PayPal has initiated a strategic leadership reset as it prepares for its next phase of growth, appointing Enrique Lores as President and Chief Executive Officer effective 1 March 2026. Having served on the company’s Board of Directors for nearly five years, including a tenure as Chair since July 2024, Lores brings both continuity and deep organizational insight to the role. During the transition period, Jamie Miller, Chief Financial and Operating Officer, acted as interim CEO and has now resumed her core responsibilities.
As part of this restructuring, the Board has also strengthened its governance framework by appointing David W. Dorman as Independent Chair. This separation of the Chair and CEO roles reflects a deliberate move toward enhanced accountability, improved oversight, and more effective strategic execution in an increasingly competitive global payments landscape.
Lores has emphasized that while PayPal possesses significant strengths—including its global scale, trusted brand, robust two-sided platform of consumers and merchants, and a highly capable workforce—the company has not fully capitalized on these advantages. His leadership agenda is therefore centered on disciplined execution and customer-focused innovation.
He has articulated a clear strategic direction: to translate PayPal’s inherent strengths into sharper focus and deliver more consistent, high-quality results. This involves refining operational priorities, improving performance discipline, and ensuring that innovation efforts are closely aligned with customer needs and market demands.
The Board’s decision to appoint Lores underscores its commitment to accelerating performance by addressing gaps in execution rather than redefining the company’s core strategy. With a more aligned leadership structure and a renewed emphasis on operational excellence, PayPal is positioning itself to achieve sustainable growth and reinforce its competitive standing in the digital payments industry.
A playbook from HP
Before taking the helm at PayPal, Enrique spent more than six years as CEO of HP, where he led a strategic transition that broadened the company beyond its PC and printing roots into subscriptions and AI‑enabled technologies.
He was also the architect of the separation of HP and HPE to improve agility, and under his tenure HP delivered six consecutive quarters of revenue growth.
That period emphasised operating discipline, simplification of cost structures and a focus on long‑term innovation.
Enrique says: “I think PayPal has a great future. We need to improve execution and make more progress in the initiatives that we have in place. And this is going to be my goal going into the next year.”
He has acknowledged the pace of change in financial services and the need for clear priorities, disciplined delivery and innovation that improves customer experience.
“The payments industry is changing faster than ever, driven by new technologies, evolving regulations, an increasingly competitive landscape and the rapid acceleration of AI that is reshaping commerce daily,” Enrique says.
“Over the coming weeks, I look forward to spending time with customers, partners and teams globally. Listening and learning will be essential as we move forward.”
An orderly handover
Following Alex Chriss’ departure as President and CEO, PayPal has highlighted his role in monetisation of Venmo and modernising the PayPal platform. Alex Chriss, former President and CEO of PayPal, says: “Now is the right time to make a transition to a seasoned leader who can take the company through its next phase of transformation.
“I have enjoyed a great working relationship with Enrique, and I am certain he is the right person to meet that challenge.”
Although PayPal’s shares fell 20% in February, the company points to Enrique’s record at HP as evidence of his ability to steer complex organisations through change while sharpening financial and operational discipline.