The University of Kansas School of Business

Trevecca Nazarene University

Stanford University Graduate School of Business

Harvard Law School

Payments  -  Fintech  -  Market Development  -  Client Success  -  Credit  -  Debit  -  Prepaid  -  Virtual  -  Mobile

AnyDay is the world’s first vertically integrated provider of on-demand payment solutions - powered by QRails. The AnyDay platform enables organizations to deliver instant payment of earned wages to employees at low-to-no cost.

AnyDay is focused on increasing financial wellness in the modern working world through our intuitive platform. Behind the scenes, our dedicated team has extensive experience in financial services and a track record of success in growing new businesses in the payments industry.

QRails, Inc.

Managing Director, Sales & Development

The Auto Club Group (ACG) provides membership, roadside assistance, travel, insurance and financial services offerings to over 10 million members and customers across 11 states and 2 US territories. ACG belongs to the national AAA federation with over 60 million members and is the 2nd largest AAA club in North America.

Bank officer responsible for the AAA Mastercard credit card portfolio and payment products line of business within AAA Bank.  Deliver the strategic vision, marketing acquisition plans and execution tactics driving card member penetration and engagement across Auto Club Group’s LOB distribution channels. 
 
>>	Reversed the declining credit card revenue stream implementing multiple strategic initiatives: AAA member market segmentation, added understanding customer journeys, quicker champion – challenger marketing campaign cycles, and active listening with LOB managers / producers.

>>	Created AAA Bank product distribution team to promote member referrals across credit cards, auto loans, mortgage and CD products.   Initiated product education and sales training webinars accelerating new account production across LOB leadership / producers.

>>	Over 13+ month period evaluated credit card portfolio purchase options with US Bank, Accenture, and West Monroe Partners.   Identified three strategic options and chose to significantly renegotiate of the existing agreement. Added contract provisions in support of AAA Bank expansion across North America.

AAA-The Auto Club Group

VP Head of Credit Cards & Payments

Founded in 2010, Marqeta has re-engineered how payment cards, virtual cards, and mobile authorization products should be developed and deployed. The Marqeta Platform, built from the ground up with no legacy infrastructure, provides the world’s first fully documented, open API issuer processor platform. Adopters of The Marqeta Platform include leading financial services, e-commerce, retail, and social media brands.

Under leadership of the Chief Revenue Officer,  I was responsible for driving sales revenues, creating new pricing models, introducing new card program analytics, expanding network relationships, supporting client success initiatives, and aligning business development playbook across Marqeta's SaaS payment platform solutions. (< 30% domestic travel)

>>	In 2015, developed sales operational processes, Salesforce pipeline targets, and pursuit plans across three strategic verticals:  commerce disrupters, prepaid innovators and bank innovators.  

>>  In 2016, pivoted strategy to B2B product focus and closed 12 deals across four verticals:  on demand delivery, expense management, lending, and disbursement marketplaces.  Keenly focused on optimizing our financial performance and supporting Series C / Series D funding rounds.  Revenues grew 10X.

>>  Evangelist for Marqeta across industry events and association meetings.  Maintain deep competitive and industry knowledge driving revenue strategy and client success.

Marqeta, Inc.

VP Business Development

i2c, Inc. provides the cloud-based infrastructure financial institutions, corporations, brands and governments need to launch and profitably manage payment and next-generation commerce products. Its global-ready SaaS platform encompasses card-based, virtual and mobile payments, loyalty and back office solutions. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, i2c supports clients on five continents from six sales and support offices worldwide.

Under the direction of the founder and CEO, I was responsible for spearheading i2c's global payment processing expansion across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Middle East regions.  Led client expansion into new these new geographic markets. Established new channel partnerships promoting i2c's SaaS payment processing services (<50% domestic, 25% international travel).

	Built new global business development team to successfully prospect 500+ targets, , respond to 70+ RFP proposals,  negotiate contracts, close 40+ deals, and launch new customers within quarterly sales targets.  

	Leveraged  i2c’s existing platform solutions to scale i2c double-digit revenue growth in partnership with product, engineering, client development, marketing, finance, compliance and risk management teams.

	Identified and prioritized new sales opportunities  to drive new opportunities across US, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and African  marketplaces.

