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IndustryUpdate

ACQUISITION Pel Faquiryan signs with Chargebacks 911

Dispute technology specialist Chargebacks911 appoint-
Huddlestock completes acquisition of F5 IT AS ed long-time finance leader Pelwasha ‘Pel’ Faquiryan as
its chief growth officer, responsible for delivery of supe-
Huddlestock Fintech AS recently completed the acqui- rior, personalized customer experiences and measurable
sition of software developer F5 IT AS. The acquisition business results. Faquiryan will focus on enhancing
was initially planned as a share swap, with Huddlestock Chargebacks911’s long-term performance and market
transferring 6,666,667 treasury shares to the seller. position while building long-term capabilities.
However, the parties instead chose to settle the purchase
price for F5 It AS by issuing to the seller 6,666,667 new She held several high-profile revenue and customer-
shares (consideration shares) in Huddlestock by way of focussed positions before joining CB911, including time
a share capital increase in Huddlestock. as executive vice president U.S. Bank Payment Solutions,
vice president of U.S. acquiring sales at merchant ser-
The change was due to Huddlestock's preference in vices technology company Ingenico, and as vice presi-
maintaining the current holding of treasury shares for dent of business development and client management
potential new opportunities. Huddlestock is focused on at Fiserv.
providing innovative, sustainable technology solutions
to capital markets, treasury and wealth management Affinity taps Josette Leslie
industries.
Relationship intelligence platform Affinity appointed
APPOINTMENTS Josette Leslie as its chief financial officer. Leslie will be
responsible for long-term financial strategy to help drive
the company's next stage of growth.
Josh Berwitz joins Prezzee
Leslie brings nearly two decades of senior financial
Digital gifting company Prezzee appointed Josh Berwitz leadership to Affinity, most recently having served as
as its North American president and global chief growth vice president of finance at Squarespace leading up to
officer. Berwitz is tasked with helping to drive further its May 2021 initial public offering. Before Squarespace,
growth and lead a team of 40 across New York and San Leslie spent 11 years with E*Trade Financial in various
Francisco. Prior to joining Prezzee, he spent close to leadership positions and five years at Instinet managing
25 years working at American Express where he held financial planning and analysis and supporting its IPO.
strategy, partnership and loyalty roles with increasing
responsibility. Javelin names Riley, Webster as Payments leads

Most recently, Berwitz served as Prezzee's senior vice Javelin Strategy & Research named Brian Riley and
president and general manager of the Partnerships, James Wester as co-heads of Payments, following the
Business Development and Lounge organization within successful integration of Mercator Advisory Group and
the company’s U.S. Consumer Services Group. Javelin. In March 2022, Escalent—Javelin’s parent com-
pany—acquired Mercator, a research and advisory firm
Beyond Bancard selects Steve Eazell that serves the payments industry. Brian Riley has
served as director of Mercator’s credit advisory service
Beyond Bancard hired industry veteran Steve Eazell to for six years. He will assume an expanded role and over-
lead its business development efforts as vice president see the team leading the Debit, Prepaid and Commercial
of business development. Eazell comes to the company practices. Riley has spent a quarter of a century with
with more than 20 years of industry experience and top-tier national credit card issuers at Chase, Citi, HFC
knowledge. and Wachovia (First Union National Bank) in senior
management roles.
Most recently he was the managing member at Eazy
Consulting, and before that he was with First American
by Deluxe as vice president-strategic partners. Jimmy James Wester serves as director of Javelin’s
Virk, CEO of Beyond Bancard, said, “We are extremely Cryptocurrency practice. He will now also oversee the
excited to add Steve to our team; he brings decades of team leading Merchant, Technology & Infrastructure,
industry experience along with the same core values and Emerging Payments practices. Wester has more than
that we believe in here at Beyond Bancard. He will be a two decades of experience in research, marketing and
perfect fit to lead our business development efforts as we communications in payments and technology, including
continue our growth.” supporting PayPal’s blockchain, crypto and digital cur-
rencies business unit as well as IDC Financial Insights’
worldwide blockchain and payment strategies practices.

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