Dee Hock

Dee Ward Hock (March 21, 1929 – July 16, 2022) was the founder and CEO of the Visa credit card association. Career Hock was born in North Ogden, Utah, in 1929 and attended Weber State University where he graduated in 1949. In 1968, Hock was a vice president of National Bank of Commerce, a local Seattle, Washington, bank that was franchised by Bank of America to issue its credit card brand, BankAmericard. Through a series of unlikely accidents, Hock helped invent and became chief executive of the credit system that became VISA International. Early on, he convinced Bank of America to give up ownership and control of their BankAmericard credit card licensing program, forming a new company, National BankAmerica, that was owned by its member banks. The name was changed to Visa in 1976. In May 1984, Hock resigned his management role with Visa, retiring to spend almost ten years in relative isolation working a parcel of land on the Pacific coast to the west of Silicon Valley. He was inducted into Junior Achievement's U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Money magazine hall of fame in 1992. In his 1991 Business Hall of Fame acceptance speech Hock explained: