Pasadena-based Green Dot Corp. has named Dan Henry chief executive and president, the company announced. He also joins Green Dot’s board, effective March 25.

Henry succeeds William Jacobs, who served as interim chief executive following the December departure of Green Dot founder Steven Streit.

“Dan is a highly regarded leader and accomplished executive with operational expertise and over two decades of deep experience in the (financial technology) space,” Jacobs said in a statement. “He is also an innovator who has spearheaded, built and operated two publicly traded payments companies.”

Henry co-founded electronic payments company Euronet Worldwide Inc. in 1994 and served as its president and chief operations officer until 2006. He was chief executive of prepaid debit card company Netspend Corp. from 2008-2014. He serves on the boards of publicly traded companies such as payments processor Paysign Inc. and security services business Brink’s Co.

Green Dot investors welcomed the news.

“We are highly supportive of this decision,” activist investor Starboard Value said in a statement. “We believe that Mr. Henry has the requisite skill set and industry experience to lead the transformation at Green Dot and focus on reinvigorating growth and improving profitability.”

Starboard owns a roughly 9% stake in Green Dot. The hedge fund is known for pushing operational or corporate-governance changes at companies it buys into. In a statement, Green Dot’s Jacobs thanked the investor for its “support and guidance” during the search process.

Green Dot’s shares jumped roughly 20% the morning of the announcement.

Analysts were also upbeat on Henry’s appointment. “We believe Mr. Henry is a logical choice to lead GDOT given his prior leadership role at Netspend along with other public companies,” Steven Kwok, an analyst with investment bank Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc., wrote in a report published shortly after the announcement.