Kudos to ETA's Forty Under 40

As the Electronic Transaction Association embarks on a new chapter under new leadership, the global trade association is honoring 40 payments executives under 40 years of age whose leadership and contributions are reshaping technology and commerce. The 2019 award recipients, chosen from more than 100 nominations in multiple industry sectors, were selected for their professional character and impact on the payments industry, ETA representatives stated.

The ETA Forty Under 40 provides a platform for innovative leaders to engage with ETA members and payments industry stakeholders. This year's honorees will be recognized in the ETA's Transaction Trends magazine and at Transact, the association's annual convention and expo to be held in Las Vegas April 30 to May 2, 2019.

"ETA launched the Forty Under 40 last year to highlight the next generation of payments professionals who are moving the industry forward," said ETA interim CEO Amy Zirkle, noting that the program was instrumental in introducing industry leaders from across the payments ecosystem. "Discover Global Network joined us this year as the sponsor of the program and will help us honor the 2019 class on the evening of May 1st during a special Young Payments Professionals and Forty Under 40 networking reception at TRANSACT," she added.

Kevin Jones, president and chairman of the board at ETA and CEO of Celero Commerce, called 2019's honorees "the leaders who will power the next-generation of payments technology and merchant services."

The next evolution of payments

2018 award recipient Lane Conner, founder and CEO at Fuzse, commended the ETA Awards and Recognition Committee for showcasing leaders who "are game changers, disruptors, and outside-the-box thinkers. This is a group that we are going to look to take us into the next evolution of payments."

Cory Capoccia, president at Womply, complimented the ETA for keeping in step with the ever-changing payments sphere. "Having spent a decade and a half in the payments industry, I've always had a special admiration for ETA as an organization and am humbled to be a Forty Under 40 honoree," he stated. "The payments industry is facing unprecedented change, which brings new challenges and opportunities every day. I'm excited to continue working with our industry partners to make payment data more valuable for small merchants trying to find a level playing field in our increasingly digital world."

2019 honor roll

This year's Forty Under Forty honorees include:

• Christopher Ackroyd, Director, Product Management, Early Warning
• Sarah Adams, Vice President, Global Product, First American Payment Systems
• Dimitri Akhrin, President, IRIS CRM
• Brian Billingsley, Chief Revenue Officer, Modo
• Jeff Brodsly, President/Chief Executive Officer, Chosen Payments
• Kim Bynan, Senior Vice President, EBT & Valutec, FIS Global
• Christina Camacho, Chief Executive Officer, Ivy Lender
• Cory Capoccia, President, Womply
• Ozge Celik, Business Development Senior Vice President, BKM
• Christian Chmiel, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Web Shield
• Peter Christodoulo, Partner, Francisco Partners
• Sarah Conner, Project Manager – Director of HR, Sphere
• Chelsie Cooper, Southeast Regional President, PaymentCloud
• Nicholas Cucci, Co-Founder/Chief Operating Officer, Fluid Pay, LLC.
• Erika Dietrich, Vice President, Risk Services, ACI Worldwide
• Genevieve Dozier, Client Business Executive, First Data
• Peter Fitzpatrick, Vice President, Payment Networks, Agreement Express
• John Florinis, Vice President, Payments, TouchBistro
• Stephanie Foster, Product Manager, Fiserv
• Jaredd Ryan Galloway, Director of Operations & Complex Services, Paysafe Group
• Phil Goldfeder, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, Cross River
• Scott Harkey, Global Payments Lead, Levvel
• Jason Jacobs, Manager, Release and Development Operations, Global Payments
• Megan Karbula, Product Marketing Manager, Paya
• Matthew Katz, CEO, Chairman, Founder, Verifi, Inc.
• Natalia Leonardis, Vice President of Business Development, CardFlight
• Reed Luhtanen, Senior Director Global Treasury, Walmart
• Craig Nussbaum, Vice President, USDM Emerging Verticals, Mastercard
• Michelle Olenoski, Senior Director of Product, Capital One Labs, Capital One
• Jackie Ostler Burke, Senior Director, Issuer Relations, Ethoca Limited
• Melissa Pauleat, Vice President Group Marketing Services, Paysafe
• Marc Punzirudu, Vice President, Security Consulting Services, ControlScan
• Zach Sadek, Partner, Parthenon Capital
• Garima Shah, Chief Business Development Office DC, Priority Payment Systems
• Benny Silberstein, Co-Founder, Payrix LLC
• Amanda Slater, Senior Director, Global Government Relations, Visa
• Dan Swislow, Public Policy Lead, Square
• Cindy Turner, Head of Product, Core Acquiring, JPMorgan Chase
• Jeff Valentino, Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships, JetPay an NCR Co.
• Bufan Yang, Chief Operations Officer, Universal Processing LLC

"What a prominent group of individuals," said Peter Fitzpatrick, vice president, payment networks, at Agreement Express. "It means a lot to me to be included, and it means a lot to Agreement Express. We're working hard to provide the best toolset in the industry for automating the application process. For me, this honor is evidence that our customers feel we're on the right track."

Editorial Note:

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

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