ETA Announces 2021 Young Payments Professionals Scholars

WASHINGTON, D.C. –January 13, 2021 – The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) today announced the selection of ten young professionals to participate in the 2021 ETA Young Payments Professionals Scholars (YPP) Program. The program, sponsored by Discover Global Network, provides ETA YPP scholars with mentors from leading payments companies; networking opportunities; access to ETA industry events and the opportunity to provide thought leadership and knowledge to the payments industry.

ETA’s 2021 YPP Scholars class includes senior leaders, marketing and sales channel professionals, underwriting, security and risk professionals, product managers and analysts from a variety of finance, payments and technology firms who are ETA member companies.

“ETA YPP Scholars represent the breadth of companies that make up the payments industry,” said Jodie Kelley, CEO of ETA. “We are excited to work with this year’s scholars to further their connections within the industry and look forward to collaborating with the group to create programming that will bring their perspectives to the forefront of the industry.”

The 2021 ETA YPPs scholars are:

  • Ashley Briars, Discover Financial Services
  • Katherine Carroll, Fiserv
  • Christina Ding, Visa
  • Marc Kliesner, BillingTree
  • Will Kuo, Forte Payment Systems (a CSG company)
  • Victor Lolas, Paysafe
  • Barrett Smith, JPMorgan Chase
  • Olivia Tomares, Square, Inc.
  • Megan Karbula, REPAY
  • Shamika Williams, Talus Payments

Now entering its fifth year, the year-long program is designed to identify and cultivate the next generation of payments leaders. YPP Scholars are matched with top industry leaders to serve as their mentors throughout the duration of the program. Additionally, they meet monthly, produce projects with their peers, and receive complimentary registration to ETA events, and free educational courses.

About ETA

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is the global trade association representing more than 500 payments and technology companies. ETA members make commerce possible by processing more than $7 trillion in purchases in North America and deploying payments innovations to merchants and consumers.