Osama Bedier - CEO, Poynt

Osama Bedier is the founder and CEO of Poynt, a revolutionary open commerce platform, empowering merchants with software and services to transform and grow their businesses.

An Egyptian-American entrepreneur and investor with a deep passion for improving lives through technology, Osama has spent the last two decades pioneering consumer internet, e-commerce and payments services, and is widely recognized as the creator of the world’s first smart payment terminal.

Prior to founding Poynt, Osama served as the Vice President of Payments at Google and head of Google Wallet. Prior to Google, Osama spent nine years running product and engineering at PayPal, building and scaling much of what made them a household name. He has also held engineering leadership roles at eBay, Gateway Computers and AT&T Wireless.

Osama actively invests and advises many FinTech start-ups mainly through NYCA partners. In addition, he currently sits on the boards of QIWI (QIWI: NASDAQ), WePay and PayRange. He lives with his wife Nancy and their five children in Atherton, CA.

Elisa Burt - Regional Vice President, Merchant Services - U.S. at American Express

In this role, she leads a team of 32 employees responsible for improving operational efficiencies, driving incremental revenue and identifying future growth with over 1700 B2C and B2B merchants that generate over $25B in volume.

During her 25-year career with American Express, Elisa’s held various leadership positions in Business Travel and Merchant Services. She enjoys volunteering and is actively involved with several Atlanta based charitable organizations.

Elisa received her BBA at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. She currently resides in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Theresa Gongora - SVP of North American Business Financial Services, TSYS Merchant Solutions

Theresa Gongora is the SVP of a S&P 500 company. In her role, she is the chief finance executive for TSYS’ merchant solutions segment, a top US merchant acquirer. Theresa leads all financial decision-making on strategic and tactical matters including financial planning, portfolio management and deployment of capital to fund growth.

Prior to her current role, Theresa was the head of corporate strategy and development at TSYS, where she was responsible for leading the strategy development and strategic planning activities, at the enterprise and operating segment levels, to support the enterprise with charting a course to deliver long-term shareholder returns and profitable growth. She has been instrumental in executing on TSYS’s acquisition activity over the past 5 years, the most recent transaction being the $1B acquisition of Cayan. Theresa is immediate past-President of the Board of Directors of W.Net, a professional organization empowering women in payments. She was recently named as among The Most Influential Women in Payments in 2019 by PaymentSource, which honors the women who are creating change and opportunities in the payments industry.

Theresa holds a Masters in International Management from Thunderbird, School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona, a Juris Doctor Degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and a Bachelors Degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She is a Member of the Ohio State Bar.

Cynthia F. Knowles - VP, Head of Business Administration, Integrated Financial Solutions (IFS) FIS

Cynthia Knowles is Head of Business Administration for the IFS (Banking & Payments) segment of FIS.  In this executive leadership role, she is responsible for overseeing the strategic messaging and chief of staff functions for the Head of Operations and the COO of IFS as well as communication, market integration across multiple disciplines and the coordination of key enterprise initiatives for the $6B global division.

With over 30 years devoted to Fintech, Ms. Knowles’ career includes a spectrum of experiencesincluding Sales Management, Marketing Strategy, Thought Leadership, Marketing Communications, Branding, Event Management, Product Development, and Sales Training.

Serena Smith - Executive Vice President, Head of Global Treasury Management & Payment Strategy, Texas Capital Bank

Serena Smith is executive vice president and head of Global Treasury Management & Payment Strategy at Texas Capital Bank. Before Texas Capital Bank, Smith served as division executive of International Banking & Payment at FIS. That included business and financial responsibility for the real-time payments and enterprise payments product lines.

Throughout her career, Smith has played key roles in P&L management, product development, sales and service delivery. She has been honored for her contributions to the payments sector, including the 2019 Women in Payments USA award, 2018 American Business Maverick of the Year award, 2017 Women in Payments USA Management Team of the Year award and others.

