Recap: ETA SLF Brings Together Payments Leaders

The final day of the Electronic Transactions Association’s Strategic Leadership Forum is underway, bringing to a close three days that have brought the industry’s top innovators, thought leaders and executive leadership together for an agenda packed with leading expert insights, thought-provoking discussion, oceanside networking, and a bit of golf, too.

ETA SLF attendees took the Monarch Beach Golf Links to compete in the 2017 SLF Golf Tournament, sponsored by Wells Fargo, to start the Forum on Tuesday morning. Competitors Mike Keegan, James Ray, Mike Lawrence and Bill Lodes walked away with the tournament win; Cleveland Brown hit the longest drive and Michael Burg won the closest to the pin competition.

Tuesday afternoon featured two panel discussions before a scenic networking reception on the Vue Lawn, sponsored by J.P. Morgan, closed the day. The first panel covered the changing meaning of “point of sale” — how the new consumer payment experience has shifted the model closer to a “point of interaction.” Attendees heard from Souheil Badran, President North America at AliPay, Joshua Goines, Senior Director of Choice and Partnerships at PayPal, Joe Mach, President of Verifone North America, and Wally Mlynarksi, Chief Product Office at Elavon in a discussion moderated by Irv Henderson, CEO of talech.

The second panel, moderated by ETA SVP of Government Relations Scott Talbott, took a look at the view from our nation’s capital on payments technology and FinTech. Panelists from the FTC and CFPB joined policy experts from Vantiv and Kabbage to discuss the policy implications for the future of FinTech.

ETA Board of Directors President and CEO of Global Payments Jeff Sloan opened the second day of the Strategic Leadership Forum by discussing how new trends are shaping the industry and the value of coming together as an industry to grow the payments technology ecosystem.

“Looking around the room, I can’t help but be impressed by the amount of payments technology leaders here today,” Sloan said, “This is what ETA is all about — bringing professionals together to advance the industry.”

Following Sloan’s remarks was the featured Keynote Panel. Comprised of four payments executives who have directly interacted with major mergers and acquisitions recently — Marc Gardner, Founder/CEO at North American Bancard, Kevin Jones, President and CEO or Anovia Payments, Todd Linden, CEO at Paysafe North America, and OB Rawls IV, President and iPayment, Inc. — this roundtable discussion took a substantive look at the increasing trend towards M+A in payments, looking to answer the question “buy, sell or go alone in the payments ecosystem?”

Following the keynote, attendees heard from a power panel of payments leaders on the importance of diversity in building a robust, powerful and long-lasting business. In partnership with WNET, Carol Grunberg, Director of Global Business at Ant Financial moderated a discussion featuring Jan Estep, President and CEO of NACHA, Diane Faro, CEO of Jetpay Corporation, and Donna Novitsky, CEO of Yiftee.

Networking breakfasts sponsored by Samsung Pay and Mastercard, networking breaks sponsored by PerkinsCoie LLP, a networking luncheon sponsored by Visa and an evening oceanside reception sponsored by Vantiv sandwiched a days full of rigorous, topical panels and presentations.

A panel of merchant leaders from Aaron’s Inc. and Maverik Store discussed the changes retailers are facing and how their payments partners are helping them use payments technology to drive sales. ETA VP of Industry Affairs Amy Zirkle led a panel of software developers and payments tech experts, including Bjorn Ovick, Head of Merchant Services at Samsung Pay, Michael Roberts, CMO and Head of Digital Strategy and Bank of America Merchant Services, and Michelle Tinsley, Sales Director, Retail and MCA Divisions, Regional Sales Group at Intel Americas, exploring the crossroads of tech and payments. Panelists concluded that maximizing and leveraging technology will continue to redefine commerce and revolutionize interactions between payments players.

The software theme continued into the afternoon; the program began after the Visa networking lunch with a look at how software specialization in the payments industry has maximized market opportunities for payments technology firms.

The final presentation of the day was from Louise Keely, EVP, Global Retail Practice Leader at Nielsen. Keely, presenting new data from Nielsen for the first time as an SLF exclusive, laid out the case for the “connected spender,” a highly-engaged and digital-savvy group that will account for 46 percent of the world’s consumption over the next decade. Keely presented new exclusive data detailing who connected spenders are, what they signal about global consumption and the impact of these consumers on the payments landscape.

SLF concluded with a panel focusing on venture capital and a closing keynote taking a look at what it means to lead through an era of monumental change and growth. Attendees heard from leading tech investors, including Matt Harris, Managing Director at Bain Ventures, Dan Rosen, General Partner at Commerce Ventures, and Schwark Satyavolu, General Partner at Trinity Ventures in a panel moderated by Frank Young, SVP Innovation at Global Payments.

Dave Rochlin, Executive Director at the Haas@Work Program at UC Berkeley, gave the closing keynote, providing insights into maximizing leadership through change and disruption. Rochlin was the capstone to what has been one of the largest exclusive gatherings of payments top leaders in the entire industry.

Any SLF attendee will tell you that the opportunity to connect with your high-level executive peers – without interruptions or distractions – is what makes this gathering unrivaled in the industry. ETA is thrilled with our attendees’ energy and engagement, and we encourage everyone to register early to make the cut for ETA SLF 2018 — another event sure to bring an engaging, informative and connection-driving experience to payments’ top leaders.

Thank you to our attendees, presenters and sponsors who have made this year’s ETA SLF an amazing success. We look forward to seeing the partnerships cemented at ETA SLF 2017 grow and thrive!