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When we recorded this short episode with Susan Ehrlich, she was head of global credit for Amazon. She oversaw the Amazon Rewards Visa and Amazon Store Card in the U.S., as well as Amazon credit programs in Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Most of our conversation focused on this very unique perspective.

Susan has since left Amazon to take on a diverse set of roles as a financial services director and investor. One is as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Center for Financial Services Innovation (where I too serve on the board). She is also a director\xa0of BECU,\xa0the fourth largest credit union in the United States and largest in Washington State ($12B in assets and over 850,000 members).

Susan has a long and remarkable track record as an executive scaling growth and leading turnarounds across a range of businesses in payments, retail, banking, and financial technology. She was President of Financial Services for both H&R Block Inc. and for Sears Holdings Corporation.\xa0 At H&R Block, she built the Emerald Card program into Consumer Reports' #2-rated prepaid card in the industry in 2013.\xa0 At Sears, she re-launched Kmart layaway\u2014turning it into a $1 billion-plus business--and expanded the company\u2019s credit partnerships, generating $9B+ in annual\xa0retail sales on the Sears Card. Her earlier career included developing and delivering payment and credit solutions for JP Morgan Chase, WaMu Card Services (Providian Financial), and Citibank.\xa0

American Banker\xa0magazine recognized Susan as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance three years in a row (2009-2011), and the Federal Reserve appointed her to its Consumer Advisory Council in Washington, DC. She holds a B.A. with honors in organizational behavior and management from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Our photo of Susan duly reflects all this gravitas, but she\u2019s also an avid golfer, traveler, and wine enthusiast --\xa0she founded the Bruce Cass Wine Lab and Ehrlich Vineyards LLC in the San Francisco Bay area. When we sat down to talk it was Superbowl\xa0Sunday\xa0(long story on why this is posted so late), and she joined me fully bedecked in Seattle Seahawks attire, hat included. We had to cut our conversation short for the kickoff.

The episode is only about fifteen minutes, and I think you\u2019ll find it fascinating. One tidbit that intrigues me:\xa0 Amazon\u2019s borrowers rate its credit services, publically, on the Amazon site \u2013 just like for a pair of shoes or a flat screen TV. Amazon actively learns from that feedback. Such high transparency must be a big motivator to fix issues that cause complaints.

Enjoy my quick discussion with Susan Ehrlich!\xa0\xa0You can find her at\xa0sehrlich23@gmail.com.

And\xa0please also watch for Episode 5 next week, when our Barefoot Innovation guest will be Renaud LaPlanche, Founder and CEO of Lending Club.

Please subscribe to my podcast by opening iTunes or your favorite podcast player and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot". You can also subscribe to my mailing list on my front page at www.jsbarefoot.com