Leadership Team
Steve Upshaw, Chief Executive Officer, Affinion International
Steve Upshaw serves as Chief Executive Officer of Affinion International, the European Division of Affinion Group. Prior to this position, Mr. Upshaw served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Affinion International – based in the UK. From May of 2002 until March of 2004, Mr. Upshaw was Senior Vice President of Product Management for Trilegiant Corporation’s financial and protection products in the US. In addition, he was responsible for the company’s domestic contact centre operations. Mr. Upshaw served as Vice President, Customer Retention for Cendant Marketing Group from January 2000 until May of 2002 where he led relationship management strategies for more than 20 million membership subscribers. Mr. Upshaw joined Cendant in 1995.
Bill Graham, President, Affinion International
Bill Graham, who joined International from the U.S. in 2009, is responsible for Affinion's revenue-driving functions across Europe. Prior to this, Mr. Graham managed U.S. National Sales & Client Management and New Channel development. In 2003 he started the U.S. Internet division and grew online new member acquisition to more than 1.5 million subscribers annually. Previously he led New Product Development, Online Marketing, and the Netmarket interactive shopping businesses. Mr. Graham first joined Affinion in 1996. He has also held positions with J.P. Morgan’s corporate finance division, CFO magazine, and zUniversity.com, a collegiate networking and relationship-marketing company, where he was in charge of loyalty, e-commerce and marketing.
Michele Conforti, Executive Vice President CFO & CAO, Affinion International
Michele Conforti serves as Executive Vice President CFO & CAO of Affinion International. Mr. Conforti had served as CFO for Affinion International since May, 2007 and in early 2010 was promoted to his current role. In his capacity, Mr. Conforti leads finance as well as matrix leadership responsibility for Legal, Human Resources and Operations. Mr. Conforti is a CPA and MBA with over eighteen years of experience with global blue chip companies across industries such as Financial Services, manufacturing and business services. Prior to joining Affinion International, Mr. Conforti spent eight years with American Express holding various key positions including most recently CFO of Establishment Services International, a BU/Division of American Express where he managed a team of 30 professionals across multiple regions, overseeing all aspects of the P&L, investment optimisation, policies and procedures, balance sheet review and SOX planning. Prior to American Express, Mr. Conforti also held positions with Enel as VP/Head of Corporate Financial Analysis-Investor Relations, and with DHL International as Area Controller.
Vincent Bourke, SVP Operations, Affinion International
Vince Bourke has responsibility for the Business Operations, Field Operations, Travel and IT teams across Affinion International. Prior to his appointment in December 08 Vince had over twenty-five years of operational leadership experience. His previous roles included Sensee as Chief Operating Officer UK, Opodo as Chief Operating Officer, Cendant Europe as Senior Vice President Call Centre and Telecommunications, and General Manager Hertz Europe Service Centres.
Deepa Mardolkar, Vice President, Product, Affinion International
Deepa Mardolkar is responsible for product management and new product development across Affinion International’s wide array of channels and markets. Joining Affinion in 2009, Deepa previously worked for American Express where she led product development and portfolio management for credit cards cross Continental Europe. Prior to that, she was with GE Money as well as Capital One, where she developed a new line of credit and insurance products to increase penetration.
Andrew Lazenby, Vice President, Marketing, Affinion International
Andrew Lazenby manages marketing in all channels and countries across Europe. Joining Affinion in 2009, Andrew was previous Marketing Director at Dell where he led the EMEA consumer marketing communications team with responsibility for marketing across a variety of channels throughout Europe. Previously he was with AOL UK where he was responsible for all customer communications and engagement, and before this Andrew was with Capital One for five years during which he led the UK Partnerships team, before managing all acquisition through direct mail and telemarketing channels, and then managing Broadscale customer acquisition.
Michael Fahey, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Affinion International
Michael Fahey serves as General Counsel and Company Secretary of Affinion International. In January of 2005, Mr. Fahey brought his expertise and knowledge from his legal counsel position at the US-based Affinion Group to Affinion International. Prior to Michael joining Cendant Marketing Group in July of 2002, he served as an associate attorney for the law firm of Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, securities and other transactional projects in their New York City and London offices. Mr. Fahey holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a BA from Manhattan College.
Yolinda Liversage, Chief Executive Officer - Affinion International South Africa
Yolinda Liversage is the esteemed Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Affinion International South Africa. As one of the founding members of this successful subsidiary over seventeen years ago, Ms. Liversage is still actively involved in her responsibilities as Chief Executive Officer. With more than 7 million members in the Affinion International South Africa programmes, Yolinda serves to make certain that each division consistently meets and exceeds company goals and expectations. Ms. Liversage is also a director of Toro LifeStyle (Pty) Ltd, Affinion International South Africa’s Black Empowerment Entity.
David Palmer, Regional President, Affinion International – United Kingdom and Ireland
David Palmer leads the management of Affinion International’s company operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Prior to this, David helped Citigroup develop its UK Consumer Operations as Marketing and Sales Director and then directed the growth of its UK Personal Credit Card Division as its Business Head. From September of 2000 until February of 2003, Mr. Palmer served as the European Marketing Head for US-based Robert W. Baird and its Granville Baird European subsidiary, leading the companies’ re-branding and re-positioning into the UK and German middle markets. Before that, David was the Customer Marketing Head of the Personal Credit Card Portfolio Division at NatWest, where he was responsible for maximizing revenues from the second largest credit card base in the UK – helping it transition into the new, parent company – the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
Guillaume Huser, Regional President, Affinion International – Western Europe
Guillaume Huser leads the management of Affinion International’s company operations in France, Italy and the Benelux countries. Prior to this, Mr. Huser held the position of Vice President Corporate Services at American Express where he helped grow the Corporate Cards portfolio and launch the Co branded card between American Express and Air France. From 1999 until 2002, Guillaume served as Vice President of the Global Commercial Card Division in Western Europe where he grew the Corporate Card business of France, Spain and Portugal and launched the Corporate Purchasing card. Mr. Huser joined Affinion International in 2003.
Sven Sahlberg, Regional President, Affinion International – Northern Europe
Sven Sahlberg has headed Affinion International Deutschland’s operations from Hamburg since October 2009. As Regional President Northern Europe, he is also in charge of Affinion’s Scandinavian operations. In addition to responsibility for Germany, the native of Sweden is in charge of Affinion’s branch offices in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Sven Sahlberg has strong credentials as a leading expert and pioneer for added-value marketing and customer retention programs in Germany. Among other projects, he successfully created Hamburger Sparkasse’s "HaspaJoker" and BW-Bank’s "extend" account enhancement programs. He holds a degree in business administration (Diplom-Kaufmann). Sven Sahlberg can look back on more than ten years with Affinion International and was previously Chief Executive Officer for Germany from 1997 until early 2008. During that time, not only did he lay the foundation for added-value banking in German-speaking countries, he also established Affinion's Hamburg offices and has been a key contributor to the company's success, both nationally and internationally.