Merchant Link SecurityCents

A blog that comments on the latest developments in the world of payments, payment data security and technology, PCI compliance, and more.

Click on one of our bloggers to view their profile on LinkedIn:

Dan Lane is our Chief Executive Officer and one of Merchant Link’s founders.  Whenever we have a technology question or want insight on big picture ideas, we end up in Dan’s office. SecurityCents is the perfect vehicle for Dan to share his thoughts on the latest trends, issues and technologies that will have the biggest impact on the hospitality, retail and lodging industries. 
 

Laura Kirby-Meck  is our VP of Sales and Marketing. With over twenty years in the hospitality and technology industry, she brings a wealth of experience and expert opinion to SecurityCents. During the course of her career, Laura has held executive leadership positions with large and small, public and privately held companies including MSI, MICROS, Digex, SevenSpace, Radisson; and consulted with countless others. In fact, as a former hotelier and business owner herself, Laura can relate to the challenges in this industry and offers insight on the latest trends and issues impacting this sector.

Geoff Krieg is our Vice President of Product Management. Geoff brings over 20 years’ experience in the processor and gateway industry to direct the vision for our product development strategy. He offers a global perspective having spent a number of years working internationally in e-commerce and alternative payment methods. Prior to joining Merchant Link, Geoff helped launch TransFirst, one of the top acquirers in the United States. Before TransFirst, he also spent time at Visa International and CIAN Systems. 

Ed Learned brings more than 30 years of expertise in the payments industry in both product development and customer facing roles. Beginning with Melville Corporation he was instrumental in the early deployment of store VSAT technology. Subsequently he worked with Harmonic Systems, MerchantProcessor.com, Alliance Data Systems, Xiotech, ISD Corporation, ACI Worldwide and is currently focused on core switching and emerging payments at Merchant Link.

Ben Jared is our Director of Business Development for the retail vertical. With more than 26 years of experience within the financial, retail, and high tech industries, Ben brings deep expertise in payment processing, payment security techniques, and PCI and PA-DSS compliance. Prior to joining Merchant Link, Ben served as Area Sales Director for ACI Worldwide, Inc., where he was instrumental in doubling their retail customer base. On SecurityCents, Ben shares practical insights into emerging retail payment channels, challenges and trends.

Clark Case is our technical and data security expert. With 20+ years of customer support experience in various industries, Clark brings a wealth of expertise in information organization and knowledge management, web-based design, implementation and management. Over the last 11 years at Merchant Link, he has served as a high-level technical support rep, business analyst, and instructional designer for Merchant Link’s Learning & Development division.

Troy Mechura is our restaurant guru. Troy offers an interesting perspective on the merge between restaurants and payments. He previously was Director of Marketing and Advertising at the Texas Mechant Restaurant Association before spending a significant amount of time at EMS Payments. He understands the challenges that the food industry faces in trying to secure their payment processing systems and will offer his insights on these issues for SecurityCents.

Ben Smyth is our Product Manager of Retail and Restaurant Solutions. With more than 15 years in the payments industry, Ben brings a wealth of experience in developing products for these markets and was instrumental in the development of our point-to-point encryption solution.  During the course of his career, he has managed the integration and conversion projects for a number of major accounts including Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, La Madeleine and Columbia Sportswear, Inc.

Christian McMahon is our Senior Product Manager of Lodging Solutions. Christian has more than 15 years’ experience in the hospitality industry developing advanced payment technologies such as our tokenization and encryption solutions. He has managed new integrations such as MICROS/OPERA, Visual Matrix, ResortQuest, and iTesso, as well as rollouts for large hotel chains including Wyndham, IHG, Loews, AmericInn, Sonesta, and Red Lion hotels.  On SecurityCents, Christian draws upon his technical, support, and operational knowledge of the lodging sector to provide sound guidance and commentary.

Mike Ryan is our Director of Business Development for the retail and lodging verticals. With more than a dozen years in the payments industry working with tier 1 retailers, such as Best Buy, Rent-A-Center and Orbitz, Mike brings a wealth of expertise in providing solutions for these complex markets. His diverse background includes a wide range of experience in areas including payments, security and fraud prevention for ecommerce and brick and mortar sales channels.

Beth Farris manages all marketing communications at Merchant Link. Beth’s 16+ years of experience includes marketing positions at several technology companies and American Express. On SecurityCents, Beth seeks to provide readers with the inside scoop on trends and news in the payments industry.