She has also been honored with various awards for her contributions to the payments sector and is actively involved in various community organizations.

Amy Zirkle - Vice President, Industry Affairs, Electronic Transactions Association (ETA)

Amy Zirkle is the VP of Industry Affairs for the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the global trade association for the payments technology industry. Zirkle joined ETA in 2014 and previously served as ETA’s vice president of industry affairs. She is an acknowledged thought leader with robust experience in business and government relations issues of the payments industry and represents the association before external organizations including industry forums, think tanks, and standards setting organizations. She was recently elected to represent ETA on the PCI Security Standards Council Board of Advisors.

Prior to joining ETA, Zirkle spent 17 years working as a senior economist for an international consulting firm focusing on technology matters including mobile payments in the developing world. She has extensive experience in both the financial services and technology sectors, including work in government and regulatory affairs for American Express and at the former MCI Communications (Verizon). Zirkle has been a past officer with Women in Government Relations and a member of Women in Housing and Finance.

She holds an S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she served as a Research Associate at the MIT Media Lab as well as at the Sloan School of Management.

Joe Carella - Asst Dean, University of Arizona

In a complex, interdependent and uncertain global economy, agile decision making is a tricky challenge for most leaders. As the Assistant Dean of Executive Education at University of Arizona, Joe Carella is passionate about building executive and managerial talent and developing insight that can drive better business outcomes for leaders and their organizations. Joe has over 20 years of experience in helping executives and corporations in managing change and developing successful business strategies and has worked as an academic program lead at Thunderbird School of Global Management and as a strategy consultant at British Telecommunication, Ernst & Young and the London 2012 Olympics – TfL program.

His academic research and executive education engagements have seen him focus on corporate strategy, decision making and business performance with a variety of corporate clients including Microsoft, American Express, Hershey’s, Chevron, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Intel, DP World, BBVA, P.F.Chang’s, Raytheon, and Discover Financial Services.

Joe has been a contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Forbes Magazine and the Wall Street Journal focusing on the challenges of leadership and sustainable growth strategies. Joe’s forthcoming book on unconscious bias and strategic decision making uncovers how agile leaders find hidden sources of competitive advantage.

Joe sits on the Board of Directors of the HR Executive Forum and the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.

Sheila Gunby - Director, Public Sector U.S. Market Development, Mastercard

Sheila Gunby is a Director at Mastercard and leads the U.S. Public Sector Market Development Group. Sheila’s team is responsible for new business development efforts for the State and Local Markets. This includes state government, municipalities, counties, school districts, and higher education institutions.

Over her 30 years of payments industry experience, she has helped reshape the way Mastercard has approached the government market. Her work in expanding financial inclusion, has resulted in governments being better able to meet the needs of the most financially vulnerable. She has also worked with all levels of the US government to help them with G2B, G2C, and program optimization.

Since joining Mastercard in 1992, she has held several sales, account management and business roles, working with our partners in consumer credit, prepaid cards, commercial card solutions, government benefit disbursements, and campus card programs. Prior to joining Mastercard, Ms. Gunby held positions with Cap Gemini and Travelers Express. She attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota and currently resides outside of Atlanta, GA.

Carey Madsen

Carey Madsen has been developing and executing communications and marketing programs for more than 20 years, helping business plan and implement smart, integrated campaigns that connect marketing strategies to business KPIs.

Her expertise includes brand management, marketing and sponsorship strategy and content creation, as well as media, employee and crisis communications. She is known for her business acumen and helping brands translate complex topics into easy-to-understand, customer-friendly communications.

Carey oversees The Fletcher Group’s marketing practice, directs several accounts and serves as a trusted advisor to clients, helping them set strategic direction and integrate marketing into their business strategy.

Amy Parsons - Senior Vice President, Global Acceptance, Discover

Amy Parsons is currently Senior Vice President, Global Acceptance, for Discover Global Network with a focus on the new frontier of digital payments. She is responsible for leading the client teams accountable for establishing and expanding partnerships with tech enablers, leading global banks and merchant acquirers.

