Past Winners - 2018

WHY THE AWARDS COMMITTEE SELECTED HER NOMINATION

The nominations for this year’s Distinguished Payments Professional award contained 7 women with incredibly varied skills and experience from right across the Industry. This award is a lifetime achievement honour and is designed to recognize those in the Industry who have made a significant contribution throughout their career. It was a very difficult choice to find a winner amongst many worthy nominees.

This year’s winner is a highly knowledgeable and impactful contributor with 40 years of experience in Banking and Payments. She is described as an inclusive and encouraging leader who has been instrumental in setting the strategic direction for her organization. She is an extremely effective advocate for the unique interests of her clients and an enthusiastic and effective participant in the payments industry. She was instrumental in delivering Card and BPay payments for her organisations customers and more recently has been heavily involved in the development of NPP both from an Industry perspective and her organisation’s own commercial offering.

Her references for this award call out her strong principals of common sense and fairness, her willingness to dedicate her time to others and her strong integrity as some of her best attributes.

Janice Dang is the head of Global Transaction Services (GTS) in Australia for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  She leads the end-to-end delivery of cash and liquidity management, commercial cards and trade services and supply chain management to institutional and corporate clients.

Janice joined the firm in 2010 in Hong Kong and has held multiple sales and leadership roles, supporting multinational corporate clients with operations in Asia Pacific.  Prior to that, she had spent time in transaction banking services in New York, Singapore and Malaysia.  Janice has over 12 years of transaction banking experience across multiple regions, working with corporate and institutional clients as they optimize their treasury and working capital structure.

WHY THE AWARDS COMMITTEE SELECTED HER NOMINATION

The winner of this year’s Thought Leader Award has extensive experience in transactional banking across the Asia Pacific, and North America. She leads the end-to-end delivery of cash and liquidity management, commercial cards, trade services and supply chain management to multinational corporate clients. As such, she has sought innovative payment solutions and leveraged automation to improve cash management for her clients, including innovative use of payment cards. These achievements have been recognised with numerous awards over the past few years including from publications such as Treasury Today and The Asset.

This nominee also shares her knowledge and encourages debate by leading roundtable discussions on payment innovations, best practices in fraud prevention, and the opportunities for fintech in supply chain financing.

But she is not just a banking and payments expert. She has demonstrated a strong commitment to diversity through her prioritisation of gender diversity in her hiring to her contribution to her firm’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. She is a strong mentor for women in her organisation. Her referees all testify to her vision, innovative approach to resolving issues and her ability to work collaboratively with all stakeholders.

Leading an organization that is 76% women Jan has built a formidable reputation for her support and investment in women. She is a known thought leader, a dedicated mentor, a change agent, an educator, a visionary and a strategist.

In her current role nurturing the growth of electronic payments and advocating for smart innovation and the quality of the ACH Network, Jan’s efforts and focus are continuously evolving as she adapts to changing industry needs. She serves on the U.S. Faster Payments Governance Framework Formation team and excels in her ability to bring diverse parties together through rulemaking, standards development, governance and education.

After almost ten years as President & CEO of NACHA, Jan has been instrumental in leading all three phases of Same Day ACH, a success that could not have been accomplished without her unwavering resolve for dialog and collaboration with all stakeholders. Jan has helped propel the industry forward by helping to bridge payment types and organizations. Intentional, yet subtle in her support of women, she leads by example and serves as an inspiration to many.

Named on Payments Source’s list of Most Influential Women in Payments every year since 2013, alongside many other industry accolades and awards, the Awards Committee are delighted to name Jan Estep as our 2018 Inspiration Award winner.

Diane is a visionary and pioneer in the retail and merchant acquiring sector, who has been credited with accelerating the electronification of payments by the introduction of POS Payment integrations.

Possessing an impressive history of leadership, Diane has served as the President of First Data Global Merchant Services, the CEO of Chase Merchant Services, and was one of the first female presidents of the Electronic Transactions Associations. She has sat on the Advisory Boards of both Visa and Mastercard and is currently the CEO of JetPay Corp.

