashStar, One4All and other thriving companies.
Innovation and disruption continue to propel Blackhawk Network forward. Not happy to rest on our laurels, we have invested in best-in-class solutions for commerce, incentive, employee, emerging payment and corporate solutions. And although gift cards continue to be at the heart of what we do, we see that they are more than just “a way to give a gift.” They are powerful revenue drivers in-store, online, in digital wallet, via social media and in app—they are, in fact, branded payments that can be leveraged in new and exciting ways.
After being acquired by Silver Lake and P2 Capital Partners in 2018, Blackhawk Network returned to being a privately held company. We continue to invest every day in innovative ways to expand your opportunities to grow your business today and in the future with your branded payments.
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Talbott Roche, Chief Executive Officer and President
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.
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David McLaughlin, Chief Financial Officer
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.
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Nik Sathe, Chief Technology Officer
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.
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Cory Gaines, Chief Product Officer
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.
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Jay Jaffin, Chief Marketing Officer
Nick Samurkas is chief operations officer at Blackhawk Network. He is responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations and solutions delivery processes across the company.
Samurkas holds more than 20 years of experience in the payments industry in senior management roles. Before joining Blackhawk, he served as chief operations officer at Moneris, one of North America’s largest providers of payment processing solutions. Prior to that, Nick led the Canadian business at Chase Paymentech, where he oversaw sales, account management, operations and product teams. He is also the former senior vice president and chief operating officer of Global Payments Asia Pacific, where he established and managed operational centers in the Asia Pacific region.
Nick holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Accounting from McGill University.
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Jeff Haughton, SVP, Incentives, Corporate Development & Strategy
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.
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Brett Narlinger, SVP, Global Commerce
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.
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Suzanne Kinner, Group Vice President, Human Resources
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.
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Kirsten Richesson, Chief Legal Counsel
Kirsten Richesson is general counsel at Blackhawk Network and oversees the company’s global legal and compliance activities. Kirsten has represented public and private companies as both in-house and outside counsel. Prior to joining Blackhawk Network, she practiced as a corporate and securities lawyer at Thompson & Knight, in Dallas, and at Latham & Watkins, in San Francisco.