American Express just nabbed BOKU CTO Erich Ringwald, who will serve as AmEx’s VP of Software Product Management for the U.S. Consumer Services business.

Ringwald will be quite the addition to AmEx’s team, as he has a background in payments services, and co-founded Accept.com, the person-to-person payment infrastructure that was acquired by Amazon in 1999, where he led several architectural and developmental projects.  And he also held a number of senior engineering management positions at Apple Computer, where he is perhaps best known for bringing multitasking operating systems to the Macintosh family of computers. And in 1990 he co-founded the legendary PC operating system company Be, Inc. with another Apple refugee.

“As the payments space becomes increasingly digital, building great software is rapidly becoming core to our products and our success,” said Josh Silverman, President of the U.S. Consumer Services business.

“Erich will be instrumental in helping American Express turn ideas into innovative products and do so more quickly, — adding to the competitive advantage we already have as we connect buyers and sellers with an increasingly enhanced consumer experience.”

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AmEx has been busy expanding their reach to millions of people in the US.  Here are just some of their latest partnerships, events, perks etc.

If you’re an AmEx user who’s just getting going with mobile, then maybe you haven’t heard of AmEx’s iOS and Android app which lets you pay your bill, see account activity, use Membership Rewards points, check your balance, view pending charges and recent transactions, manage multiple Card accounts, and more from your phone.  Oh, and these apps are free, so don’t worry about using your AmEx card just to get them.  They’re there for you to help make your life a little less stressful and a little more easy.

Earlier this year, AmEx made some significant partnerships in their ongoing effort to claim consumer adoration.  In January, they expanded the reach of Serve, their digital wallet, by partnering up with Lianlian Group, China’s leading mobile payments providers, and investing $125 million in LianLian Pay.
In early May, they announced their partnership with Barnes and Noble and offered the AmEx Campus Edition Prepaid Card, a reloadable prepaid Card available in more than 500 Barnes & Noble college bookstores across the United States.  Before May ended, they expanded their social reach with their partnership with Foursquare via a digital voucher scheme that allows customers get cashbacks when they spend money on retail shops such as Tesco, Pimark and PizzaExpress just by “checking in” on Foursquare.

More recently, they’ve partnered with The Fancy, the social photo-sharing site, and announced that anyone who syncs their AmEx card to Fancy would get $20 back on their next purchase of $100 or more.  The only catch is, the purchase must be made directly from Fancy and not third-party sites.  Aside from Fancy, they’ve also partnered with Harper’s BAZAAR and Lucky Magazine to create an interactive shopping experience for their digitally minded cardholders.

“…We wanted to create a shopping experience that takes consumers from inspiration and discovery to purchase and finally social sharing,” Deborah Curtis, vice president of entertainment marketing and sponsorships, American Express, said.

AmEx is offering a $20 discount for shoppers who would use their AmEx card at select small businesses in and around Staten Island from September 29 to October 7.  The $20 discount was made possible after Casale Jewelers won the “Big Break” contest sponsored by AmEx and Facebook last month.  AmEx users would just have to register here and after that they’ll get access to a map of AmEx merchants participating in the program. Multiple AmEx cardholders can register all their cards on the website and receive the statement credit once on each card.

AmEx was also named as the “Most Admired Payment System” by readers of The Beat, the BTN Group’s industry-leading business travel newsletter.  This is the fifth year in a row that they’ve coveted the award because of their “service, policies, and management style.”

Ooopppppsss!

While AmEx has partnered with several retailers, social media outlets and beyond, they’ve left one prominent player out in the cold.  Google Wallet announced in early August that they support all major credit and debit cards such as Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, and Discover but was soon debunked by AmEx, stating that they’ve never entered into any partnership with Google.