However it was not just her accomplishments as a payments leader that impressed our committee. As a Senior Executive in the Payments Industry, Diane has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to helping other women write their own success stories. As a woman who rose through the ranks, without the existence of many strong female role models, she has dedicated much of her time to providing mentorship and support, focusing on encouraging and promoting the advancement of women into leadership roles.

She is an influencer, a problem solver and an inspiring leader who has shaped many careers and lives in this industry. The Awards Committee are proud to name Diane Faro as our 2018 Distinguished Payments Professional.

Debbie Gamble is a remarkable leader, who has touched many facets of the payments industry throughout her 35 year career. Continuously adapting to the pace of change in our industry, Debbie has provided endless mentorship and business support to multiple payments companies and fintech ventures and today serves in a lead innovation role.

A recognized authority on digital, mobile and ID authentication, Debbie has been immersed in change leadership since the earliest iterations of digital payments, working with crypto, mobile commerce, electronic cash, prepaid, EMV and contactless. She is a huge supporter of women and a founding member of an organization supporting professional growth. She speaks publically about the importance of elevating female talent and provides endless opportunities to challenge and stretch her team. She has won multiple awards and industry accolades, winning the 2018 Champions Award for Act Canada and listed as Payments Source Most Influential Women in Payments for 2018. She is a role model, a trendsetter and has undoubtedly had an impact on the Payments and innovation ecosystem. The Awards Committee congratulate Debbie Gamble for being named our 2018 Distinguished Payments Professional.

Debbie Gamble is the VP Digital Product and Platforms at Interac responsible for the delivery of the digital commerce and faster payments strategies including mobile and e-Transfer products.

With over 30 years of experience, Debbie has been involved in early iterations of the digital economy including crypto currency, mobile commerce, and chip solutions on an international scale. Previous roles include co-founder and SVP Product and Strategy at Dexit Inc. and Head of North America for Mondex International (a subsidiary of MasterCard).

Previous to joining Interac, Debbie, through her company NorthCommons, has worked with The Royal Canadian Mint, Visa, Telus, Ontario Lottery & Gaming, Bell and others. She is currently an Advisor at MaRS FinTech and Commerce Cluster and is one of Canada's most influential and leading authorities on digital payments, speaking passionately on FinTech and innovation in payments and business transformation.

The role of an educator appears to come very naturally to Tina and is entrenched in all that she does. From speaking engagements, to blogs, her reach across topics is impressive, and she excels in giving a voice to the community banking industry.

The Committee were impressed at Tina’s commitment for sharing her ideas and knowledge with a broad audience, tackling topics ranging from faster payments, block chain and cyber security. She is an active participant in industry associations, Boards and committees, and is a sought after speaker whose delivery of information is both thoughtful and accessible. In 2017 alone, Tina spoke at 22 different events!

Tina has not only dedicated her career to the payments industry but also to helping and teaching others. Her generosity of time and spirit has earned respect and credibility with a broad audience and her contributions to the future of community banking is well documented. The Awards Committee are delighted to name Tina Giorgio as our 2018 Educator Award Winner.

Sue Hutchison has been widely recognized for her industry expertise and knowledge, and the Awards Committee commended her ability to deliver compelling, articulate and accessible information on a broad range of topics from Block chain, APIs, faster payments and global cash management. She has built and led several businesses in banking and fintech and is known for her capacity to drive change and to challenge the status quo. Earlier in her career she led diverse teams across the globe and successfully transitioned a flailing business back to profitability. Most recently she served as the Chief Commercial Officer for Payments Canada, leading industry relations and stakeholder engagement teams. She is a certified director, who is active in her community and has always been a passionate and committed mentor and advocate for women.