	Expanded and managed collaboration with clients, issuing banks, consultancies, network associations, and third party stakeholders – including VISA APMEA agreement to replace existing VISA platform clients.

	Champion for i2c across global industry events and association meetings.  Brought deeper competitive and industry knowledge to global business strategy and client discussions.

i2c Inc.

SVP, Head of Global Sales

Within TSYS Loyalty & Prepaid business unit, I led new B2B business development efforts, launched go-to-market strategies and drove customer-focused strategies  to deeper engage with existing TSYS core banking clients and targeted prospects (>25% domestic travel).

	Developed new loyalty and prepaid marketing strategies by leveraging TSYS card transactions and metadata schemes. Designed card marketing program calendars and performance metrics for key blue-chip clients including 300+ financial institutions, card issuers, and consumer brands.

	Led all aspects of new business development, including  the launch of account growth strategies across 200+ TSYS core banking clients.   Integrated loyalty & prepaid sales revenue targets into existing TSYS client teams’ annual performance plans.

	Managed the sales pipeline, sourced qualifying opportunities and closed contractual agreements with leading global financial services and consumer retail brands.

TSYS

Head of Sales & Marketing, Financial Institutions

Recruited to start-up new B2B business unit within the Cards division (NYSE: FIS) with 5 direct reports.  Launched new SaaS card portfolio management service to build client loyalty serving 3200+ credit unions and 4000+ community banks – delivering new FIS brand promise to increase credit card profitability or FIS would not earn our portfolio management fees.  Created performance-based models, mitigated risk exposures, led analytic marketing campaigns, managed diverse customer lifecycle behaviors, and supported national FIS Sales teams (>25% domestic travel).

	With initial focus to retain de-converting FIS Card processing clients, the MVP product was delivered within five-months.  Immediately saved and signed first client. Delivered strategic plan scaling new revenue stream over $125mm with 30+% net margin by 2012. (Clients included First American, MAPS, Motor City ++)

	Built new card portfolio management team and aligned with global FIS functions:  finance, sales, marketing, product, operations, technology, loyalty services, and third-party vendors.  Increased cross-selling of FIS products, while executing clients’ product segmentation strategies.

	Developed FIS card processes to identify and mitigate card issuer operating risks, realign / segment card marketing offerings, execute “test and learn” models, lift credit transaction volumes, reduce attrition, develop brand promotions across channels (online, print, radio, in-branch) and deliver analytic insights.

	Identified as FIS thought leader delivering “state of the union” credit card industry interviews, client Seminars, event presentations, and analyst discussions.  Acknowledged CSCU / ICBA card expert for two-day “Card Growth Workshops” attended by  500+ community financial institutions across the USA.

Fidelity National Information Services

GM and VP, Portfolio Management

Led product management, loyalty consulting engagements, and business development efforts to expand brand loyalty & MasterCard Rewards Services SaaS platform solutions across MasterCard’s global payments network.  Built cardholder promotions across our B2B touch points:  merchants, issuers, acquirers and processors.  Successfully aligned Global Rewards Services to connect within global product organization and included within MasterCard International’s strategic brand objectives.  (<40% domestic, 20% international travel).

	Assessed market potential for loyalty and rewards market across MasterCard’s four global regions to exceed $100mm.  Proposed strategic positioning for business to be global market leader by 2010 by aggregating all payment types into a single loyalty platform.

	Launched new 4-person global business development team covering North America, Latin America, South America, and Europe.  Supported MasterCard’s global sales / client business leaders to manage complex product relationships and cross-country market opportunities.

	Prioritized product offerings to pursue MasterCard’s Top 75 global bankcard issuers.  Targeting mass affluent, spenders, and T&E segments.

   Identified new cross-sell opportunities integrating MasterCard Rewards offerings within global products.  Initial product focus across debit, credit and small business units.

	Developed new prospect and sales pipeline processes.  Prioritized business development pursuits. Added quarterly campaign scorecards, sales target plans and integrated marketing programs.

	Explored new strategic partnerships, joint ventures, and alliance relationships.  Directed new product development to evaluate POS / merchant rewards, nonpayment card loyalty, and relationship-based rewards.

	Performed loyalty consulting services, including diagnostic assessments, operational reviews, portfolio P&L evaluations, competitive research, strategic positioning and product recommendations.

