H. West Richards

Executive Director, American Transaction Processors Coalition

H. West Richards has spent the last 25 years of his diverse career in both the public and private sector. In early 2014, he co-founded the American Transaction Processors Coalition (ATPC), along with Robert Green. The mission of the Coalition is to protect, preserve and promote the interests and advancement of the Transaction Processing industry. This also includes working with both the private and public sector to create economic development opportunities for the industry which has a high concentration of enterprises in Georgia. West is responsible for federal, state and local government relations, public affairs, community affairs, university relations and economic development. West took courses at Youngstown State University and earned his B.S. in Public Policy and Management, with a minor in Information Systems, from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Mark Monaco

Head of Enterprise Payments, Bank of America

Mark C. Monaco is head of Enterprise Payments for Bank of America. In his role, Mark is responsible for defining the bank’s payment strategy and driving the evolution and implementation of payment initiatives across the organization. Mark manages payment network partnerships, payments innovation and initiatives and Merchant Services. Mark is also a member of the management committee team.  Mark represents Bank of America as Chairman on the board of directors of the Payments Company of The Clearing House.  He also is on the boards of directors of Akoya and Early Warning, and the executive committee of card policy council of the American Bankers Association.

Mark has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, spanning investment banking, private equity and payments. Mark began his career in financial services with Credit Suisse First Boston. At CSFB, Mark was in the financial institutions group within the investment banking department and later served as Director of Finance and Corporate Development for the firm. Subsequently, he joined the firm’s private equity affiliate, Windward Capital Partners, leading investments in financial and business services, including serving as Chairman of the Board of Retriever Payment Systems, Inc. Additionally, Mark was head of Principal Investments for Brooklyn NY Holdings, LLC. Prior to joining Bank of America, Mark was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for iPayment Holdings, Inc.

Mark earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

Hemlata Narasimhan

European President, Elavon Merchant Services

Hemlata Narasimhan is the European President of Elavon Merchant Services, one of Europe’s largest payments processors.

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.

Jan Bellens

Global Sector Leader, Banking & Capital Markets, EY

Jan is the Global Sector Leader for EY’s Banking & Capital Markets Practice. He inspires and motivates EY’s 50,000+ Banking & Capital Markets professionals in consulting, strategy and transactions, tax and assurance. He supports executive teams of leading banks in their growth opportunities and multi-year business transformations. He counsels banks in defining their strategies and sponsors and supports their implementation. In the last two decades, Jan has worked closely with banking clients in over 25 countries, with over 15 years in Asia.

Jan’s main experience domains are: innovating business and operating models for global and regional banks; driving revenue growth in Retail Banking, Payments, Wealth Management; leading radical productivity improvement through new technologies; designing and implementing Digital and Mobile Banking models; and partnering with FinTechs to drive innovation in traditional banks

Jan contributes extensively to EY’s global thought leadership. His most recent publications are in the domains of sustainable finance, financial inclusion, and innovation in consumer financial services.

Jan is currently based in New York. He has lived in Singapore for seven years and in China for eight. Before EY, Jan was a partner with McKinsey in Europe and Asia.  Jan has a BA in business economics and an MBA from INSEAD.

Martina King

CEO, Featurespace

Martina is the CEO of Featurespace and leads a team of technology experts on a mission to make the world a safer place to transact. Over the last ten years, Martina and the Featurespace team have built a leading enterprise software business that protects people and organizations from the rising threats of fraud and financial crime.  Featurespace’s award winning machine learning technology is trusted by over 50 leading financial institutions globally including HSBC, TSYS, Worldpay, NatWest Group, eftpos, Danske Bank and ClearBank. Featurespace has raised more than £100 million in funding, attracting investment from leading technology funds: MissionOG, Highland Capital and Insight Partners.

Martina was formerly the Managing Director of augmented reality company Aurasma. Prior to this Martina had an extensive career in media and technology, including leadership roles at Yahoo! Europe and Capital Radio.

Martina has received international recognition for her services to the payments industry, bringing new ideas, and helping to develop technology that changes the way people exchange money. Since 2018 PaymentsSource has honored Martina with the “Most Influential Women in Payments” accolade – very rarely awarded to individuals – for the fourth consecutive year. The award followed her 2019 “Industry Achievement Award from Cards & Payments”, Silicon Republic naming her a “Top 40 Powerful Women in Tech”, Cambridge News crowning her as its “Business Person of the Year” and Martina named as “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” in Business Weekly’s 30th Anniversary Awards. In 2022, Martina received the highest accolade in a room filled with high‐level achievers. Known as the ‘Oscars for Technology Entrepreneurs’, the judges recognized her outstanding personal and company achievements by awarding her with the “Special Achievement Award.” Under her leadership Featurespace continues to go from strength to strength, picking up a Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation in 2021, alongside 15 industry awards for fraud and financial crime risk protection.

