Bob Baldwin joined Heartland Payment Systems in 2000, leaving COMFORCE Corp. to become the chief financial officer at what was a young payment processor at the time. Over the next few years, Heartland would grow substantially, raising $40 million in private equity in 2001, then going public in 2005.

Fast forward to 2012: Baldwin is now vice-chairman at Heartland, the nation’s fifth-largest processor and a company worth more than $1 billion. With his recent promotion, we thought it the perfect time to get a dose of payments perspective. In our interview with Baldwin, we talk about the biggest changes in payments over the past decade (Baldwin can name five), the challenges and needs being faced by merchants today, and what the industry can expect to see happen over the next several years (EMV? NFC? mobile?).

Bob Baldwin joined Heartland Payment Systems in 2000, leaving COMFORCE Corp. to become the chief financial officer at what was a young payment processor at the time. Over the next few years, Heartland would grow substantially, raising $40 million in private equity in 2001, then going public in 2005.

Fast forward to 2012: Baldwin is now vice-chairman at Heartland, the nation’s fifth-largest processor and a company worth more than $1 billion. With his recent promotion, we thought it the perfect time to get a dose of payments perspective. In our interview with Baldwin, we talk about the biggest changes in payments over the past decade (Baldwin can name five), the challenges and needs being faced by merchants today, and what the industry can expect to see happen over the next several years (EMV? NFC? mobile?).

Click below to listen to our entire conversation with Bob Baldwin, Vice-Chairman at Heartland Payment Systems.

Robert H.B. Baldwin, Jr.

Vice-Chairman, Heartland Payment Systems

In his role as vice chairman, Mr. Baldwin is responsible for key industry relationships, investor relations, information security, and customer service operations. A 12-year veteran of Heartland, Mr. Baldwin is also an essential collaborator with the company’s business group leaders in the planning and execution of Heartland’s growth strategies.

Mr. Baldwin joined Heartland as chief financial officer in 2000 and was promoted to president in 2007. During that time, he was instrumental in helping the company raise $40 million of private equity in 2001 and taking the company public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Mr. Baldwin currently serves on the Board of the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA).

Prior to joining Heartland, Mr. Baldwin served as the chief financial officer at COMFORCE Corporation, a publicly traded staffing company. From 1980 through 1998, he was an investment banker with Citicorp and Smith Barney, where he served as a managing director in Smith Barney’s Financial Institutions advisory business. Mr. Baldwin holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.