Howard Allen started his career in the packaged goods industry where he managed one of the largest UK consumer marketing budgets through the mid 1980’s. He took a break from the corporate world in the late 80's to earn an MBA from Manchester Business School.

In 1990 he joined American Express and subsequently embarked on an international financial services career with this industry leader. Over 15 years he spent roughly equal time in Europe and Asia as well as working on a number of global initiatives. He has been based in London, Brighton, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore. He has considerable general management experience across Asia but also through a number of roles has functionally covered Strategic Planning, IT Management, Marketing, Sales and Relationship Management.

He left American Express in March 2005 and in his second break from corporate life he was commissioned by VRL Lafferty to write a book on the Asia Pacific Card industry. The research for this successful publication has engendered deep knowledge and a network of industry contacts from around the world. It also indirectly led him to be appointed Chief Executive of Lafferty Group Asia Pacific, a position he has held since 1st January 2006. In this role Howard is responsible for all of Lafferty Groups client relationships in Asia-Pacific as well as leading the development of Lafferty Group global products and services in the Cards and Payments arena.

Mukesh Bubna is Citi Asia Pacific Regional Director for Credit Cards. He is based in Citi Asia Pacific Consumer Group’s headquarters in Singapore.

As Regional Director for Credit Cards, Mr. Bubna is responsible for establishing the Asia Pacific prospecting strategy encompassing product, channel and market segmentation. He leads the country card teams to develop new local and regional strategies and key performance indicators.

Prior to this role in Singapore, Mr. Bubna was the Chief Financial Officer of Citi Asia Pacific Cards Group.

Before moving to the Citi Asia Pacific Regional Office, Mr. Bubna was based in India and has varied experiences in Operations, Technology and Finance. His last role in India was that of Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Citi India.

As of December 2007, Citi Cards serves over 14 mm credit card holders in 12 countries in Asia Pacific. Citi has leading market share positions in most of these countries and is known for its innovative and customer oriented products in the region.

Gordon Cooper, Regional Head of Mobile Payment, Visa Asia Pacific, first joined Visa Asia Pacific in 1998, working on various smart card initiatives across the region, with a particular focus on the Japan market. His early experience with Visa included time in the London-based headquarters for the CEMEA Region (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa), where he oversaw a number of new technology initiatives in Africa and Eastern Europe.

Returning to Asia Pacific in 2002, Cooper was responsible for managing Visa's smart card migration project in Japan and also launched Visa's first commercial contactless payment card program, Visa Wave, in Malaysia.

In 2004, Cooper moved to Ho Chi Minh City to establish Visa's representative office for Vietnam, serving as country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. He subsequently oversaw Visa's operations in Singapore and Brunei before assuming his current post as Regional Head of Mobile Payment in Visa Asia Pacific. In his current role, Cooper has overall responsibility for Visa payment and value-added services across mobile consumer devices.

Arya began his career at PT Indonesian Satellite Corporations in 1986. He joined PT Aplikanusa Lintasarta in 1988 and assumed increasing responsibilities with his last post as General Manager. Arya joined PT Artajasa Pembayaran Elektronis in 2000 as President Director.

Arya is a graduate from Bandung Institute of Technology majoring Electro Engineering.

Gehan is the Assistant Vice President for Cards and Alternate Distribution Channels at NDB bank, Sri Lanka.

His main responsibility in his current role is, as the project manager and the business head for South Asia’s first commercially launched m-Commerce product ‘eZ Pay’. The ‘eZ Pay’ product has been launched by NDB bank in partnership with Dialog Telekom PLC.

Gehan, has had broad experience over the past 18 years in both retail and corporate banking, in local and international banks. These include product development, marketing, risk management, credit administration, operations and project management, among a variety of management positions. Within the payments business Gehan has key relationships with payment associations, card issuers, card acquirers, processors and technology vendors. He is an industry leader and was the secretary of the Card Industry Task Force (CITF), Sri Lanka for many years.

Gehan started his career with ANZ Grindlays Bank and then moved over to Standard Chartered Bank with the global merger. Thereafter, he served in the public sector for a short period having held the position of Head of Cards Business at the largest commercial bank in Sri Lanka – People’s Bank, prior to taking up his current role.

Gehan holds a MBA from the University of Western Sydney, Australia and is an Associate of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and the Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka. He has also obtained the Certificate in Business Management in the Payment Industry offered by the Visa Business School Asia Pacific.

Claire started her career with British Telecommunications Plc in London, during which time she held a variety of positions in business strategy, business development and her last role in London was as product manager of BT’s portable mobile satellite service which was jointly offered with Telenor.