Chris Como

GM and Head of Product, Cards & Money Movement, FIS

Chris Como leads the Cards and Money Movement business which provides issuer processing solutions (credit, debit and prepaid), value added services (loyalty, risk, and digital capabilities), network services, and money movement services to over 6,000 clients. Prior to his GM role, Chris was head of product for Payment Solutions.

Chris joined FIS after 15 years at Visa, where he created, developed and led Visa Consulting & Analytics an integrated management and data consulting service advising financial institutions. He advised US and global card issuing clients on new product development, marketing, risk, and operational efficiency.

Before that, he held roles at Deloitte, in the Strategy and Operations practice; American Express, as a finance officer; and Sapient, as a technology architect. He is a payments leader with over 20 years of global experience as a management consultant, financial analyst and technology architect in payments.

Chris holds a Master of Business Administration from NYU and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Cornell University.

Roger Tym

Partner, Hogan Lovells

Roger is a partner in our Commercial and Retail Banking team, with particular experience in payments, consumer credit and mortgage regulation. He works with a broad cross-section of banks (both international and local, established and challenger), specialist lenders and payment service providers and infrastructure providers.

Roger works with these clients and with the key industry bodies to help with the development and implementation of new law and regulation.  He also advises on the ongoing impact for all aspects of our clients' businesses, such as licensing and prudential requirements, product design, alliances like distribution and outsourcing arrangements, and transfers of portfolios or businesses.

As an example of the breadth of Roger’s practice, he has recently been involved in the largest European payments acquisition, establishment of a new bank, working with UK Finance and clients to influence the development and implementation of the Payment Accounts Directive and the new Payment Services Directive, helping clients make changes to prepare for the Mortgage Credit Directive and working on some new business models in the payments sector.

Roger has lived with the issues facing our clients both in-house, leading legal teams within Lloyds TSB and NatWest, and in private practice.  He has also supported the industry as a member of the legal panels of the British Bankers Association and the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Sara Castelhano 

P20 Chair & Co-Head, EMEA Payments & Commerce Solutions, J.P. Morgan

Sara is co-Head Payments and Commerce Solutions for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) within the Payments business.  The Payments & Commerce business at JP Morgan combines Global Payments and Merchant Acquiring to provide integrated solutions to clients around the globe.  She has end-to-end Product Management responsibilities and is accountable for the provision of pay-in and pay-out products across 13 countries and over 120 currencies.

Sara has worked in a variety of Product roles, supporting various product sets across wealth management, retail banking and transaction banking.  She is recognized thought-leader in Transaction Banking, featuring in various industry publications and represents J.P. Morgan at global conferences.  Sara is the chair of the Board of J.P. Morgan Middle East Limited.

Samantha Emery

Director, Payments Industry & Development, Lloyds Bank

Samantha joined Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) in 2021 and is responsible for leading the strategic direction on payments, including driving payments strategy, fostering payments partnerships and managing the Group’s external relationships across the payments industry and regulators. Samantha also delivers enterprise-wide services including; domestic and international payments settlement, liquidity and scheme management; payments design consultancy; and payments policy compliance.

Previously, Samantha held roles at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), leading both payments supervision and the regulator’s globally recognised fintech agenda. Prior to this, Samantha held several senior positions at NatWest/RBS in Global Transaction Services (GTS) leading on digital innovation, strategy design, transformation, and regulatory change.

A constant theme throughout her career has been driving progress on inclusion, diversity and allyship. Samantha was appointed as a Director of Swift in 2022 and Deputy Chair in 2023. She also sits on the LBG Fintech Investment Board, acts in a shareholder/advisory capacity to fintechs, and is the LBG payments representative on several prominent industry groups.

Chiro Aikat

Executive Vice President, U.S. Market Development, Mastercard

Chiro Aikat is executive vice president of U.S. market development for Mastercard and a member of the company’s management committee.  In this role, he leads a team focused on advancing commercial and strategic efforts with key acceptance partners across the country, including merchants, acquirers and processors.

He also has oversight of the commercial center of excellence and public sector engagement in the U.S., while helping to cultivate relationships with merchants operating across multiple regions.

Throughout his two decades at Mastercard, Chiro has played an integral role in helping all customers implement a wide range of products and programs across the U.S. market.  Prior to this role, he led the development and management of the company’s priority initiatives in North America, such as Mastercard Installments/buy now pay later, open banking, account-to-account payments, and bill pay, ensuring continued value delivered to merchants, financial institutions and consumers.