The winner of multiple industry awards, Sue is committed to her own continuous growth and learning, and is an authentic and inclusive leader who generously shares her knowledge and invests her time in others. For her work in delivering global payment capabilities, advancing the payments dialogue and her dynamic engagement in multiple industry platforms and forums, the Awards Committee are delighted to name Sue Hutchison as our 2018 Thought Leader.

Sue Hutchison is formerly Chief Commercial Officer at Payments Canada where she led the Industry Relations and Stakeholder Engagement teams, Marketing and Communications as well the the collaborative industry forums including the Members’ Advisory and Stakeholder Advisory Committees. Her background includes Canadian and global leadership roles in Financial Technology, and Senior Executives roles at two global banks in Payments and Transaction Banking, Commercial and Corporate Banking, Retail Banking and Wealth Management.

A certified Director, Ms. Hutchison has been actively involved in her community, serving as a member of both the Board of Directors of Payments Canada (CPA), and the Stakeholder Advisory Committee, Board Member of BC Women’s Hospital Foundation, and Vice-Chair, Nature Conservancy of Canada, BC region. Sue was the Founder and Chair of the HSBC Women’s Network and has been an active mentor to emerging leaders.

Sue was a recipient of the Top 100: Canada’s Most Powerful Women and an honouree of the Knowledge and Leadership award from the Association of Women in Finance (AWF) in 2010 and a nominee for the Performance ad Excellence award in 2009.

Mamata impressed the committee with the enormous professional growth and leadership development she has shown in a relatively short period of time. In just two years she has succeeded in helping to further propel Interac’s digital and cross border capabilities and is helping to provide Canadian consumers with more choices in paying whenever and wherever they choose. Throughout her tenure, Mamata has shown strong initiative and drive and she tirelessly engages with stakeholders both inside and outside of her organization. She has helped develop and deliver ‘Innovation Focus’ webinars to help organizations accelerate their ecommerce and payment strategies, spoken in public forums on emerging trends in this field. Described as a “leader among her colleagues”, she has emerged as an extremely active and engaged employee, who volunteers her time both personally and professionally, and her passion, drive and commitment for everything she does makes Mamata our 2018 WIP “Under 30 Rising Star”.

Mamata Krishnamurthy is Manager, Digital Payments at Interac responsible for driving new e‐commerce solutions for the Canadian market. She is currently leading the cross‐border and international e‐commerce product strategy for Interac, which includes developing critical relationships with acquirers, PSPs and merchants from around the world as well as with Canadian financial institutions.

Prior to joining Interac, Mamata worked as a Consultant for Morgan Stanley in Montreal on the Mobile Computing Enterprise Infrastructure team and in New Jersey for STEALTHbits Technologies, a cybersecurity software company for credential and data management. She holds a Master of Science degree in Information Systems from Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey and Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from VTU, India.

The Awards committee applauded Lisa’s long standing contribution to the payments industry, acknowledging her deep expertise and advocacy for innovative change in payments, cash management and trade. Lisa has established a reputation for her work in uncovering creative ways to apply technologies both internally and externally to better serve clients. Described as an out-of-the box thinker who promotes efficiency, she is intellectually curious, humble yet confident and extremely articulate and diligent in her efforts to continuously lobby for and actively contribute to the task of modernizing business payments. A sought after speaker at various industry events and a session leader as SIBOS, Nacha, Payments Canada, SWIFT and many other forums, she is also a mentor and coach to many women (and men) across the Payments industry. Lisa’s close involvement with Payments Modernization places her at the centre of innovation and the exciting changes to be unleashed with the Real Time Rail, ISO, 20022 and APIs along with Canada’s newer payment infrastructure. The Award Committee are proud to name Lisa as our 2018 Innovation Winner.

Lisa is responsible for setting the strategic direction and leading the Business Deposit Portfolio & Treasury Solutions line of business that serve small business and corporate clients. Based on a strong commitment to its clients, RBC’s Business Financial Services division holds the leading market share across Canada in business loans and deposits/investments.

