VeriFone Overhauls Its Management Team as It Enters the Post-Bergeron Era

Troubled point-of-sale terminal maker VeriFone Systems Inc. on Monday announced sweeping changes in its management ranks, appointing four new people to top positions a week after long-time chief executive Douglas Bergeron resigned. One of the key appointments is Eliezer Yanay, who headed San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone’s global research and development, supply chain and product-management initiatives since 2011, to chief operations officer. The COO position had been vacant for some time.

Other appointments include Jennifer Miles to president, VeriFone Americas; Bulent Ozayaz to president, VeriFone Southern Europe, Russia, Middle East and Northern Africa, and Johan Tjärnberg to president, VeriFone Europe and Southern Africa.

VeriFone watchers expect the appointment of Yanay as COO to help restore the organizational and operational direction that VeriFone lacks and which contributed to Bergeron’s departure. Recent problems included late order fulfillment and even possible violations of U.S. export sanctions on Iran.

“It’s fair to say that by filling this position VeriFone is making an admission that there was a lack of proper oversight from an operations standpoint, and that many of their recent problems were self-inflicted,” analyst Gil Luria, managing director for Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities, tells Digital Transactions News. “VeriFone is in the midst of a turnaround and its performance of late has been disappointing.”

It is unknown why VeriFone, which did not respond to requests for interviews, had left the COO position unfilled. The company was asked about the vacancy during its first-quarter earnings call March 5, to which Bergeron replied he was on top of the issue and that analysts should watch for management changes. Bergeron stepped down after the company reported weak financial results for the quarter ended Jan. 31 and a number of operational and execution problems surfaced.

One of the areas where the absence of a COO could have been affected VeriFone’s business is the lead times needed to build and deliver equipment to its distributors, according to Joe Villamil, vice president of business development for POS Portal, a Sacramento, Calif.-based VeriFone distributor. While Villamil adds that POS Portal never experienced delays in delivery times or unfulfilled orders from VeriFone, he hopes the new COO will seek to improve delivery times of equipment to help distributors get product into the market faster. It typically takes six to eight weeks on average to fulfill an order, he adds.

Miles, 41, who joined VeriFone in 2001, most recently spearheaded growth initiatives in VeriFone’s North American businesses. She was involved in the terminal maker’s Retail, Global Security and Vertical Solutions business. In her new capacity, Miles will lead VeriFone’s North America, Latin America and Caribbean, units. “She is a talented executive and should do well in her new role,” says Villamil.

The sweeping changes do not come as a surprise to Luria, who says they indicate VeriFone’s board of directors concluded it was time for new people in upper management. VeriFone’s interim CEO, Richard McGinn, announced the appointments.

“It appears the board realized management was not properly navigating the company and decided the time had come to take action and correct the problem,” he says. “Subsequently we are seeing people at the lower management levels being asked to step up to address the issues facing the company.”

Both Luria and Villamil say they are waiting to see who VeriFone appoints as its new CEO. Expectations are that the candidate will come from outside the company, although Villamil believes VeriFone would be best served by an outsider with substantial payment-industry experience.