Caroline Tsai has earned a reputation as a transformational business executive. She has been recognized for leading and executing legal, compliance, risk, public policy, and regulatory strategies that have delivered results aligned with desired and impactful business outcomes. Ms. Tsai’s professional experiences include executive leadership roles with three global financial services companies where she directed cross-functional fintech and digital transformation initiatives. As a result, Ms. Tsai has honed deep expertise in corporate governance, ESG, crisis management, ethics and regulatory compliance, strategic planning, sustainability, capital management, liquidity and funding, acquisitions, and divestitures.
Today, Ms. Tsai is Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary for The Western Union Company, a S&P 500 (NYSE: WU) global digital cross-border money transfer and payments company, with more than 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. The Western Union organization spans Westernunion.com and Western Union app digital services which are offered in North America, Europe, and across the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Additionally, Western Union’s digital services pay out in cash, account, or mobile wallet adding another level of business management complexity. Since joining the company in 2017, Ms. Tsai has been an integral part of the executive leadership team. She has been involved in strategic planning, identifying and developing new revenue opportunities, overseeing risk management, crisis management and business continuity planning, public policy, ethics, and regulatory affairs, and the legal, compliance, and enterprise risk organization. Ms. Tsai is a member of the Executive Team, the Operating Committee, and serves as Chair of the Executive Risk Committee. She also served as the World Economic Forum Delegate for several years to advance the company’s position in Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) strategy.
Ms. Tsai has built a reputation for being a proactive and results-driven leader with a focus on business innovation. She has led a team of over 2,000 employees in 50 countries and has inspired innovation across the legal, compliance, and enterprise risk organization to enable Western Union’s new operating model and business strategy, including digital growth, and customer experience initiatives. Prior to joining Western Union, Ms. Tsai was Deputy General Counsel and Chief Regulatory Officer at BMO Financial Group. While at BMO Financial Group, Ms. Tsai advised on advocacy and policy initiatives, as well as all bank regulatory and supervisory issues for BMO’s global operations in the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Europe, and included Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, and Capital Markets. She also served as Chief Legal Officer, U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking at BMO Harris Bank, leading the negotiation and closing of the GE Transportation Finance business.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Tsai served as Senior Vice President & Associate General Counsel at Bank of America Corporation where she was responsible for a broad range of issues, including litigation, bank regulatory matters, the CFO Group, and Global Banking and Markets.
Following graduation from The American University, Ms. Tsai began her legal career at the global law firm of Jones Day and specialized in complex structured transactions for investment banking clients.
Ms. Tsai is a frequent speaker on regulatory compliance, leadership, and DEI topics. She is an experienced non-profit board member, serving on the Chicago Sinfonietta and Dress for Success (Charlotte, NC) boards. Tsai has been recognized as a champion of diversity and inclusion evidenced by her position as Co-Chair of the Women’s Leadership Network of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Ms. Tsai is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from The American University, Washington College of Law. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.