Stack of credit cards

Playing your cards right

By Lini S. Kadaba

 

When talk at a recent criminal justice alumni dinner turned to 鈥淧acelli鈥檚 boys,鈥 Susan W. Green 鈥76 had a few words to add. 

鈥淣ot all of the students were boys,鈥 Green told the table. At 62, she is an executive director at Ally Bank 鈥 an online, digital bank.

In 1974, the late Sister M. Pacelli Staskiel, OSF, founded 媚娘直播鈥檚 Criminal Justice Department, becoming the first woman in the country to lead such a program. The inaugural class of 48 students became known as 鈥淧acelli鈥檚 boys.鈥  

But as it turns out, the moniker was a slight misnomer. Two students were women, and Green was one of them.

鈥淚鈥檓 living proof,鈥 she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 one of Sister Pacelli鈥檚 girls.鈥 Joanne (Piraneo) Cook was the other.

Like Sister Pacelli 鈥 who Green describes as both caring and 鈥渁 bit before her time as a female leader and role model鈥 鈥 Green made a name for herself in male-dominated fields, starting with her course of study. 

鈥淚 went to high school in the early seventies,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t was all about women鈥檚 rights 鈥 hear us roar.鈥 Rather than the typical female careers of teaching or nursing, 鈥淚 wanted to do something different. I wanted to forge new ground.鈥

At 媚娘直播, the male criminal justice students 鈥 who turned the campus co-ed practically overnight 鈥 were 鈥渧ery protective of their two little sisters,鈥 says Green, who was recruited for the grueling program following 

an associate degree from Delaware Technical Community College. 

鈥淭hose were exciting days at 媚娘直播. I did an internship with the Reading Police Department and when the 鈥榖oys in blue鈥 returned me to the dorm after midnight, guess who had to unlock the front door for me? Yep, Sister Pacelli,鈥 laughs Green. 

Armed with her bachelor鈥檚 degree, Green joined credit bureau Equifax鈥檚 investigative unit, working with banks on background checks for loans and rising to office manager. 

While she had originally planned to go into law, Green had found her niche in financial services. She spent 25 years in a variety of management roles in credit card services, pioneering new card technologies and earning patents for unique manufacturing techniques, including 鈥渓enticular,鈥 with images that move across cards, cards that changed colors, and biodegradable cards. She also worked on early EMV chip advances and was certified as an expert on card standards by the American National Standard Institute. She even helped establish international standards that are still being used to manufacture today鈥檚 credit cards.

Green spent the majority of her career at former credit card giants MBNA and Bank of America and lived in Europe for two years for MBNA Europe. She joined Ally Bank almost 10 years ago and continued to grow her expertise in the U.S. and Canada deposit business. She now leads the company鈥檚 payment card industry (PCI) compliance oversight team and lives in Fair Hill, Md., with her husband, Earl.

Green also finds fulfillment in mentoring other rising women as chair of Ally Mid-Atlantic鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Leadership group. 鈥淲omen are gaining ground fast in the banking world,鈥 she says. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 refreshing to see Ally place such a great focus on diversity and inclusion activities.鈥  

It may seem as if she has strayed from her criminal justice roots. But Green disagrees. She says she is always 鈥減ulling the string that鈥檚 poking out.鈥 By that, she means she investigates, whether it鈥檚 a gap in employment when doing a background check or figuring out why credit cards in Florida and Arizona deteriorate faster (the sand wears at the magnetic stripe and chip).

鈥淚t鈥檚 about pulling the string and finding out why,鈥 she says, sounding the detective. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about the details and connecting the dots.鈥

鈥淎ll of that,鈥 she continues, 鈥済oes back to the whole criminal justice mentality and back to my days at 媚娘直播. I guess it was always in the cards for me to forge this path.鈥

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