GENERAL SESSION / WEDNESDAY / SEPTEMBER 20, 2017 / 10:00 AM

The Great Debate: Should payments providers adopt a single mobile platform?

Some industry pundits believe that a universal platform is a must for widespread consumer adoption of mobile payments. At the very least, they insist, mobile solutions should share standard features, which individual providers could then add to as desired. Could such an approach stifle innovation — or would it accelerate the growth of mobile payments?

PANELISTS

Cherian Abraham | Senior Business Consultant | Experian

Cherian Abraham is a senior business consultant at Experian. He focuses on digital commerce, payments and fraud for Experian and its global clients in banking and retail. Cherian works to extend Experian’s global capabilities in fraud, identity and credit risk into the online and mobile channel. Outside of Experian, he serves on the board of advisors at SimplyTapp, creators of Host Card Emulation (HCE) in Android, and at ModoPayments, a retail platform for personalized and instant in-store gifts and offers. Prior to Experian, Cherian founded DROP LABS, a mobile commerce strategy and advisory practice that offered objective research and analysis on mobile payment technologies and initiatives.

Donna Embry | Chief Payments Advisor | Payment Alliance International

As of 2017, Donna Embry has 50 plus years of experience in the payments industry and currently serves as Chief Payments Advisors for Payment Alliance International (PAI). Her prior executive positions include Executive Vice President, Product and Marketing for Vital Processing (TSYS Acquiring) and Senior Vice President, Electronic Banking for PNC Bank, as well as Chief Operations Officer for PNC’s former division, CFC Financial Services. Embry authored the first ETA publication, The Encyclopedia of Terminology for the Acquiring Industry, and developed/taught the inaugural introduction series of classes for ETA University. She is currently chair of the ETA Body of Knowledge working group.

Quam Erogbogbo | Sr. Director, Head of Software Services | Samsung Electronics America

Quam Erogbogbo is a Senior Director of Services and New Business at Samsung. He has been with the Samsung team since 2009. At Samsung, Quam leads strategy and operations with the launch and execution of services and strategy partnerships. With deep, strategic business growth experience in the global mobile industry, Quam has a record of maximizing strategic partnerships through business strategy, product and service innovation, and product launch. Quam has an MBA from the University of Chicago and earned an MS, Computer Engineering and a BS, Electrical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Joshua Gordon-Blake | VP of Global Partnerships | Pangea

Josh Gordon-Blake is the VP of Global Partnerships at Pangea Money Transfer, a Chicago-based international money transfer app, where he manages a team of professionals who develop and cultivate relationships with banks, processors, startups, foreign exchange houses, mobile wallets and retailers to expand Pangea and move money effortlessly throughout the world.

Mohammad Khan | President & Cofounder | Omnyway

Omnyway is the leading provider of cloud based digital commerce platform to retailers and banks so that they can deliver personalized shopping experience and integrated checkout as part their respective branded apps. Mohammad Khan also cofounded ViVOtech – a pioneering NFC company that deployed first million NFC terminals globally. Khan started his career with Verifone in 1983 and spent 15 years there. Khan has been recognized as a “leader” and a “Mover and Shaker” of the electronic payments industry, and has more than 50 patents granted or pending; Khan is also Chairman of the Board for Yellowpepper, a board member for SimplyTap, a board advisor for Poynt.

Ashish Tajpuria | SVP, Head of Emerging Payments & Commerce Partnerships | Bank of America

Ashish Tajpuria is the Emerging Payments Executive at Bank of America, responsible for managing third-party partnerships across the entire payments and commerce ecosystem for the consumer bank. Ashish’s current areas of focus include: digital wallets, card networks, loyalty, artificial intelligence (A.I.) & Internet of Things (IoT). Ashish is also responsible for managing various strategic emerging payment projects. Prior to joining Bank of America, Ashish was a member of the Chase Pay product team where his responsibilities included product strategy, roadmap development, third-party partnerships and merchant acceptance. He has a proven track record as a product manager creating new digital products across a wide range of industries.

MODERATOR

Will Hernandez | Editor | Mobile Payments Today

Will Hernandez has 14 years of experience ranging from newspapers to wire services and trade publications. Before becoming Editor of Mobile Payments Today, he spent two years as the content manager for PaymentsJournal.com, a leading payments industry news aggregator and information hub published by Mercator Advisory Group. He spent four years covering the payments industry as an associate editor for multiple publications in SourceMedia’s Payments Group based in Chicago including ATM&Debit News, CardLine, PaymentsSource.com, ISO&Agent Weekly and American Banker. Will helped launched SourceMedia’s bi-weekly newsletter, Mobile Banker, and built and cultivated the Payments Group’s first Twitter presence.