Founder Profile
Ray Graham
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Ray Graham?
Ray Graham is a founder of Discover Financial Services, which was founded in 1985 with Edward R. Telling.
- Company founded
- Discover Financial Services
- Founded
- 1985
- Co-founders
- Edward R. Telling
Background
Sears executive and payments pioneer.
Founding Story
Ray Graham was the primary operational architect of the Discover Card launch in 1985. He heavily utilized the massive Sears consumer database to pre-approve 25 million customers for the card, and fiercely negotiated with independent merchants to accept the network by offering significantly lower interchange fees than Visa. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Sources
This profile does not yet cite a source specific to Ray Graham. The sources below document the company company rather than the person, so check them against the claims above.
- Discover Q4 and full-year 2024 results (Business Wire) (Discover Financial Services)
- Discover Financial Services SEC filings (EDGAR) (Discover Financial Services)