Please log in to your PayTech Women member account for free registration. Non-members may purchase the webinar for $50, or join PayTech Women to access all our webinars.

Join us for this PayTech Women Lead event during Career Month!

Finding Your Courage and Being Intentional with Mentorship

This is a collaboration with Discover’s internal ERG, PWIR (pronounced Power), during Women’s History month.

Hear from two Executive Vice Presidents and a CEO share how courage and intentionality have helped bring their mentor relationships to another level. Join us for a chance to sit down with executives for a candid conversation about how mentorship has helped throughout their careers both as a mentor and a mentee.

After the session, we will have breakout sessions online for our virtual participants to network. There will be a cocktail hour for the Discover Employees joining in person.

Note: If you are a Discover employee, please contact your corporate champion for a special promo code before registering for this event.

Outcomes:

• Harness your courage when seeking out mentors
• Be intentional with who you choose as a mentor and how to make the most of that relationship
• Understand the importance of being a strong mentor for your mentees
  

Moderator:

Claudia Schaefer
Vice President of Strategic Client Management
Discover Financial Services

With over 23 years as an experienced leader and professional, Claudia has held various roles in marketing, business development, and client management within the payments, consumer packaged goods and oil industries.

Claudia is currently the Vice President of Strategic Client Management at Discover Financial Services. In this role, she leads a team of sales leaders and relationship management executives focused on the engagement and development of payment partnerships designed to enhance the cardmember experience and support Discover’s overall growth initiatives.

In her previous roles at Discover, Claudia helped to develop relationships with multinational partners, such as Amazon, Walmart and Apple, and launched several key initiatives enhancing the company’s participation in mobile payments and supporting global acceptance expansion. In addition to her time with Discover, Claudia has held various strategy, marketing and business development roles within BP and Castrol Motor Oil.

Claudia was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, by her loving parents, alongside her sister and two brothers. Claudia holds a BS in Political Science and an MBA from Northern Illinois University.

In her spare time Claudia enjoys traveling internationally, playing with ceramics, and dabbling in photography, as well as spending quality time with her husband Erik and dogs, Roscoe and Bernie.

Speakers:

Dr. Gail Burgos
CEO and Founder
Burgos Consulting Group, Inc
linkedin.com/in/gail-burgos-69065a152/

Gail Burgos was the Senior Diversity Officer of TSYS, a Global Payment company and Senior Vice President, Diversity Equity Inclusion, at 1st Sentry. Upon retiring after 25 years with TSYS, Gail started her own consulting company and is currently the CEO of Burgos Consulting Group, Inc.

Prior to retirement , Gail led Global Payments’ efforts to continue to build its inclusion and diversity efforts across the company. She previously served as the senior advisor to the chief information officer, supporting all business lines and aspects of the information technology business at legacy TSYS.

Gail received her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Columbus State University, a master’s degree in Human Resource Management from Troy State University and a doctorate in Organizational Theory and Leadership from the University of Phoenix. Gail currently serves as the Executive Director of Girls Inc of Columbus, responsible for after school and summer programming for girls ages 6-18. She also serves on the board for the Greater Columbus chapter of "Partners in Education" and Hope Harbor, a battered women’s shelter in Columbus Georgia, as well as on the board of PayTech Women, the premier professional organization for women in payments. She is also an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Dan Capozzi
Executive Vice President and President of U.S. Cards
Discover Financial Services
linkedin.com/in/dan-capozzi-39246514/

Dan Capozzi oversees new account acquisition, sales and loan growth for the Card business, as well as all of Card operations, in addition to controlling strategy and operations for collections, recovery, fraud and brand marketing functions across the Enterprise. He has been a member of the Executive Committee since 2017.

Since arriving at Discover in 2007, Mr. Capozzi has held leadership positions in credit risk management, deposits, and corporate finance. He served as Executive Vice President and President of Credit Operations & Decision Management from 2018 to 2020 and was responsible for Discover’s credit risk management, fraud mitigation, collections and recovery operations, among other disciplines. Prior to joining Discover, he worked at Citi, Bank of America and IBM Credit Corporation in a variety of leadership and finance roles.

Mr. Capozzi has a B.S. in business administration from Northeastern University. He is a board member for Salute, Inc., which is dedicated to serving the financial, physical and emotional needs of injured military members, veterans and their families.

Hope D. Mehlman
Executive Vice President
Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel
Discover Financial Services

Hope has more than 20 years of leadership experience in both public and private companies. She is an industry leader in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Sustainability and Corporate Governance. She also has extensive experience in Risk Management, Securities Law, Cybersecurity, Compliance, Regulatory Strategy, Payments, Litigation, Anti-money Laundering, M&A, Intellectual Property, Employment Law and Employee Benefits. In 2021, Hope was named one of the Most Influential Women in Business in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times. Recently, Hope was highlighted by Corporate Counsel as an extraordinary leader for her “Innovative Leadership” as part of their 2022 Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards.

Hope recently joined Discover Financial Services in 2023 as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel and is a member of the Executive Committee. Discover provides banking and credit products that help people achieve their financial goals. Discover has a vision to be the leading digital bank and payments partner and a mission to help people achieve a brighter financial future.

Prior to joining Discover Financial Services, Hope was Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Bank of the West, which is a full-service provider of consumer and commercial banking, wealth management and mortgage products and services. She also was Corporate Secretary of BNP Paribas USA, Inc.

Hope serves as a member of the Independent Oversight Committee for the Best Practices Principles Group for Shareholder Voting Research. She was the recipient of Corporate Secretary’s 2019 Governance Professional of the Year (Large Cap) Award. Additionally, Global Proxy Watch recognized Hope in its 2019 list of ten people around the world who have had a breakthrough impact in corporate governance. Hope previously served as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Council of Institutional Investors, a member of Broadridge’s Independent Steering Committee, and President of the Southeastern Chapter of the Society for Corporate Governance.

Hope holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University, a Juris Doctor degree from Seton Hall University Law School, and a Master of Laws degree in Taxation from New York University School of Law.