Bringing together thousands of payments professionals, ETA, which just wrapped its 29th annual TRANSACT conference in Las Vegas, hosted a timely, informative event, all on the heels of several major M&A announcements impacting the payments industry.
These recent headlines underscored a defining theme of the conference, with both merchant services providers and those who partner with them evaluating not only product and service level offerings, but also the intangibles.
Few are beyond the reaches of impact of this market consolidation, and all are trying to make sense of what it means for their business long-term. That reality infused many of First American’s interactions at the show, paving the way for new partnerships with providers who share our company’s philosophy about what a successful partnership requires.
“Technology driven payments may be what we provide, but it’s how we execute on it that sets us apart,” said Rick Rizenbergs, First American’s EVP of Sales. “It starts with the development of a strategically sound and tactically realistic integration timetable, and on go-forward basis, day in, day out, no matter the issue, doing what we say we will do. This is just a fundamental part of who we are.”
That philosophy was just as evident throughout the conference week, from the Exhibit Hall show floor to the Board of Directors’ strategy session.
“At a pivotal point not only for our industry but for the Association as well, ETA leadership produced a carefully curated and thoughtfully planned conference,” said Neil Randel, CEO, First American Payment Systems. “It gave us ample opportunity both to conduct business and to help craft the Association’s future direction.”
Throughout the week, First American leadership and staff engaged with the ETA committees on which we serve, and also helped moderate panel discussions from both the Integrated Payments track and the Payments’ NexTen programming.
Alongside Heather Hatch from PAX Technology, Ingenico’s Mark Binney, and Ralph Dangelmaier of Bluesnap, First American’s VP, Global Product Sarah Adams led the standing room only discussion, All About ISVs – a straight talk conversation about payments integration.
ETA Communications Committee Chair Rebecca Walden moderated a new panel at TRANSACT, targeted to media relations professionals on how to increase news coverage with trade media. Both Dale Laszig from The Green Sheet and Kate Fitzgerald of PaymentsSource provided actionable tips to help attendees do just that.
First American is particularly proud that one of our own – Sarah Adams – achieved the distinct honor of being named to the ETA’s second annual class of Top Forty Under 40 honorees.
Post-show, the First American team is focusing on what we do best – helping our partners build sustainable competitive advantages through integrated payment service and support.
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