Editorial Team - Cards International

Cards International (CI) is the premier global and editorially independent briefing service focused on the cards and payments sectors.

CI delivers insight to senior executives at the world’s leading retail banks, card issuers, payment processors, loyalty service providers, security specialists, retailers and merchant acquirers online and monthly in print.

The recently re-launched website and digital edition provides subscribers with a comprehensive snapshot of the international cards and payments industries through news analysis, interviews, expert comment, country reports, new entrant and product evaluations, international conference reports and cards and payments data.

Established over 30 years ago, CI counts hundreds of subscribers across the globe including Bank of America, RBC, Visa, MasterCard, Amex, First Data and TSYS.

Francesco Burelli

Managing Director, ACCENTURE

Francesco Burelli is the Global Payments Strategy Lead at Accenture Payment Services and he is part of the Open Banking SME team. He works across retail and corporate digital payments, cash management, ecosystems and distribution channels to assist organisations with corporate and product strategy development and M&A. With over 21 years of payments and transaction banking experience, previously held senior roles with other advisory firms, before at Midland Bank later after his MBA in the mid-90s, transitioning from earlier TMT career. Fellow at the Institute of Financial Services, Francesco was awarded as Industry Consultant of the Year 2014 by the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) and Mentor of the Year 2015 by Fintech Boothcamp.

David Parker

CEO Polymath Consulting

Parker is founder and CEO of Polymath Consulting, which has now delivered over 50 projects for clients in prepaid cards and emerging payments. The company’s current work includes projects in the Middle East, US, Asia, Africa and Europe. Parker has an in-depth knowledge of payments and payment cards and is known for his work with prepaid cards, mobile money/mobile wallets and M-pos. Parker has previously worked for companies such as the Gaming Bourse, the Pepper Corporation and Saatchi & Saatchi (Saudi Arabia).

Chris Davies

Managing Director, Global Payments

Chris Davies is Managing Director of Global Payments, HSBC Bank and a board member for Comercia Global Payments, and has held this position since December 2010. His core responsibilities include strategic management, operations, product management, risk management, sales and human resources. Chris has been responsible for the recent acquisition of HSBC’s card processing business in Malta. Prior to his current role, Chris spent 35 years in HSBC Bank and its UK forerunner Midland Bank. He spent the last ten years in HSBC’s cards business, initially as Head of Operations for Card Issuing, followed by 5 years in Operations and Product Management in Card Processing, culminating in being Head of the UK Card Processing business.

Robert Courtneidge

CEO Global Legal Exchange

Robert Courtneidge is CEO of Global Legal Exchange, Chairman of the Prepaid International Forum, which he co-founded 7 years ago, and Global Head of Cards and Payments at Locke Lord LLP, all of which are based in London. Up until early last year, he was the International Head of Cards and Payments at commercial law firm Salans, where he led their drive into cards and payments across 18 offices worldwide. Robert is known for his knowledge and experience in the e-money area and has advised financial institutions worldwide.

Howard Berg

Senior Vice President Gemalto

Howard Berg is currently the Senior Vice President at Gemalto where he is responsible for the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland, as well as Global Accounts and the Serverside Division of Gemalto. He has won several long-term contracts with major UK Banks and has held 10 directorships, six of which are current and four are historic. Howard was previously Head of Projects and Industry matters and Senior Manager Key Accounts at Lloyds TSB. During his career, Howard has served on a number of industry bodies, including the Business Management Committee of the Switch Card Scheme, and Chair of the Plastic Fraud Prevention Forum (PFPF).

Gareth Lodge

Senior Analyst Celent

Gareth Lodge currently holds the position of a senior analyst at Celent’s Banking Practice based in London. His research focuses on payments specialities in UK, Europe and globally. Prior to this Gareth was a senior consultant at Secura Monde International. He previously worked as a regional research director of European payments at Tower Group. He has also worked in corporate strategy at VocaLink, an information manager at The Technology Exchange and a senior researcher at Disclosure First Contact. Gareth has a BSc in Quantity Surveying from the University of Portsmouth and a postgraduate degree in Information Science from the University of North London.

Stuart Lacey

CEO Trunomi

Stuart Lacey is CEO and founder of Trunomi, a fintech business that is fundamentally changing the way in which customer information is collected, managed and shared. Trunomi's technology can deliver financial services providers gains in operational efficiency and improvements in customer interaction - whilst reducing costs, inefficiencies duplication and regulatory risk. With over 20 years of leadership experience in the C-Suite of global financial and technology markets, he has a keen eye for growing successful teams and developing highly innovative solutions and technology platforms. Stuart is a multiple award-winning Member and of the Young Presidents Organization; the Young Entrepreneur’s Council and The Institute of Directors; as well as a graduate of McGill University and the inventor of a number of industry defining patents.

Rich Wagner

CEO Advanced Payment Solution

Innovative and entrepreneurial senior executive with 30 years of successful payment experience in U.S. and U.K. financial services, including at Barclaycard and Visa. Rich has launched and managed high growth financial services businesses internationally with the greatest and most recent success so far being the founder and CEO of APS, which in 10 years has become a leading digital banking and payments company in the UK and was the first non-bank granted an issuing license with MasterCard. Rich sits on the advisory board of the Emerging Payments Association and was selected in 2014 to represent the entire electronic money industry at the Euro Retail Payments Board under the remit of the European Central Bank to help shape the future European payment regulations including non-bank access to the payment networks.

Editorial Board

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