He has also helped lead a team that co-created and customized solutions for some of the largest issuers across the globe.  Earlier in his career, he was part of the leadership effort to migrate the U.S. market to the EMV chip standard, as well as the introduction of contactless payments in North America.

Chiro holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Saint Louis University.

Dan Williams

Partner, McKinsey & Co

Dan Williams is Partner in the Washington, D.C., office of McKinsey & Company.  He leads the Enterprise Risk Management Service Line as a leader in the Risk Practice.  Dan has both in depth experience in supporting institutions design and implement effective risk management and oversight operating models across lines of defense, including selecting and implementing risk and compliance tools and technology.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Dan was a National Bank Examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC, member of the FFIEC), where he led as an Examiner-in-Charge (EIC) or participated as an exam team member on examinations at over 40 distinct depository institutions.  As an EIC, Dan delivered an enforcement action to the Board of a problem bank, mandating significant changes to the bank’s organizational structure that greatly enhanced the control environment and the effectiveness of the risk management function.  As an examiner, Dan served as an EIC at US Branches of FBOs and domestic regional banking entities in the New York Metro area.

Dan holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and has his B.S.F.S. in International Economics from Georgetown University.

Simon Eacott

Head of Payments , NatWest

Simon has extensive Leadership experience in the Payments industry, with expertise in strategic change programmes, cash management sales, operations and product management.

In his current role as Head of Payments for NatWest Group, Simon is responsible for implementing the Group’s Payments strategy including, Product and Scheme management, Operations and Innovation.

Prior to this role Simon was Head of Design and Franchise Delivery leading teams to deliver transformational change to meet alternative State Aid remedies with the European Commission and Her Majesty’s Treasury following the decision to stand down the divestment of Williams & Glyn.

Simon joined RBS in 1994 from HSBC where he held various leadership roles in Payments and Cash Management.

Well known and respected at industry fora, Simon is chair of the Strategic Participant Group supporting Pay.UK and has recently taken up a position as an Advisory Board member of Pennies (pennies.org.uk)

Simon has two children and he is a keen cyclist and golfer as well as a long suffering fan of Yeovil Town Football Club.

Richard Swales

Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, Paysafe

Richard joined Paysafe in October 2019 and has global responsibility for Risk, Compliance, Regulatory Affairs and ESG Reporting.

Richard brings extensive knowledge of these various disciplines gained during a 30+ year career which has seen him work in Europe, Asia and the US. He started his career working in the public sector as an Officer for the UK’s HM Customs & Excise followed by more than 25 years in banking, commercial finance, insurance, telecoms and payments with a focus on risk management, compliance, operational effectiveness, regulatory affairs, strategy and business development. Richard has also led initiatives in developing markets with an emphasis on financial inclusion.

Before Paysafe he worked for PayPal where he spent nine years leading their global risk and compliance strategy and was instrumental in supporting significant growth for the business.

David Pitt

Chief Executive Officer, Pay.UK

David joined Pay.UK in July 2021. David has a strong and successful track record delivering high profile projects both in the UK and internationally, and leading organisations through periods of transformational change. Most recently he delivered a transformation strategy at the Government’s Test, Trace and Containment operation where he was Chief Operating Officer, responsible for overseeing the end-to-end process to improve overall delivery across the UK. David was COO at esure leading the business through major transformational change prior to its sale. He has also held senior roles at RSA Insurance, including CEO, Greater China.

Elena Whisler

Chief Client Officer, The Clearing House

Elena Whisler is Chief Client Officer at The Clearing House, responsible for creating and managing the holistic experience for its customers and partners. This role includes growing the RTP® network across U.S. financial institutions, evolving the customer engagement model for all TCH payments networks and promoting the company’s work to its diverse target segments.

Elena has deep experience with product and customers in the payments industry.  Prior to joining The Clearing House, Elena held regional and global product management positions at FIS, Clear2Pay and Fiserv where she was focused on building products and services across the global enterprise payments landscape.  These roles included managing R&D across ACH, Wires, Swift, ISO 20022 and real-time payments. She also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank within the Retail Product Office and Monetary Policy Divisions with a focus on cross-border activities and economic policy in Latin America.

Elena currently serves on the Women in Payments Advisory Board, the P20 Board as well as the Girls on the Run Board. She has previously served on multiple industry councils such as the Board of Directors for BAFT (Banking Association for Finance and Trade) and the NACHA Alliance.

Elena holds a B.A. in Economics and International Affairs from Denison University and an M.S. in International Affairs from Georgia Institute of Technology.