Management Advisory Group

Souheil Badran
Senior Vice President & General Manager, eCommerce Solutions
First Data Corporation

Souheil Badran leads First Data Global eCommerce Solutions as senior vice president and general manager. Powered by a suite of industry-leading services, First Data eCommerce Solutions enables businesses to transact securely in an eCommerce and Card Not Present environment and tailors to the unique needs of conducting commerce in the digital age.

Souheil joined First Data in 2007 with extensive experience in high technology organizations including sales and marketing, global product management and innovation, strategic development, mergers and acquisitions, and high-growth initiatives.

Prior to First Data, Souheil was president and general manager for Rebtel, responsible for driving Rebtel's growth strategy and operations in the Americas and APAC regions.

Prior to VeriSign, Mr. Badran was at Digital Insight, an Internet Banking provider, where he launched their Cash Management solution running in a service bureau environment. He was part of the management team that positioned the firm through a successful IPO in 1999. He has also held senior positions at Metavante Corporation.

Souheil joined Rebtel from VeriSign where he served as vice president and general manager for their international operations. He also had responsibility for VeriSign’s Global Channel and Partner programs.

Prior to VeriSign, Souheil held senior roles at Digital Insight and Metavante Corporation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Souheil received his M.B.A. in Marketing and undergraduate degree in Computer Studies from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Kevin Gallagher
General Manager of eCommerce
Merchant e-Solutions

Kevin Gallagher is the General Manager of eCommerce at Merchant e-Solutions where is responsible for the eCommerce Division, Channel Partnerships and Strategic Alliances, and Direct and Indirect Sales force. Merchant e-Solutions processes transactions for more than 60,000 merchants with more than $14 billion in card volume, and is one of the fastest growing payment processors in the eCommerce space.

Prior to his tenure with Merchant e-Solutions, Mr. Gallagher spent eight years with Chase Paymentech, a JPM Chase/First Data owned company and the world's largest merchant acquirer. He managed all Global Alliances and Partnerships, Channel Partners, VAR and Referral Partners, and Technology and Alternative Payment Providers (PayPal, Bill Me Later, Google Checkout).

Mr. Gallagher also spent five years with First Data Merchant Services, three of which were dedicated to Unified Merchant Services, a First Data/Nations Bank Venture. Mr. Gallagher also managed the company’s Inside Sales Division and helped to develop an outbound Sales Division with a staff of 25+ people. He also spent two years with Wachovia Merchant Services where he served as the Director of eCommerce with the Products and Services Divisions. Mr. Gallaher also served as the Business Development Manager with BellSouth International, where he dedicated his time to the China and Asia Pacific areas.

Mr. Gallagher has a BBA in Marketing from Georgia State University and an MBA in Marketing from Kennesaw State University and an MBA in eCommerce from Georgia State University.

Jake Sterling
Division Vice President of Payment Technology
Maritz, Inc

Jake Sterling is division vice president of partnerships and technology for Maritz, Inc.'s Real-Time Rewards business, a transactional marketing and customer engagement solution. Maritz is the premier provider of loyalty, rewards and incentive programs in North America.

Mr. Sterling has been a strategist, systems architect and product management executive for transaction-processing technologies for merchants, processors and financial institutions for 15 years. Most recently at First Data Corporation, he was responsible for setting global product strategy for a suite of payment applications used by over 250,000 retailers with over $30 billion in annual processing volume. Prior to this role, he designed and implemented the first ever multi-currency, multi-market, multi-institution card acquiring platform available with a native Internet-enabled API. He is the inventor of patents pending in the loyalty, multi-currency, electronic couponing and financial services arenas.

Mr. Sterling is a contributor to leading industry periodicals, a frequent speaker at trade shows, and holds bachelor's and master's degrees in foreign languages and engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

Ken Silver
Vice President of Integrated Payment Solutions
Paymetric

Ken Silver is the Vice President of Integrated Payment Solutions at Paymentric, Inc, the leading provider of integrated and secure enterprise payment acceptance solutions that enable companies to streamline the order-to-cash process, reduce the scope and financial burden of achieving PCI compliance and improve return on electronic payment acceptance.

In his position with Paymetric, Mr. Silver is responsible for optimizing ePayment acceptance programs for customers through his extensive expertise in enterprise payment processing. He is also responsible for forging technical and operational relationships with leading payment processors. Mr. Silver has 15+ years of leadership and executive management experience in the merchant services and payments industry.

Prior to Paymetric, Mr. Silver served as Senior Vice President, Global Enterprise Integrations for Chase Paymentech Solutions where he was responsible for architecting the business processes and connectivity of large multi-channel merchants to Chase Paymentech Solutions platforms. Additionally, Mr. Silver has held executive positions with eBillme, Chase Merchant Services and First Data Merchant Services.

Mr. Silver spent the early part of his career in direct merchant sales where he was the top corporate sales person at PNC Merchant Services specializing in the card-not-present merchant segment.