he National Association of Payment Professionals (NAOPP) announced new officers for its 2007 board of directors. They include:

• President: Steve Schwimmer
• Vice President: Craig Lesser
• Treasurer: Ty Rosean
• MLS Director: River Cohen
• Vendor Director: Wendy M. Zucker.

The new officers bring to the organization 40 years of combined payments industry experience.

Schwimmer, based in Syosset, N.Y., is a merchant level salesperson (MLS) with Renaissance Merchant Services. He also serves in various leadership roles with several community and charitable organizations including the Long Island Better Business Bureau Advisory Board and the Syosset Chamber of Commerce. He has 16 years of payments industry experience and is the former Treasurer of NAOPP.

Lesser, based in Waterford, Wisc., is an MLS with Business Payment Systems. He is involved with his local chamber of commerce and other networking organizations. Lesser is the former owner and President of a biomedical company and has eight years of payments industry experience.

Rosean is also an MLS with Business Payment Systems. Based in Billings, Mont., he has been in the payments industry three years. He is NAOPP's former MLS Director.

Cohen, an MLS based in Scottsdale, Ariz., writes for three ISOs and serves on United Bank Card Inc.'s Advisory Board. He also consults for ISOs on training and recruiting. Cohen has been in the industry seven years.

Zucker is the National Sales Director for New York-based Barclay Square Leasing Inc., which she joined in 2001. Prior to Barclay, Zucker worked for Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. for 24 years. She was a First Vice President, overseeing a staff of 250 people in the Global Operations division. She also spent eight years as a Vice President in the company's Corporate Treasury.

The new officers take their positions Jan. 1.

NAOPP's 2007 board will continue to research, identify and offer additional benefits to members and strengthen its educational program, according to Vicki M. Daughdrill, NAOPP's Executive Director. This includes plans to offer four to six teleseminars in 2007, as well as presentations at the regional acquirer association meetings.

NAOPP is a nonprofit organization working to bridge the gap between MLSs and other segments of the payment processing industry through education. For information on joining NAOPP, visit www.naopp.com