Meet Lizz Wheeler - Vice President Business Development
NGC Specialties: Global gift card program fulfillment and sales; Open Loop card product options and fulfillment services offering, e.g. Digital VISA and MasterCard, physical VISA Reward cards, American Express Reward and Gift Cards, etc.
Vice President of Business Development Lizz Wheeler, who joined National Gift Card in 2007, spends a good deal of her time checking in with clients to make sure their needs are being met and, at the same time, actively trying to acquire new business.
She's also on the lookout for ways she can help even more, listening and strategizing about new and different ways that will make what National Gift Card offers more beneficial to whatever business they're pursuing. "It's exciting to see NGC’s expansion into Canada and Europe and the opportunity to build on our strengths and share with clients how we can create value in their business by working together," says Lizz.
What appeals to her most about working as part of the National Gift Card team is knowing that there's always something different going on. "I also help the sales teams in the U.S. and the United Kingdom on ways to interact with Visa and MasterCard—the 'open loop' part of the business," she adds.
Eric Thiegs, President of National Gift Card, adds, “Having Lizz as our in-house gift card expert on both our global gift card fulfillment and open loop reward offering has been invaluable to our ability to successfully support the unique requests of our clients and retail partners.”
Lizz is energized by the advance of technology that has become an important part of the National Gift Card value proposition for the clients with whom she works. "NGC is at a great place, being a leader within our industry, because we can compete on programs that weren't necessarily on our radar even five years ago," she says. "We're growing rapidly, but we're also able to focus more on the business that we want to win."
She also values, and sees from the perspective of the NGC customers with whom she interacts, the flexibility that the company brings to the table. "That flexibility is something that we've found is very much appreciated. It's a small industry so it's important for NGC to remain at the forefront of customer service, pricing selection and solutions that we're able to provide."
Lizz recalls one situation with a client that she says epitomizes the "adding value wherever possible" scenario she always tries to build upon.
"One of my newer clients, a globally-run company, had no formalized process for ordering gift cards. There was no traceability and each office could order and pay for cards however they chose. They wanted to streamline the process and I was able to work with them on integrations that allowed them to manage their business, see how much spending they do and continue to operate as they always have."
When she's not focused on bringing a smile to those she works for and with, Lizz loves spending time with friends, working out and cooking. She also loves to travel and going to as many Cubs games as possible.
