HOUSTON — Cardtronics chief executive Steven Rathgaber will retire from his CEO and director positions as of Dec. 31, 2017. He will be succeeded by Edward West, the company’s current chief financial officer and chief operations officer.

Rathgaber will work through a transition with West through the end of 2017. A search is underway for a new chief financial officer to replace West, who will remain in his current position until a new CFO is appointed. Cardtronics said in a press release that West will ensure an orderly transition of responsibilities.

“During Steve’s nearly eight years as CEO, he led a period of tremendous growth in terms of scale, geographic presence, operating infrastructure and organization,” said Dennis Lynch, chairman of Houston-based Cardtronics’ board of directors. “He has positioned the company as the premier ATM platform provider in multiple markets around the world, preparing Cardtronics for its next stage of growth as the financial services industry continues to evolve.

“The building blocks are in place to drive the next leg of growth for Cardtronics, and Ed is the right CEO to lead the transformation of our industry and the company. This is the next step in an orderly succession planning process that has been underway with the board for the last two years.”

Rathgaber also endorsed West. “During this time of rapid change and complexities within the banking, financial services and payments industries, there is no better person to lead Cardtronics than Ed West,” he said. “Ed is a dynamic leader whose vision is exactly what Cardtronics, its clients and shareholders need as the company enters its next period of solution innovation and growth.”

West is currently responsible for leading Cardtronics’ financial functions, planning, corporate development and consolidated global operations. He joined Cardtronics in January 2016, following a 25-year career in senior executive roles, including CEO and CFO, at a number of large public and private corporations, from an early-stage technology firm to a Fortune 100 company, with experience in the financial services, education, technology and business services and aviation industries. West received the CFO of the Year award from Institutional Investor Magazine in 2012 and was previously named one of the Top 40 Under 40 by CFO Magazine.

“Cardtronics has a unique combination of financial institution and retail relationships, global distribution scale and innovation focus, and I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the company,” said West. “The evolution of banking, payments and financial services creates vast opportunities for Cardtronics, and our future is bright. I look forward to working with the team to capitalize on these opportunities.”

Rathgaber joined Cardtronics in January 2010, following a more than 30-year career in senior leadership positions with a number of organizations in the banking, financial services and payments industries. During his tenure, Rathgaber transformed Cardtronics from a U.S. ATM deployer, with approximately 30,000 ATMs owned and operated, into a worldwide ATM specialist, providing services for nearly 237,000 ATMs in 11 countries on four continents. Over this period, annual transactions on the Cardtronics fleet have grown from 400 million annually to more than 2 billion, while annual revenues have grown from less than $500 million to nearly $1.5 billion. Rathgaber has guided Cardtronics through 19 acquisitions during this period.