Driving Change in the Retail Payments Landscape

By PYMNTS | November 16, 2010

Name: Deborah J. Baxley

Title: Principal

What I’m working on now… Dramatically raising the level of innovation in the retail payments landscape.

My crowning achievement is… Working with banks in China to pioneer the credit card business at the dawn of their retail banking era.

Industry Association Awards… Elected officer of Smart Card Alliance Payments Council, Certified Smart Card Industry Professional, Smart Card Alliance Leadership, Education and Advancement Program, 2010 ”Top 3 Contributor” as a leading contributor in Smart Card Alliance Payments Council.

Education… Computer science at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, and mathematics at University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.

When I’m not working, I like to… Travel to exotic locations, cook exotic gourmet meals, collaborate with my husband to decorate.

My favorite payment factor is… My iPhone – hopefully, in the near future!

I think the next big thing in payments is… Chip-enabled payments that are more secure and convenient – NFC and EMV.

Cash is… Covered with germs.

Checks are… Old-fashioned.

NFC is… Along with the power of location-based mobile marketing, be the greatest innovation in payments since the birth of plastic.

EMV is… Inevitable in the U.S.

P2P will… The most revolutionary event in the history of finance. Uniquely ubiquitous in time and space. “De-territorializes” and “de-governmentalizes” commerce, disaggregating the macro economy to provide unprecedented benefit to 4 billion people at the bottom of the pyramid.

My mentor is… Patti Prairie, who I worked for at the beginning of my IBM career, was my client at American Express and Beneficial, and is now my collaborator and confidant in her new role pioneering carbon tracking at Brighter Planet – she taught me critical thinking, persuasive writing and empathizing with client needs.

Executive Bio: Deborah Baxley is an international payments consultant, recognized expert in industry, creator of growth strategies for new and existing markets and 30-year IBM veteran with more than 15 years experience consulting to cards and payment companies. She has in-depth experience in mobile payments, credit cards and retail financial services, is widely recognized for insights on the future of retail payments, and frequent keynote speaker and prolific author on topics of mobile, advanced payments and innovations in fraud prevention.