Business Chief USA March 2019
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PROGRESSIVE LEASING<br />
104<br />
“The culture<br />
is really one<br />
of the main<br />
reasons<br />
I joined the<br />
company”<br />
—<br />
Ben Hawksworth,<br />
<strong>Chief</strong> Technology Officer,<br />
Progressive Leasing<br />
US. Ben Hawksworth, <strong>Chief</strong> Technology<br />
Officer (CTO), says the firm ultimately<br />
owes its success to two things: its deep<br />
customer focus and its significant scale.<br />
“What gives us an edge is our scale<br />
– we’re the number one in the industry<br />
and we have been at it the longest,” he<br />
observes. “With US$2bn in revenue,<br />
thousands of retail partners and a very<br />
loyal customer base, this scale has<br />
proven to be a real competitive advantage<br />
for us and it’s one we hope to<br />
leverage as we move forward.” Indeed,<br />
today Progressive Leasing’s lease-toown<br />
option has helped millions of<br />
customers and their families, meaning<br />
that they can buy the goods they need<br />
(whether it’s a mattress or a mobile<br />
phone), even if they have imperfect<br />
credit or an inability to pay for their<br />
purchase upfront. Looking<br />
forward, Hawksworth is wellequipped<br />
to steer the firm as<br />
it grows in size. A seasoned<br />
business and technology leader,<br />
Hawksworth spent almost two<br />
decades at the two largest payment<br />
providers in the US. As such, he has<br />
first-hand experience of how to scale<br />
technology. “When you’re dealing with<br />
thousands of transactions a second,<br />
MARCH <strong>2019</strong>
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