Ms. Parsons has extensive experience in Payment Services with expertise in developing strategic business opportunities and partnerships. She has a passion for teaching others about the industry and mentoring people to be better business leaders. She is an accomplished public speaker and is passionate about promoting industry thought leadership and women career development.

She received a B.S. in Marketing from Arizona State University and an M.B.A. through the Executive Program at the W.P. Carey School of Business and is a Board Member of Lambs Farm.

Grace Klopcic

Grace Klopcic is a Partner based out of McKinsey’s Denver Office. She supports financial services and technology players in transformational growth, productivity and innovation through digital, data & analytics. She particularly focuses on payments as a driver of both front-end customer experience and back-end infrastructure innovation. Grace has led McKinsey’s work globally on real-time payments, including with the Federal Reserve and Faster Payments Task Force in the U.S. She holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University, an M.Sc. in Policy from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Anu Shultes

Anu Shultes is CEO of LendUp, a mission-driven financial technology company focused on expanding access to credit and creating pathways to better financial health. A 25-year veteran of the financial services industry, Anu has a personal mission to lift people out of poverty and infuses her work with her passion for financial inclusion. Anu’s career spans a broad spectrum of roles across subprime credit cards, subprime loans, and prepaid cards. Her significant experience building efficient operational processes and teams to support them has led her to become one of the few female CEOs in fintech.

Colleen Taylor - EVP, Head of Merchant Services, Wells Fargo

Colleen Taylor is Executive Vice President and Head of Wells Fargo Merchant Services (WFMS).  In her role as head of WFMS, she is responsible for providing the strategic direction, financial management, and leadership for all aspects of the Merchant Services business inclusive of managing the joint venture partnership with Fiserv.  Colleen is a member of Wells Fargo Corporation's Management Committee.

Prior to rejoining Wells Fargo in August of 2019, Colleen was the EVP of New Payment Flows at Mastercard.  In that role, she was responsible for driving volume and revenue growth from B2B, government and new economy sources in North America.  She was also accountable for real time payment strategy and product development in the region. 

Colleen joined Mastercard from Capital One, where she served as head of Treasury Management, Merchant Services and Enterprise Payments and also held the role of Market President for Brooklyn & Queens.

Colleen’s early career in financial services included various positions at Wachovia Bank, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan in the US and the UK.  

Colleen is a Spelman College graduate and received her MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

She chairs the Samaritan Village Daytop Foundation Board, serves on the board of Year-Up New York, is a trustee of Spelman College and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is also favorite auntie to 14 nieces and nephews.  

Mary Uslander - SVP, Commercialization and Client Experience, First Data

Mary Uslander joined First Data in August of 2014 to lead integration efforts for newly acquired companies which includes people, products and processes. She also leads strategic product initiatives, and commercialization efforts for key products.

Lance J. Johnson - Executive Director, PCI Security Standards Council

Mr. Johnson is responsible for driving and implementing the Council’s strategic direction. For the past five years, he served as the Chief Operating Officer at Sequent Software, Inc. where he led all corporate administration and operations. Prior to Sequent, Johnson spent more than twenty years at Visa Inc., as a senior leader directing Visa’s efforts in global risk management and security, fraud detection and control, and global payment data and device security.

As an expert in payment security, Mr. Johnson holds several patents, served in the U.S. Navy, and has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of Central Florida.

Joan Herbig

For more than 25 years, Joan has earned a reputation as a leader in the high-tech industry. Since joining ControlScan, she has expanded the company’s position as a leading PCI compliance and security provider focused on ISOs and acquirers serving small to mid-sized merchants. Previously she served as chief executive officer of Cambia Security, Inc. and of XcelleNet, Inc.

Joan sits on the board of directors for the Technology Association of Georgia and Presidential Advisory Board for ETA.

Stacy Hughes - SVP, External Compliance and IT Risk, Global Payments

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