MasterCard International

VP, Global Practice Leader - Loyalty & Rewards

Managed $1.9 billion B2B retail private label credit card P&L across 18 retail merchants in the automotive, electronics, furniture, jewelry, office supply, rural retail, and specialty retail industries – both consumer and small business segments extending across 10,000+ locations.  Led business with 5 direct reports and 16 account managers.  Supervised sales, marketing, finance, risk, customer service and operational managers executing “go-to-market” plans – focusing on portfolio profitability and customer loyalty. Responsibilities included: developing strong client relationships, executing marketing programs, providing business intelligence, prioritizing systems initiatives, evaluating portfolio strategies and developing high-performance culture (>25% domestic travel).

	Oversee portfolio producing $98+ million EBIT. Added 1.2 million new accounts in 2003.  Reduced net credit losses 11% over prior year.  Managed over 13 million cardholder accounts.

	Focusing on retention, achieved up to 42% private label credit sales penetration compared to total retail sales.   Increased cardholder applicant approval rate above 76% across five clients.

	Increased private label transaction volume 24% over prior year for select clients via new incentive pricing offers, raising brand awareness, and expanding multi-channel marketing promotions.

	Lifted private label cardholders’ average purchase ticket amount up to 32% higher than traditional bankcard customers via new customer loyalty incentives and targeted merchandise category campaigns.

	Increased private label cardholders’ average frequency of spending over 65% compared bankcard purchases by targeting customer segments in the Citi bankcard transactional data warehouse with new store promotions across several marketing channels.

	Launched and executed incentive reward programs at J.Jill (“Take 5” program), Goodyear (“Just Ask”), The Children’s Place (“PlacePoints”), Blain’s Farm and Fleet, Helzberg Jewelers and Bombay.

Citi Cards - Retail Private Label

SVP, Client Development

Directed business development and outside B2B sales team of 12 professionals to source leads, qualify 1200+ merchant prospects, sell brand promise, negotiate 160+ contract terms and execute 80+ revenue / technology deals.  Manage deal pipeline, achieved quarterly $20 million revenue targets. Scaled to 750,000+ unique monthly business users (>10% domestic travel). 

	Raised new user registration penetration from under 10% to 21% and reduced expenses by marketing and outsourcing to DoubleClick's DART, email, and sweepstakes platforms.   Within three months, produced new revenue with 24/7 Media and DoubleClick advertising banners placed across 57 marketplaces.

	Supported increased monthly audience visits to over 2.5 million by marketing new outsourced content and portal functionality from:  eBay - auctions, LeadersOnline - career search, FatBrain – bookstore.

VerticalNet, Inc.  NASDAQ: VERT

Senior Director, Corporate Development

Recruited by CEO & CMO at Fleet Credit Card Services business unit to lead business development and partnership marketing teams.  Developed strategic B2B2C targets, negotiated contracts, and launched new cobranding credit card partners.   Full P&L responsibilities for $650mm partnership portfolio including over 375,000 active accounts, 12 affinity relationships, $11 million operating budget, and 32 staff.  Responsibilities included:  delivering cardholder loyalty propositions, establishing joint-marketing programs, managing portfolio strategies and solving issues.  Worked collaboratively across marketing, customer service centers, finance, risk, legal, IT and executive teams (>20% domestic travel).

  Developed new cobrand partnership deals, including Alta Vista, S&H Greenpoints, Western Union and NetZero. Additional cobrand partners included Quick & Reilly, National Rifle Association, Working Assets, Vail Resorts, Greenpeace, Lycos, Go2Net, 24/7 Media and Gulf Oil.

  Increased “on-line” approvals over 200% for cobranded credit card partners by creating a new online joint application with a subprime issuer, CompuCredit - enabling declined Fleet applicants to be approved.

  Lifted Internet applicant approvals over 20% by building Internet risk models based on channel experience, created multi-channel marketing acquisition programs (direct mail, Email, banners, inserts, postcards).

  Launched “go-to-market” acquisition campaigns and managed loyalty reward programs for Alta Vista, NetZero, S&H Greenpoints, Lycos, and Gulf Oil.

  Led negotiations, business model discussions and closed contract resolution issues with strategic partners.

