A Berea College alumnus is to thank every time someone taps to make a purchase with a credit or debit card. However, when William “Jody” Gray ’85 was a student at Berea College, he did not think he would be making a groundbreaking discovery.
Gray began his time at Berea as a chemistry major. “During my sophomore year, I didn’t do well in organic chemistry,” he said. “I passed, but I didn’t believe I was where I needed to be to take the next class.”
Faced with a decision to either change majors or take another year to graduate, Gray decided to change to a German major. “I had a great relationship with one of the professors in the German department, so I decided that would be the best bet for me,” Gray said. “It was something that I had never been exposed to in high school.”
The overlap between his German classes and the business classes he took at Berea led him to work at a bank. “I learned a lot of things as a German major,” Gray recalled. “I was able to open my mind to something other than the culture that I grew up in in rural North Carolina. I used the people skills that I learned with my open mind to work with others to rise through the ranks.”
Gray earned his degree in German, but his career path led elsewhere. He worked for several major U.S. banks, including a long stretch as vice president of online technology and operations in Charlotte, N.C. Later, American Express recruited him to lead research into emerging payment systems. There, in the late 1990s, William found himself at the forefront of a technological revolution.
The research mindset that Gray fell in love with as a first-year student at Berea resurfaced when he took a position in Salt Lake City and began to research innovations in the way credit cards were used. “It was interesting to see the career I had chosen and the major I decided not to pursue overlap.”
“Our team worked on the early prototypes of tap-to-pay,” Gray explained. “We helped write the international standards for chip technology. Additionally, we were awarded numerous patents for our work. Back then, people still swiped cards, and occasionally the merchant would pull out the old ‘zip-zap’ machine to make a carbon impression of your card. We just tried to think ahead.”
Although Gray never imagined his German degree would lead to credit card innovation, he notes that Berea prepared him to work in any kind of job. “Through my labor position, my German classes, studying abroad and a few business classes,” Gray explained, “I was able to use all the skills that allowed me to end up where I did.”
Though Gray downplays his own accomplishments, his legacy lives in almost every wallet. The chip technology he helped develop now enables billions of secure transactions every day. “I just fell through life,” he said. “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