Lisa has over 25 years of banking experience with over 15 years of expertise in the area of payments, leading and executing key strategies supporting global transaction banking businesses. She joined RBC in the summer of 2012, having held a number of increasingly senior management and executive roles in Business Financial Services, Global Transaction Banking, Commercial Banking and Operations. Lisa has experience in many industry forums, sits on the Board of Directors for SWIFT and has previously held a Board position with the Canadian Payments Association.

Katherine McConnell is the CEO and Founder of Brighte, a leading Australian fintech that provides on-the-spot finance for home energy improvements. To date, Brighte has approved over $50m in lending for 5,000 Australian homeowners.

Before starting Brighte, Katherine worked for 16 years in Investment Banking and Financial Services. Fourteen of those were at Macquarie Bank where she was a founding member of their Australian Energy Leasing business.

Katherine also previously worked as an Economist in the Commonwealth Government’s Department of Finance and as a Policy Analyst at the Federal Treasury.

WHY THE AWARDS COMMITTEE SELECTED HER NOMINATION

The WiP Award for Innovation is awarded to a nominee who has promoted payments innovation through creativity, vision, and perseverance in her organisation or the payments industry.

This year’s winner has been acknowledged in the payments and fintech industries as someone who has built a collaborative, inclusive and high performing team, fostering diversity and focusing on excellence.

The calibre of investors in her company is testament to her ideas, as well as an ability to quickly and successfully navigate the many challenges faced by start-up companies.

The success of her company and the recognition she enjoys in our ecosystem as a leader, is owing to her personal attributes - humility, leadership, knowledge and attention to detail.

Rebecca has worked in Transactional Banking at NAB for the last 4 years, most recently in Payments as the New Payments Platform Product Manager at NAB. She joined NAB as a Products and Markets Graduate in 2015 and has worked in a range of payments roles including strategy, innovation, partnerships and product management.

WHY THE AWARDS COMMITTEE SELECTED HER NOMINATION

The winner for this year’s Emerging Leader award has already established a track record of demonstrated leadership and professional excellence in the payments industry that belies her relatively short career. She has become a highly knowledgeable and impactful contributor to industry discussions. ‘Innovative and bold’ is how her referees describe her. Through her robust and passionate contributions to industry debates, she brings a blend of commercial acumen and product expertise to payment forums. She is a successful catalyst in motivating others to create active and robust conversations in the industry to drive the best outcomes for Osko, the NPP and previously BPAY. Leading a high performing team with excellence to drive product performance and new product development, and through her thought leadership, she is said to be leading the design of future products and services on the NPP.

And it doesn’t stop there…

As a former participant in a graduate program herself, Rebecca is actively involved in the development of graduates - she mentors and coaches several current and past graduates. This nominee is also a passionate advocate of women in banking, mentoring & developing future female leaders.

A standout nominee, from what was a large and hugely talented pool of nominations for the 2018 Women in Payments Emerging Leader award this year.

Kim Tyler is the Head of Scheme Management & Operations at BPAY Group.

Having joined BPAY Group almost 15 years ago, Kim has close to 30 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry. Possessing an extensive background in payments, her roles have ranged from customer relationship, operational leadership, scheme ecosystem, governance and risk.

Kim has managed a range of high-performing teams that have delivered superior customer service and substantial savings through a commitment to continuous improvement and process re-engineering. Kim is a proactive leader with a focus on nurturing her teams to deliver a result that benefits the end customer, believing that everyone around the table should be actively encouraged to have a voice, no matter the forum.

WHY THE AWARDS COMMITTEE SELECTED HER NOMINATION

The Advocate for Women Award is awarded to an individual who actively contributes to the advancement and development of women either inside or outside his or her organization, who publicly celebrates the work and accomplishments of female leaders, and leads by example; promoting and broadcasting the need to support and advocate for female leadership.