Fleet Boston NYSE: FBF

SVP, Business Development

Recruited by Vice-Chairman & CFO to provide executive sponsorship and change management leadership for bankwide finance initiatives.  Champion for the delivery of multi-national analytic financial tools and database applications across Finance, Marketing, Risk, Collections, Fraud and Customer Service.  Created and managed business unit with 42 team members, leading over 12 bankwide projects each year, investing more than $50 million over three years.  Project ROI’s exceeded 24-month 18% capital investment hurdles.  (>10% domestic, 5% international travel)

  Implemented bankwide decision support applications to support the marketing, financial and I/T analysts.  Established the first shared data warehouse with end-user datamart tools to evaluate financial data for regulatory, financial, and product ROI decision-making.

  Managed the first multinational implementation of Oracle 10.6 Financials for U.S., U.K. and Canada.  Multi-year $16mm+ initiative delivered significant operating efficiency across the general ledger, accounts payable processes, vendor management files and bankwide reporting practices.

  Created the first bankwide data warehouse using a three-tier architecture to identify revenue opportunities, increase customer data quality for decision-making models, and reduce cycle-time to implement bankwide business changes.  

In 1999, selected to engage with McKinsey & Co. to develop MBNA’s first Internet strategy.  Focused efforts to build a targeted eCommerce presence with MBNA’s customers prior to the 1999 Christmas buying season.  

  Launched MBNA’s first electronic wallet product in October 1999, initial Email response rate four times greater than corresponding 1.5% direct mail response rate.  

  Participated in development and negotiation of the $100mm Disney Go! Network cobranding partnership deal.  Analyzed eCommerce business development pursuits including:  Disney, Yahoo U.K., drugstore.com,  Sharper Image and Carnival Cruise Line.

MBNA America Bank

SVP, Strategic Initiatives

Designed and directed the implementation of Sigma-Aldrich’s ( NASDAQ:  SIAL) first enterprise-wide financial system.  Provided change management leadership, project management and information technology guidance for domestic and international projects impacting corporate operations.   (>10% domestic, 5% international travel)

	Directed UK project team through the implementation of Computer Associates’ General Ledger, Accounts Payable, and Fixed Assets projects.  Afterwards, I led separate implementations for France, Germany, and Switzerland project teams.

	Managed multi-disciplined project teams to consolidate three unique domestic operating entities’  (B-Line, Sigma,  & Aldrich) General Ledger and Fixed Assets systems.  Subsequently, implemented common software release of Accounts Payable, Purchasing, and Payroll with Time & Attendance.

	Redesigned the systems architecture for the worldwide General Ledger by reducing the complexity of posting level accounts from 1,100,000 to 125,000.  Benefits included the downsizing of DEC and IBM, reduction of man-hours, and shortened monthly corporate consolidation reporting from 14 days to 5 days.

Sigma-Aldrich

Corporate Manager

Provided management consulting services for clients, completed assignments on-time and on-budget, identified new consulting opportunities, and established long-term client relationships.  Activity-based costing client engagements included:  AT&T, Emerson Electric, Quaker Oats, Ralston-Purina, and Anheuser-Busch.

	Managed the design, implementation, and transition from a remote batch processing environment to an integrated financial and management reporting systems for Harvest Foods, a $500 MM retailer based in Little Rock, AR (33 month project, 10+ consultants, 50+ client team members) and Food Barn Stores, a $400MM Kansas City grocery Store chain (21 months, seven consultants, 30+ client team members).

	Participated as member of multi-disciplined team, which assessed the current Anheuser-Busch worldwide beer cost system located in Saint Louis.  Proposed a new cost management system to revise the standard beercost activity drivers based on a new product and packaging strategy. 

	Performed a review of the cost system requirements for Solo Cup Corporation, a $600MM Chicago-based discrete and process manufacturer.  Assessed the cost standards, cost accumulation methods, allocation methodology, cost management reporting, and costing system controls.  Based on the evaluation, client selected MRP II vendor with proven activity-based costing capabilities.

	Developed NPV models for Clark Oil & Refining Corporation to assess capital investment requirements to support several retail product scenarios and strategies.  As a result of further C&L studies, client developed and undertook an enterprise-wide retail strategy to define their customer image.

Jim Ackerson