Awards Committee - EMEA

Becky has close involvement with the UK Payment System Regulator (PSR) and has sat on the Advisory Panel and the Payment Strategy Forum and chaired the Working Group for Implementation Planning for the New Payment Architecture which is part of the PSF consultation paper issued in July 2017. She was also chosen to be part of the Delivery group commissioned by the Bank of England and the PSR for the consolidation of the three Retail Payment schemes representing small and middle sized financial organisations. Becky was a member of the BoE Advisory Board for the replacement of RTGS and has held non-executive Directorship positions for the New Payment System Operator (NPSO), Faster Payments Scheme , Payments UK and the Interim Trade Association.

This close involvement with Industry change gives her a unique perspective on the progress and work being taken to improve customers’ payment experience.

At Metro Bank she was Head of Industry Engagement, responsible for payments and card change activity, as well as leading industry and third party engagement. Becky has extensive experience of working with the payments industry and delivering long-term, sustainable value to both customers and business.

Becky is currently Director of Payments for UK Finance leading a strong team with deep domain knowledge delivering thought leadership on policy working closely with the regulators in the UK and Europe for the good of the membership.

Trudy leads the Commercial Cards business for Citibank in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). She took responsibility for the end-to-end commercial cards business 3 months into the pandemic when it had already been significantly impacted by the lack of Corporate travel. Pivoting the business to B2B and Leisure travel flows has been critical to its ongoing success.

The Commercial Cards business is not new to Trudy as she has held various roles over the years across several functions of the regional cards business: Operations and vendor management, Implementation and project management, Account Management and more recently, Sales.

Trudy started her career with Citibank in 1998 and held roles in Dublin and New York before settling in London.

Trudy holds a 1st class honours degree in Business Economics from Kingston University (UK)

She lives in the UK and splits her time between London and the New Forest, where she loves to spend time walking and cycling in the countryside.

Charlotte, as chief customer officer is responsible for growing relationships with American Expresses customers internationally. By developing best in class products, evolving how to attract new customers and enhancing capabilities and processes, Charlotte and her team are transforming how the company connects with customers and enriching what it means to be a member of American Express.

Prior to this role Charlotte led the UK Business as Country Manager delivering record levels of Billings and Revenue growth; solidifying the UK as one of the best performing markets outside of the United States. Charlotte joined American Express in 2000 and has held roles including Head of Product, Pricing & Portfolio Management for Europe and Head of Brand and Marketing.

Charlotte is passionate about ensuring American Express is a welcoming place where everyone can bring their whole selves to work. She led the company’s commitment to signing the Women in Finance charter, the Race at Work charter and becoming a signatory of The Valuable 500 with its commitment to action on disability inclusion. As part of her advocacy for diversity, equity, and inclusion she also supported the creation of the Inclusion and Diversity Council in the UK and has taken a personal interest in actively championing colleagues to achieve their ambitions.

Outside of American Express, Charlotte is a trustee of the Friends of St Marcellin’s Children, a charity supporting orphans and vulnerable children in Africa.

In her career Kate Fitzgerald has led change and transformation in payments, banking, and operations.  She specialises in leading large transformational programmes for end-to-end payments in financial services.

Most recently, Kate worked as a senior advisor on payment systems at the PSR. Previously she worked in a variety of roles at Lloyds and led payment ​integrations for the merger with Halifax Bank of Scotland, and the Verde Divestment, ultimately becoming TSB's Payments Director. Kate has also served on the board of Payments UK.

Kate joined the PSR in June 2020.

Kirsty has a 22 year career in Payments in Barclays. Working up through the organisation over this period has afforded her opportunity to understand the workings of the business in great detail. In addition, over this period Kirsty has been able to explore multiple different roles and opportunities to use her skills. Now as a Managing Director, Kirsty has a huge interest in supporting colleagues and driving the agenda for Diversity. Kirsty is a mother of three children, aged 12, 6 and 4, and spends most of her time outside of work with her husband and children.

Hemlata Narasimhan is the European President of Elavon Merchant Services, one of Europe’s largest payments processors, where she is responsible for 1000 employees in seven countries, and for driving more than €350M in annual revenue. In this role, she leads Elavon’s customer facing teams that provide payment services for small businesses and large Corporates through multiple channels, and the core product and commercial functions that support their delivery.

Prior to joining Elavon in June 2022, Hemlata led the merchant and acquiring business for Visa in Europe, where she oversaw substantial growth in both employee numbers and local presence across several European markets. She was also responsible for the growth in Europe of Cybersource – a payment platform acquired by Visa in 2010, and an Elavon partner.

Hemlata also led strategic initiatives around small business growth, urban mobility, digital proposition development and diversification of partnerships and alliances.

Prior to Visa, Hemlata spent almost seven years at American Express in New York and London, and had a successful career in management consulting with the Boston Consulting Group.

Priyanka Rath, is a Managing Director and the Head of Global Liquidity and Accounts Solutions specialists within J.P. Morgan Payments. Her group is responsible for delivering strategic solutions incorporating liquidity and account solutions, supporting the Large Corporate and Financial Institutions clients. Priyanka has over 18 years of experience in Product and Client advisory roles. Her areas of expertise include liquidity management, virtual accounts, cash investments, treasury transformation, working capital management and 3rd party monies. She has extensive experience in the international cash management space, working with Fortune 500 companies, for their liquidity and account management needs. Before joining JP Morgan, Priyanka worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays bank, in senior product and solutions leads roles, expanding the EMEA and global reach for both banks.

Priyanka completed the ‘International Cash Management’ certification with the Association of Corporate Treasurers in 2010, obtaining a distinction. Priyanka received her MBA from HEC School of Management, France and also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, India. Prior to the MBA, she worked as a Consultant with Oracle Financial services for four years, specializing in banking platform technology.