Inspired by attending a Women in Payment’s event in 2017, this year’s winner has been instrumental in launching a program within her own organization to support emerging female leaders. This program, now endorsed by the organization’s leadership team, provides an opportunity for women to network, seek advice and encourages female leaders to take ownership of their own professional growth and development.

Kim is an outstanding advocate for woman and diversity within her own organization and has mentored countless young women throughout her career in payments and financial services.

Kim is actively involved in a number of industry working groups where she takes a conscious role to support and develop female participation within these forums.

Laurie impressed the committee with the sheer longevity of her work in female advocacy. In 2007 she founded the WLN (Women’s Leadership Network) which has grown to become one of the largest and most active business affinity groups at Mastercard with over 26 chapters and 2400 members across the global organization.

Vocal about all aspects of gender inequality she highlights the existence of unconscious bias and works with both men and women to raise awareness and develop sponsorship for women across the gender divide. She has created multiple programs to connect senior women with the upcoming generation of women, and created lean-in circles to promote dialogue centered on supporting and nurturing the growth of women in their careers.

Laurie also participates as a steering committee member for Mastercard’s Women in Technology organization, which focuses on empowering women and offers educational scholarships and creating opportunities for girls in the STEM field. Most recently she created a woman’s sponsorship program that pairs high potential aspiring women with senior executives across the company. A hugely successful program that will be expanded in 2018.

For her tireless work in advocating for women, the Awards Committee commend Laurie Waligurski in all her endeavors.

The Awards Committee received an overwhelming number of nominations for Michelle, and her work and contributions have been recognized from multiple sources across industry, including praise from industry leaders in competitive organizations. Michelle’s level of commitment, dedication and passion for this industry was richly illustrated, and although she has already achieved extensive success, the Award Committee believe she still has a huge runway in front of her. She has been the driving force behind a number of impactful brand awareness campaigns, helped develop new channels, kept a laser focus on the customer experience and expanded consumer and B2B businesses. She was repeatedly described as a consummate relationship builder and partnership manager, and throughout it all she has been a consistent advocate for female empowerment, leading with a clarity of vision and supporting others along her way. Her many nominators spoke of her willingness to help others, her mentorship, her personal drive to be the best she can be and the way in which she inspires others to strive for the same.

Bisi’s nomination perfectly encapsulated what the Award Committee looks for in this category. She is truly inventive and committed to the pursuit of transformative and revolutionary change. Described by many as a compelling, ground-breaking visionary, she is also recognized for her passion and commitment for encouraging and inspiring others to participate and strive for excellence.

Having enjoyed an enormously successful career in the auto business, Bisi has been able to parlay her unique knowledge and engineering brilliance into the payments field, as she works to reimagine the way in which consumers pay. Bisi brings a supremely fresh and unique perspective to the payments industry and through her collaborative efforts with internal and external partners, she is enabling Visa to disrupt and reinvent itself.

Beyond her work in payments, the committee noted that she invests a considerable amount of her time in helping others succeed in their personal and career goals. As a role model she shatters numerous stereotypes and is breaking down the glass ceiling for women in engineering, technology and innovation. The Award Committee applaud Bisi for her many achievements and drive, and congratulate her on becoming our 2018 Innovation Award recipient.

Elizabeth possesses many qualities that the Awards committee look for in this category. Embracing a complex and challenging senior mandate at Klarna, she has succeeded in establishing a U.S. footprint and has helped build a sophisticated and progressive brand, which is particularly impressive given the company’s short tenure in the market. She displays bravery, a strength of character and a composure beyond her years, and her willingness to take risks and step outside of her comfort zone was admired by the committee.

Elizabeth’s nominees spoke repeatedly of her tireless work ethic, her passion and her commitment to the payments and fintech industry. Moreover her investment of time in developing her team and giving back to her community speaks volumes about her sense of integrity and future leadership potential.

Having established herself as a promising force in the payment space, the Awards Committee congratulate Elizabeth on being named our 2018 Rising Star and we look forward to watching her career continue to flourish.