M&A activity tops ETA SLF agenda

The Electronic Transactions Association will host its annual Strategic Leadership Forum (SLF) Sept. 25 to 27, 2019, in Boca Raton, Fla. The event is designed for senior-level payments industry executives and the ETA’s certified payments professionals. (CPPs). Enrolled scholars and credentialed CPPs can earn up to nine ETA CPP continuing education credits for attending the forum. Credits are earned at the rate of one per 50 minutes of session time, event organizers stated.

Mergers, acquisitions and sweeping market changes impacting the maturing, consolidating payments ecosystem will top this year’s SLF agenda, according to ETA representatives. Presentations and panel discussions will highlight emerging trends, technology innovation and disruptive new entrants in the space.

Additional conference highlights include a golf tournament sponsored by Verifone and a special breakfast award ceremony honoring the ETA’s 2019 ETA Hall of Fame inductees. The golf tournament will be held Sept. 25 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. The resort’s course, built in 1926, has hosted legendary PGA professionals Sam Snead and Tommy Armour.

Brand transformation

Keynote addresses will share up-to-the-minute developments in mergers dominating the payments industry news cycle and evolutionary changes in legacy payments industry brands. Following are some examples:

• Global/TSYS merger: Jeffery S. Sloan, CEO at Global Payments

• First Data/Fiserv merger: Bala Janakiraman, executive vice president and head of partner solutions, First Data; and Devin McGranahan, executive vice president and senior group president, Fiserv. 

• Mastercard security and privacy initiatives: Caroline Louveaux, chief privacy officer, Mastercard

Ecosystem enrichment

Ecommerce is enriching the payments industry landscape, shaping the customer experience and expanding market reach to merchants of all sizes, noted event organizers. A panel discussion with Ralph Dangelmaier, CEO at BlueSnap and William Dawsey, global director of finance and payments systems at Chetu, will offer perspectives on what is shaping the next wave of growth. 

“The growth for ecommerce is driven not just by technology and innovation, but sound, strategic business plans,” event organizers wrote. “Panelists will offer their perspectives on the further evolution of ecommerce solutions and consider aspects shaping the next wave of growth.”

Private equity is also changing the payments industry landscape, creating new companies and business models, ETA representatives noted. A panel discussion with Christoper Cruz, managing director at Searchlight Capital; James Mendelsohn of Libris Finance; and Zach Sadek, partner at Parthenon Capital, will explore growth factors and emerging trends.

Acquirers adapt, prevail

Despite sweeping changes in business models and legacy brands, the acquiring channel has proven to be resilient, resourceful and adaptable, continuing to deploy innovative products and services. Diana Mehochko, chief operating officer at NCR, and Colleen Taylor, head of Wells Fargo Merchant Services, will discuss emerging trends and new opportunities for growth in a panel addressing the critical role of the acquiring channel.

Mehochko, who previously served in leadership roles in healthcare and payments, joined JetPay, an NCR company, in January 2019. Taylor joined Wells Fargo as head of Wells Fargo Merchant Services in August 2019, after serving at Capital One, JPMorgan and Chase Manhattan Bank.

For more information and to register for the event, visit www.etaslf.com. 

The Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information.

Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact names or information may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.