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Dang and Miller possess complementary skill
sets, she said. He's the ideas man and spear- Karawadra, a 20-year industry veteran,
heads the sales process, while she spends much said his decision to bring his daughter
of her time behind the scenes working on the
nuts and bolts, she added. into the business demonstrates his belief

Eight years into a career in payment processing, that merchant acquiring has become more
Dang said she's begun to see a trend toward accepting of women and minorities.
greater diversity. It's more diverse than the can-
nabis market, she said. "When Max brings me
to meet a [prospect] I can sense that they are helping women climb corporate ladders at industry firms.
surprised that I'm Asian and that I'm a woman," she said. Founded in 2005, Wnet provides resources like network-
"That introductory meeting is normally the difficult one," ing, and educational and mentoring programs designed to
she added. "But after that, when they discover what I know help women advance their careers in payments.
and do, their expectations become higher."
Networking and minority certifications
For her part, Dang has high expectations for diversity in
the payments industry And Paybotic, she stated, is doing Most experts concur that networking plays an important
its part to see that happen. Most customer service and role in attracting a more diverse workforce. As a more
other support staff at the West Palm Beach, Florida-based diverse group of people enter merchant services, attend
ISO are immigrants, and many aspire to grow with the industry conferences and engage in other networking op-
company. "There's nothing that teaches you better in this portunities, they will have more opportunities to advance
industry than starting from the bottom," Dang said. into management positions, which today are dominated
by white men, Bishota suggested. "Advancing is more
Working your way up the ladder about networking than it is about the color of your skin,"
he said.
Audrey Blackmon, senior vice president at Verrency,
agrees greater diversity in management positions will flow EPNA's Mitchell understands first-hand the role network-
from greater diversity in entry-level positions. "There's ing plays in diversifying the merchant acquiring indus-
an awareness of the lack of diversity, especially African try. She was a litigation attorney when she met merchant
Americans, in payments," Blackmon said. "But we're see- services veteran Laura Demke-Calixe, president of EPNA.
ing a conscious effort to add more people of color." And "We traveled in the same circles," Mitchell said. Yet their
she added this prediction: "Over the next 10 years I think professional lives seemed worlds apart. "Five years ago I
we'll see more women of color and from different back- didn't even know this business existed," she said.
grounds in upper management."
Demke-Calixe recruited Mitchell about two years ago to
A 27-year industry veteran, Blackmon has first-hand ex- the EPNA executive suite. "Laura has such a passion for
perience moving up the corporate ladder as a woman of this business she can make analyzing financial statements
mixed race. After climbing the ranks at various ISOs and exciting," Mitchell said.
POS equipment companies, a stint consulting startups, and
launching an ISO, Blackmon joined Verrency to lead busi- EPNA lays claim to being the only business in credit card
ness development for the Americas. The payments startup processing and equipment sales to be certified as a Wom-
offers a platform that enables card issuers and merchants en Only Business Enterprise. The Chicago-based firm has
to easily add new products and services – products and been certified by the city of Chicago, Cook County, the
services that often bleed over into acquiring services, such state of Illinois and the Midwest Chapter of the national
as loyalty and POS installment loans, she noted. WBE certification board. "It's a very rigorous certification
process," Mitchell said. "We've been thoroughly vetted,
"Running sales teams, especially early on, almost every- which is a nice differentiator."
one was white and male," Blackmon said. But as compe-
tition in merchant acquiring evolves, from leading on Companies certified as minority or woman-owned benefit
price to emphasizing service and technology, it is attract- from government and corporate diversity in contracting
ing more women and immigrants, she suggested, adding programs. There also are federal tax breaks available to
that this is especially apparent in places like California, companies that procure products and services from certi-
which is home to Silicon Valley. "Whenever technology is fied minority- and woman-owned businesses. Some states
introduced and gains importance you typically see more also provide tax breaks.
women interested in sales," Blackmon said.

Blackmon also credits Wnet (the Women's Network in Patti Murphy is senior editor at The Green Sheet and president of
Electronic Transactions) with drawing awareness to and ProScribes Inc. Follow her on Twitter @GS_PayMaven.

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