In 2000, Claire was seconded to Maxis Malaysia and was responsible for the Maxis prepaid product migration to an Intelligent Network platform and the deployment of other key initiatives within the fast growing Hotlink Prepaid segment. In 2002, Claire left BT to join Maxis and project managed multiple new product rollouts & in 2004 Claire returned to Product Management with responsibility for Prepaid and Enhanced Voice Product portfolio.

In 2005, Claire started her involvement in the fascinating area of M-Commerce and is currently heading the M-Commerce team within Maxis. Her current responsibilities include managing the Maxis M-money service, Mobile International Remittance, NFC implementation and developing the overall M-Commerce strategy for Maxis.

As Executive Director of GlobalPlatform, Kevin is responsible for driving awareness and accelerating adoption of GlobalPlatform’s technology standards into global markets. He is responsible for the coordination and management of the organization’s strategic planning, as well as overseeing all marketing and business development initiatives within key market sectors, namely finance, mobile telecoms, government, transit, retail and healthcare. His role will be aligned with GlobalPlatform’s Technical Director and the three existing technical committees; Card, Device and System.

From November 2002 through 2005, Kevin was actively involved in GlobalPlatform representing the organization as Marketing Center Chair. In this capacity, Kevin was responsible for leading the organization’s marketing and public relations activity.

For twelve years prior to joining GlobalPlatform, Kevin served in various marketing and business development roles at Datacard Group, most recently acting as its Head of Corporate Marketing.

As Head of Corporate Marketing, Kevin was responsible for worldwide marketing activities associated with the company’s broad range of secure identity, card personalization and card life cycle management solutions. He managed several worldwide corporate marketing functions including marketing communications, web marketing, trade show and event coordination, public relations, media advertising, marketing research and analysis and was directly responsible for Datacard’s market and brand positioning.

Prior to this role, Kevin was actively involved in the development and deployment of smart card based solutions for a variety of vertical markets, including financial, telecommunications, government, corporate and university campus. In this capacity, he was directly responsible for helping Datacard’s broad client base plan for the transition from conventional card programs to new smart card based business enterprises.

In October 2003, Kevin was elected Chairman of the Smart Card Alliance with a two year term that expired in 2005. Since 1999, he served the Smart Card Alliance on the Board of Directors, and chaired several board committees.

Kevin has worked for Honeywell, Datakey and National Computer Systems. He is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota with a degree in Business Administration – Marketing.

Jonathon Gould is Vice-President Asia-Pacific for ViVOtech. He has over 25 years of sales, marketing and general management experience in the finance and technology sectors, including 15 years in Asia-Pacific, 2 years in Europe and 10 years in the US.

Prior to ViVOtech, he was Managing Partner for Asia-Pacific Connections (APC), a boutique marketing and business development consultancy. His clients have ranged from payment associations, financial institutions, consulting firms, retailers, and technology companies. Until May 2002, Mr. Gould was Senior Vice President, Business Development, Maestro International – MasterCard’s global online debit system. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Gould was Senior Vice President, Marketing for MasterCard in Asia-Pacific. Prior to joining MasterCard, Mr. Gould was the General Manager, Asia-Pacific, for VeriFone, where he spent over eight years working throughout the region. Mr. Gould began his career in the payments industry at the Union Bank of California. He also managed corporate card marketing programs for Citicorp Diners Club (USA), before assuming marketing and business development positions of increasing responsibility with technology solutions companies in Silicon Valley, California.

Mr. Gould earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles.He is an avid sports enthusiast and enjoys distance running, cycling and dragon boating.

Hesham, Joined Bank of Alexandria as member of the new senior management team responsible for reengineering, modernizing and privatizing the bank, with the task of bringing together the strands of risk management. He is leading a team of experts in the fields of credit, operational and market risk. He is responsible for Risk Management, Central Credit Administration, and Central Investigation & Information.

Hesham is also a member of the Board of Directors in two distinguished companies:
- Egyptian Banks’ Credit Bureau
- Egyptian Iron and Steel Company

Ken Howes is a Director of Edgar, Dunn and Company (EDC), a global management consulting firm which specialises in the financial services and payments sectors. Before joining the firm in 1996 Ken spent 26 years with Midland/ HSBC bank where he held a range of executive management positions including Head of Global Cards, Electronic Banking Director and Head of Payments Strategy and Emerging Markets.

