Kelly Devlin, ETA, CPP
Kelly Devlin, ETA CPP, is a Senior Manager of Project Management at Discover Financial Services, where she is in her 10th year in financial services. She currently supports Discover as the organization integrates with Capital One, contributing to key strategic initiatives within the payments ecosystem. In her role within Payment Services and the international payment network, she leads large-scale programs focused on risk and regulatory compliance, ensuring that the global payment network operates within appropriate governance frameworks while supporting business growth and operational integrity.
Over the course of her career at Discover, Kelly has held a range of roles with increasing scope and influence, including positions in pricing strategy, operations strategy, and global project management. She began her career in pricing—a highly male-dominated field—after transitioning from a retail pricing background, and she also brings prior experience in the insurance industry, which provided a strong foundation and crossover into financial services. Her diverse background has shaped her ability to navigate complex, data-driven environments while driving consistency, efficiency, and strategic alignment across global teams.
Kelly is known for her ability to translate complex risk, regulatory, and compliance concepts into clear, actionable insights. She takes a storytelling approach to her work, distilling large, technical bodies of information into concise, practical guidance for stakeholders—particularly sales teams and client-facing partners—so they can confidently apply it in their day-to-day responsibilities. She is passionate about collaboration, communication, and making complex systems more understandable and usable. Kelly describes her current role as her dream job, as it brings together her strengths in strategy, communication, and cross-functional leadership, while allowing her to work with people she deeply values and enjoys collaborating with.
• Certificate in Residential Business Damage Estimating, Property and Casualty Insurance
• Certificate in General Insurance, Property and Casualty Insurance
• Etacpp@electran.org
• Western Illinois University - BA, Public Communication and Human Relations
• Q3 DRIVE Award
• Q1/Q2 2020 DRIVE Award
• President's Award
• Above and Beyond Award
• Award of Excellence
• Women's group at Discover (leadership team member)
• Feeding the homeless
• Supporting the local gay and lesbian community
• Scholarship committee (raised $50
• 000 in scholarships for students)
• Local community volunteering in Oak Park
• Illinois
What do you attribute your success to?
I think I have a really great set of values that I got from my parents, my mom and my dad. It helped a lot that I played sports, because I think there's just this consistent drive to just keep going. I really love my job and I love the people that I work with. It helps when you have this really nice mix of things in your life. You can look at that glass and say half empty, or look at the glass and say half full, and I think growing up, we talked a lot about that. One of the quotes my mom used to say to me a lot was about life being a journey, not always the destination. If you're looking at my life as enjoying those moments and being okay with where I'm at, always where I'm at, rather than always trying to look at where am I going next, where am I going next, and having that in mind - I mean, it's good to be thinking about what are my next steps and having a thought or having a vision or having some goals, but also enjoying the place that I currently am, it makes for a better journey. My mom was a really great influencer, really great kind of a North Star. I've had a lot of really great examples in my life, and I've always really been able to see all the positives around me, which I really just appreciate all of that. I appreciate the network that I have, I appreciate the friends and people that I have around me. There's just a lot of really good positive things that I'm trying to stay focused on, which is really helpful.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
First, women bring a human element that men don't always bring, and that's so important in financial services and insurance. My advice is to network, and when I say network, I don't say that loosely. Every person you know is part of your network, and it's really important to always stay connected to one another. Almost every single job that I've had has been because of my network. Staying connected to people that you know is really important. Use things like Influential Women, stay connected within LinkedIn, just have connections. Have coffee conversations, pick up the phone every quarter. You don't have to think about, oh my god, I have to have a mentor, oh my god, I've got to have this person that is an influence for me. Those things happen naturally, but if you have a network of people that you're staying connected to, those kinds of things will happen on a natural basis for you. So I would just say maintain a network of people that you are staying connected to and cultivate that network. My second piece of advice is don't be afraid to speak up. We sometimes, especially when you're in a male prevalent room, tend to squash our own inner voice. We can figure out a really good way to say what we want to say, but the more you sit on your own inner voice and be afraid to speak up in meetings, people aren't going to hear your good thoughts and your good ideas. It's really important to speak up. And apply for jobs even if you don't meet all the criteria. I had a conversation with somebody recently who was nervous about a particular role they were applying for because they didn't know if they met all of the criteria, and I said, I'm gonna just reframe something for you. I said, if you were a guy, would you apply for that job? And they were like, oh crap, yeah, I probably would. I'm like, just go for it. At the worst case scenario, you go and you have interview experience. That's the worst thing that can happen, or they turn you down, but you're already turning yourself down.