Photo Coverage: ETA Strategic Leadership Forum 2019
Payments leaders from across our ecosystem gathered last week at the Waldorf Astoria Boca Raton Resort and Club in Boca Raton, Florida for ETA’s Strategic Leadership Forum (SLF).
SLF programming began on Wednesday, September 25th after the SLF Golf Tournament, sponsored by Verifone, concluded. Global Payments Inc. CEO Jeffery Sloan gave the opening keynote. Sloan highlighted his software-driven strategy and discussed the recent merger of Global Payments and TSYS. Sloan said the deal creates a company with cutting-edge tech solutions focused on small and medium sized business customers and premier financial institutions globally. The day concluded with a networking reception sponsored by Mastercard on the Grand Lawn.
The next day, the forum began with the second annual ETA Hall of Fame induction breakfast, sponsored by Visa. Five payments professionals were honored for their significant contributions to the payments industry: Donna Embry, Mary Gerdts, Pam Joseph, Linda Perry and Tom Wimsett. Click here to read more about the inductees.
Following the induction ceremony, Mastercard Chief Privacy Officer Caroline Louveaux gave the morning keynote. Louveaux shared some key insights from the payment network on the security of payments as the shift to digital environments, including stats that showed triple-digit increases in high-risk transactions online, a triple increase in fraudulent login activity, and high rates of IP spoofing.
After a networking break sponsored by First Data, now Fiserv, Bala Janakiraman, Executive Vice President & Head, Partner Solutions, First Data, now Fiserv, and Devin McGranahan, Executive Vice President & Senior Group President, Fiserv hosted a main stage session. They discussed the evolution of consumer preferences, how it’s impacted the payments marketplace, and how the merger of First Data and Fiserv marked one of this year’s industry-defining moment.
Concluding the morning’s programming was a main stage session on private equity, featuring James Mendelsohn, Liberis Finance; Zach Sadek, Partner, Parthenon Capital; Sharat Shankar, Partner, Finsightss, LLC; Bill Shraga, Managing Director, SenaHill Partners, LLC. Visa generously sponsored the SLF networking luncheon on the Camino Garden.
Afternoon programming began with a main stage session on the evolution of eCommerce in which panelists highlighted the significant presence of ecommerce is transforming the payments landscape, the customer’s experience and the reach of merchants of all sizes. The panelists, Ralph Dangelmaier, Chief Executive Officer, BlueSnap; Todd Ablowitz, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Infinicept; William Dawsey, Vice-President of Finance and Payment Systems, Chetu and Robin Leidenthal, Senior Director Global Payment Partnerships, eBay talked about how growth for ecommerce is driven not just by technology and innovation, but sound, strategic business plans.
Closing the day was a panel that featured perspectives on technology and innovation from the acquiring channel. Colleen Taylor, Head, Wells Fargo Merchant Services, Brian Mahony, Chief Strategy Officer, Elavon, Diana Mehochko, Chief Operating Officer, NCR and Afshin Yazdian, President of Core Acquiring, Priority Payments discussed the new opportunities they see for the market driven by forces of evolution and shared their observations on the recent merger activities in the space. The day concluded with a networking reception in the cloister garden sponsored by Worldpay, from FIS.
On Friday, SLF concluded with an open forum and meet-and-greet over coffee with ETA’s new CEO Jodie Kelley in the Cloister Garden.
Any SLF attendee will tell you that the opportunity to connect with high-level executive peers – without interruptions or distractions – is what makes this gathering unrivaled in the industry. ETA is thrilled with energy and engagement experienced over the past three days, and we encourage everyone to register early to secure their spot at ETA SLF 2020— another event sure to bring an engaging, informative and connection-driving experience to payments’ top leaders.
See full photo coverage of the event below:
ETA President and Chairman Kevin Jones, CEO of Celero Commerce, gives opening remarks at ETA SLF.
ETA CEO Jodie Kelley gives a speech
Global Payments Inc. CEO Jeffrey Sloan gives the opening keynote.
SLF attendees make connections at the Mastercard Opening Reception on the Grand Lawn.
Opening Reception, sponsored by Mastercard
ETA Hall of Fame members (left to right): Paul Garcia (2018), Diane Faro (2018), Donna Embry (2019), Tom Wimsett (2019), Linda Perry (2019), ETA CEO Jodie Kelley
Mastercard Chief Privacy Officer Caroline Louveaux gives the morning keynote
First Data – Fiserv Main Stage Session with Devin McGranahan, Executive Vice President & Senior Group President, Fiserv (left) and Bala Janakiraman, Executive Vice President & Head, Partner Solutions, First Data, now Fiserv (right)
Panel on eCommerce featuring Ralph Dangelmaier (far right), Todd Ablowitz (center right), William Dawsey (center left) and Robin Leidenthal (far left)
Attendees during Main Stage Sessions
Colleen Taylor, Head of Wells Fargo Merchant Services, moderates a main stage panel on the acquiring channel.
Zach Sadek, Partner, Parthenon Capital, participates on the Private Equity main stage session
Thursday Networking Reception sponsored by Worldpay, from FIS
ETA’s next event is TRANSACT Tech San Francisco, a one-day event taking place in the heart of SF at the Wells Fargo Connections Center. TTSF will bring together fintech, banking, payments tech and merchant services professionals for an event exploring Software-as-a-Service, integrated payments and data in the modern ecosystem. Click here to register.