Henry "Ric" C. Duquès
B.B.A. ’65, M.B.A. ’69
Business Executive
Monumental Achievement: Thanks to his vision and leadership, Ric Duquès enjoyed a successful career in the data processing services industry. Under Duquès’s guidance, some of the most well-known names in the financial services industry—including Automatic Data Processing Inc. and First Data Corporation—grew and prospered. Managing tens of thousands of employees, overseeing billions of dollars in transactions, and taking responsibility for offices in scores of countries were all in a day’s work for Duquès. In 2007, he oversaw the takeover of FDC by global investment company KKR in a $29 billion deal which remains one of the largest leveraged buyouts of a tech company. During his career and after his retirement, Duquès served on numerous public and private company boards including ADP, First Data Corporation, Unisys, Mastercard, SunGard Data Systems, Checkfree, Paycom, TradeKing, and Legent Clearing.
I attended GW for my bachelor’s degree on an athletic scholarship. While earning my master’s degree at GW, I was a graduate teaching assistant. These scholarships enabled me to attend GW at a time that I never could have afforded the cost of this level of education. I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude and desire to pay back to GW for what they did for me at a vulnerable and uncertain point in my life.
Biography
Ric Duquès, currently an emeritus trustee at the George Washington University, is a business executive with over 30 years of experience in the data processing services industry. During his 15-year career at Automatic Data Processing Inc (ADP), Duquès became group president and a member of the ADP board of directors. He led the financial services division that processed transactions for stock brokerage firms. At one point, ADP provided transactions, processing and record keeping for approximately 25% of all New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading. After ADP, Duquès joined American Express/First Data Corporation. At Amex, he grew the division that processed Visa and Mastercard for the banks that issued these cards and the merchants that accepted these cards at the point of sale.
In 1992, Amex spun off First Data Corporation (FDC) into an independent, publicly traded company listed on the NYSE, with Duquès as chairman and CEO of the board. Over the next 10 years, FDC grew to be the largest processor of Visa and Mastercard transactions at the point of sale, processing 40% of all such transactions in the United States. FDC has over 30,000 employees, with more than $10 billion in revenue and locations in over 100 countries. One of the S&P’s 500 largest companies, FDC ranked in the top 250 most valuable S&P companies. In 2007, Duquès oversaw the takeover of FDC by global investment company KKR in a $29 billion deal which remains one of the largest leveraged buyouts of a tech company. During his career and after his retirement, Duquès served on numerous public and private company boards including ADP, First Data Corporation, Unisys, Mastercard, SunGard Data Systems, Checkfree, Paycom, TradeKing, and Legent Clearing.