Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF), is pleased to announce that our Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Gregory Simpson, has been selected as a 2016 Premier 100 Technology Leaders honoree by IDG's Computerworld. This year’s Premier 100 spotlights 100 leaders for their exceptional technology leadership and innovative approaches to business challenges.

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Synchrony Financial Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Gregory Simpson (Photo: Business Wire)

Synchrony Financial Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Gregory Simpson (Photo: Business Wire)

"The Premier 100 awards program showcases the strategic thinking of an elite group of IT leaders who are using technology to digitally transform their organizations," said Scot Finnie, editor in chief of Computerworld.

"These dedicated executives are creating nimble IT organizations to respond quickly to today's business needs, and to the influx of technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, social media, mobile and wearables. They are actively recruiting talented IT pros for their departments and grooming them to take on new roles. They're working hand in hand with their business colleagues to give their organizations a competitive edge, while also constantly adjusting their risk management strategies to align with the evolving security landscape. We're pleased to recognize their leadership and honor their achievements."

“This is a well-deserved honor,“ said Margaret Keane, president and CEO of Synchrony Financial. “Greg is a strategic leader who leverages technology and innovation to deliver on our specific business goals.”

Synchrony Financial executive vice president and CIO, Carol Juel, added, “Greg’s expertise and insight have been critical to successfully establishing our state-of-the-art data centers and technology infrastructure for our newly public company. His focus on developing leadership skills and on mentoring our IT team has been invaluable.”

As Synchrony Financial’s CTO, Greg works closely with the CIO to develop the company’s technology strategy and he sits on Synchrony Financial’s IT Steering Committee. Overseeing a large global team, Greg is responsible for key IT functions including enterprise architecture, business intelligence, business continuity management, data centers, voice and data networks, service delivery and operations as well as end user services and collaboration.

Based in our Kettering, Ohio offices, Greg serves on the IT Engagement Committee and is a senior leader supporting Synchrony Financial’s Business Leadership Program and a mentor to many within the IT team.

Prior to joining Synchrony Financial, Greg served as GE's CTO for eight years, where he created the shared services infrastructure team that supports all GE businesses. In his role as GE’s CTO, Greg advised GE’s CIO and business CIO's on new technology directions, and served on the company’s IT Council. The “service business” Greg created leveraged GE’s scale to increase control, decrease cost and facilitate better collaboration across GE through common solutions. In addition, Greg’s team kicked off the initial commercial cloud supporting the launch of GE’s software Center of Excellence. Greg’s extensive IT career spans more than 30 years with GE. Prior to becoming the CTO of GE in November of 2005, Greg served in a number of business CTO roles, including GE's Healthcare, Aviation and Lighting businesses. Greg was also the CIO for a major GE Healthcare acquisition.

Greg is a regular spokesperson on business technology trends, both in national media and at industry events. Greg received his BSME from Purdue University and his MSME from Case Western Reserve University.

Greg and other winners will be honored at The Premier 100 awards during the AGENDA16 Conference held March 21 - 23, 2016, in Amelia Island, Florida. The conference, to be attended by hundreds of influential business and senior IT executives, will focus on building the digital business. (More information available at www.agendaconference.com.)

About the Premier 100 Technology Leadership Awards

The Premier 100 program was created in 2000 to spotlight individuals who have had a positive impact on their organizations through technology. These are individuals who manage internal IT organizations, mentor and motivate their IT teams and business colleagues, create a positive work environment, envision innovative solutions to business challenges and effectively manage and execute IT strategies. Each year, nominees are invited to complete a questionnaire that addresses a number of topics, including their background and experience and their attitude toward risk and innovation. Using Computerworld’s IT Leader Index, which is a measurement of how closely an individual matches our definition of the IT Leader, we analyze the data. Each year, 100 honorees are selected to receive this life-time recognition award. Information on previous honorees can be viewed at: www.computerworld.com/s/article/9065479/Premier_100_IT_Leaders

About Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) is one of the nation’s premier consumer financial services companies. Our roots in consumer finance trace back to 1932, and today we are the largest provider of private label credit cards in the United States based on purchase volume and receivables.* We provide a range of credit products through programs we have established with a diverse group of national and regional retailers, local merchants, manufacturers, buying groups, industry associations and healthcare service providers to help generate growth for our partners and offer financial flexibility to our customers. Through our partners’ over 300,000 locations across the United States and Canada, and their websites and mobile applications, we offer our customers a variety of credit products to finance the purchase of goods and services. Synchrony Financial (formerly GE Capital Retail Finance) offers private label and co-branded Dual Card™ credit cards, promotional financing and installment lending, loyalty programs and FDIC-insured savings products through Synchrony Bank. More information can be found at www.synchronyfinancial.com, facebook.com/SynchronyFinancial and twitter.com/SYFNews.

*Source: The Nilson Report (April, 2015, Issue # 1062) - based on 2014 data.

About Computerworld

Computerworld is the leading IT media brand helping senior IT, business decision-makers and key influencers navigate change with effective business strategy. As the voice of business technology, Computerworld enables the IT value chain with unique editorial coverage from setting strategies to deriving value. Computerworld’s award-winning website (www.computerworld.com), focused conference series, strategic marketing solutions and research forms the hub of the world’s largest (40+ edition) global IT media network and provides opportunities for IT vendors to engage this audience. Computerworld leads the industry with an online audience of over 7.5 million monthly page views (Omniture, November 2014 – January 2015 average) and was recognized in BtoB’s 2013 Media Power 50 list; recognition Computerworld has received for more than 5 consecutive years. Computerworld is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading media, events and research company. Company information is available at www.idgenterprise.com.