San Francisco-based Reinemann is hopeful his role will significantly modernise the bank.
Jay Reinemann joined Spain-based bank BBVA in April last year to help set up its corporate venturing unit as executive director of strategy and corporate development.
San Francisco-based Reinemann is hopeful his role will significantly modernise the bank. Reinemann said: ““We bring unique market intelligence to our executives, helping them understand relevant trends forming outside the bank. I have seen how the organisational structure is already changing and how it is shaping some of the products.”
He had previously worked in corporate venturing at credit card provider Visa from 2000 to 2008. Reinemann joined Visa in 1996 from Andersen Consulting. He also worked at Old Kent Financial Corporation.
He studied at University of San Francisco and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Lessons from the top: Reinemann said: “People leave organisations when they become too large to be effective. The attraction of corporate venturing is you get to work with great entrepreneurs, yet you have a great brand. You do not always find nirvana.
“It can be awfully frustrating for new guys to understand the pace of an organisation, when they move at the same speed as the outside world. Yet if you have the patience to nurture the key assets of the organisation it pays dividends. To develop the function as it should be, it is all about trade-offs.
“It is not that you should work at the same speed as the external world, but you should be moderating that speed so your organisation can keep the same pace. It is like you have one fast runner and one slow runner and you have to be the pace-keeper in the middle.”