Ken, who has had broad experience in retail banking, payments and electronic commerce has been closely involved in a number of major developments in the global payments business. Within EDC, Ken, who is based in London, has led high profile and leading edge assignments for blue chip organizations in many countries throughout the world. These include product, marketing, competitive, and international expansion strategies and due diligence projects in payments, financial services and related sectors. Within the payments business Ken has key client relationships with payment associations, card issuers, card acquirers, processors and technology vendors.

Ken is also co-founder and Director of the Prepaid International Forum, which was launched in June 2007 as a trade association representing the diverse organisations involved in prepaid commerce. Ken is a graduate of Durham University in England and a Sloan Fellow of the London Business School. He has spoken widely on payments and financial services issues internationally and has contributed to numerous articles.

Garry began his 3M career in August of 2004 in Strategic Business Development and is one of the original members of the Advanced Optical Solutions team which has primary responsibility over 3M's Payment Components business. Garry has global sales and marketing responsibility for two 3M business platforms, Payment Components and Light Emitting Diode Components. Prior to his career at 3M, Garry earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a Masters in Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin. Past career experience includes New Product Development, Marketing Manager, Business Unit Manager - United States & Western Europe. Garry also has first hand sales experience in Asia, Europe, and the North America.

Kevin Phalen is accountable for developing and executing the expansion of Card Products for the Treasury Services division of JPMorgan in EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America. This includes Commercial Cards (T&E and Purchasing), Prepaid Cards and Government EBT programs. Kevin also leads the International Public Sector vertical for Treasury and Security Services at JP Morgan. Kevin has been a senior executive at the firm and heritage organizations since May, 2002. Prior to his current role, Kevin was accountable for global implementations, relationship management and program expansion of cards and emerging payment products in the United States.

Prior to joining the bank, Kevin held senior leadership roles at MasterCard International, Sears Credit, and First Data Resources. Kevin was also a founding member of Aceva Technologies a software firm developed for managing receivables for internet centric organizations.

With a career span of over 20 years, Mohd Suhail Amar Suresh brings a wealth of experience in Information Technology Systems and Applications within the Banking and Telecommunications industry, in both local and international companies in Asia Pacific.

In his current role as the Group General Manager of Malaysian Electronic Payment System (1997) Sdn Bhd (MEPS), Mohd Suhail is responsible for the Group's overall business and financial growth; and for the continuous development of product & services. In addition, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the company and all enhancements of technological infrastructure to support the financial and payment industry in Malaysia. He is also responsible for the development and delivery of the Professional Services business.

Mohd Suhail is credited with leading MEPS to be the first to introduce the real-time online payment gateway in Malaysia and the network switch provider to have the most number of regional links in South East Asia. In September 2006, he successfully led the MEPS team which received the ISO/IEC 21007:2005 certification for Information Security Management System.

Prior to joining MEPS in 2002, Mohd Suhail held the position of Project Director in various multi-national corporations; where his responsibilities included project consulting, business development and directing the implementation and systems integration of solutions within the Asia Pacific region. He has also held senior positions spanning over a 16 year period in the Information Services Division of a commercial bank; where he was responsible for the successful computerization and implementation of the core Banking Application Systems.

Mohd Suhail holds a Master of Business Administration from the Charles Stuart University, Australia and is an Associate of the Malaysian Institute Of Management and the Malaysian Institute of Bankers Association.

At StarHub, Matthew Teo has been tasked to chart the mobile commerce strategies and i-mode service.

Matthew, recognized for his specialty in mobile commerce, has acquired his expertise and knowledge in various executing and planning positions in the Telecommunications and Banking sectors. Particularly, he has been actively involved in the mobile payment, mobile commerce service, card and payment processing space in Singapore and Asia Pacific in recent years.

Tac Watanabe is a member of the EMVCo Board of Managers, representing JCB Co., Ltd.

EMVCo LLC was formed in February 1999 by Europay International, MasterCard International and Visa International to manage, maintain and enhance the EMV™ Integrated Circuit Card Specifications for Payment Systems. With the acquisition of Europay by MasterCard in 2002 and JCB joining the organisation in 2004, EMVCo is currently operated by JCB, MasterCard International, and Visa International.

EMVCo's primary role is to manage, maintain and enhance the EMV Integrated Circuit Card Specifications to ensure interoperability and acceptance of payment system integrated circuit cards on a worldwide basis.

Within JCB, Tac is Senior Vice President of Product Strategy, Global Infrastructure & Technology unit of JCB, and is responsible for developing JCB’s strategy for products and infrastructure as well as maintaining relationships with other key industry players. He was based in Los Angeles for 6 years, and during his last 2 years in Los Angeles, he was in charge of smart card and advanced technologies in the region. Upon returning to Japan in October 2003, he assumed the current responsibility.

Tac graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.