YPP Spotlight – ETA Young Payments Professionals Reflect on 2017

Mergers and acquisitions making worldwide headlines. Blockchain rising in promise. The Bitcoin boom. Mobile wallet adoption across the payments technology ecosystem. Big moves in P2P among tech giants. ‘Hey Alexa, tell me about voice commerce.’

2017 was a big year for payments trend; beyond the buzz, innovative trends like M+A, blockchain and IoT made impacts on the industry this year. For two ETA Young Payments Professional Scholars, learning, knowing and owning the trends of 2017 has been an important key to leadership in their organizations.

The ETA YPP Scholars, participants in an ETA payments honor program sponsored by Discover, lead in seemingly different areas of the payments world. Jennifer Bush, a Sales Support Manager at Paysafe, commands an expertise in payments trends and sales trends to empower her team, giving them the tools and insight to keep their merchant clients in business. And for Andrew Nuss, Director of Marketing at The Strawhecker Group (TSG), a boutique payments research and consulting firm in Omaha, Nebraska, staying on top of 2017 payments trends means keeping his employer at the cutting-edge for its clients.

Bush, a graduate of Ithaca College who found her way into the payments industry after moving to California during the financial recession, says her day-to-day work means leading, training and empowering her team personally and professionally — mainly through industry education lunch and learn sessions where her and her team can dive into industry specifics, but also through critical team-building exercises and other interpersonal activities.

“I enjoy the high intensity and the hustle and bustle that comes with working closely with a sales team,” Bush said in an interview with Transaction Trends.

Nuss, a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Omaha who worked his way up from Marketing Associate to Director at TSG since joining in 2009, faces a similar fast-paced routine.

“My day-to-day tasks are in constant flux, which makes for an exciting and challenging environment,” Nuss told Transaction Trends. As editor of TSG’s NewsFilter email newsletter and other content from TSG, Nuss says, he focuses heavily on email marketing initiatives that turn top news, TSG research and other high-level industry pieces into a digestible format for payments professionals and c-level executives.

And the two ETA YPPs have worked closely to keep an eye on the major trends of 2017.

Directly interfacing with merchants on a daily basis, Bush saw firsthand the 2017 buzzwords that became more than buzz. “I noticed [in 2017] that the requirement for EMV is more accepted, and more merchants are fully compliant now with this regulation,” Bush said, “we also have seen more solutions for mobile wallets and sending people money via phone applications.”

Bush says that while bitcoin has become more prevalent, she noted that banks she works with directly do not accept bitcoin merchants due to high risk of fraud and criminal activity. “I am curious to see how far this new form of currency plays out in our industry,” the sales support manager said of the digital currency.

Through the lens of NewsFilter curator, where he digests hundreds of industry articles and sees the click-through response of his selections, Nuss says the “cryptocurrency craze has taken over this year.”

“I expected this to be a hot topic throughout the year, but the jump in values further fueled the fire,” Nuss said.

Mergers and acquisitions dominated as well, Nuss says. “Our team that attended ETA’s Strategic Leadership Forum (SLF) noted the countless discussions around how [M+A] impacts the industry and how players should react,” Nuss said, “and it was clear from our discussions at SLF that a better understanding of the ISV market is a top priority for many as well. Industry players are looking to identify attractive verticals and penetrate into the software players serving those markets.”

Trends aside, key to these payments professionals’ 2017 experience as young payments leaders has been their participation in ETA’s YPP Scholars program.

“The program has certainly provided me with a new perspective on where the industry is headed with the younger generation,” Nuss said, “and it is exciting to be a part of it.” Through experiences like ETA YPP meetings at TRANSACT 17, ETA CPP courses and networking events, the ETA YPPs have connected with other young payments leaders.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed connecting and surrounding myself with talented, knowledgeable and successful people in the ETA YPP program,” Bush said, “hearing their stories and their successes have inspired me to want to be better both personally and professionally. It has really motivated me and rekindled my passion for the payments industry.”

The 2017 ETA YPP Scholars — generously sponsored by Discover Global Network — represent the finest young minds across the payments technology ecosystem. Read more about the program here.