David Cole,
Partner

David Cole has over twenty five years experience in cards, computing and management services.  He has excellent knowledge of applications in the credit, debit, salary, pre-paid and payment card industry.  Over the last twelve years he has been involved heavily in the development of processing and the emergence of Smart Cards and the EMV standards.  He has become a leading exponent in the use of Smart Cards across all market sectors, to exploit and utilize the opportunities the technology provides for expansion of the business into new sectors such as the unbanked, efficiency of operations often using a proven outsourced model and the drive to increased profits. He has developed strategies and implemented schemes to support the use of salary based cards in a processing centre environment.

David’s main areas of expertise include strategic, technical and business investigation, business studies, company investigations, marketing plans, business and financial plan preparation, market surveys, on-going technical review of Card and EFT systems, training and team management.  His experience has covered Card Launch, Transaction Outsourcing, EMV Smart Card developments in all market sectors, Secure Electronic Commerce and other related applications.  In addition he has worked on ATM, EFTPOS, Fraud Systems, Card Management, Billing Systems and the International Payment systems. 

David’s main role will be to develop the solutions and manage the company and its business development direction. David has already provided solutions and shown them to work in Russia and Nigeria. His industry connections will overcome many of the obstacles during startup related to the agreements with card companies, acquirers, and banks. His understanding of how similar companies work will accelerate the time to production. David has worked with Financial Institutions, Card Schemes, Retailers, Loyalty Providers, Travel Companies, Oil Companies and Telecommunications Providers. He has produced and delivered courses, seminars and workshops, explaining and exploring all aspects of the business and technical side of smart card based applications and services.

Steven Hodge,
Partner

Steven Hodge brings deep firsthand knowledge of business establishment, improvement, and business change implementations in culturally diverse and difficult situations. He is a natural problem-solver with more than 20 years experience of business development and management, change management, risk management, stakeholder management, project management, and information management within the financial services, telecoms, service delivery, technology, and networking sectors. Steven works across all business areas to drive goal achievement and improve profitability in established and new markets. He has a wide international experience including residential periods in Germany, Hong Kong, Russia, and the United States of America. He is a fluent German speaker, holds a UK passport as well as a USA resident visa.

Steven established and built the Tandem Computers subsidiary in Moscow. This involved developing sales and support capabilities, hiring and training local staff, and managing the business and P&L for a period of three years. Later, on behalf of Compaq Computer GmbH in Germany, Steven spent two years as the crisis and relationship manager for Deutsche Telekom. He has formed companies in Germany, Russia, the United States Virgin Islands, and the UK.

Steven’s task will be to set up the business and the operational processes for the day to day operation of the company. He will manage staff; manage the relationships with customers, suppliers, regulators, and governments. He will be responsible for the financial control of the operation.

D. Jerry Garcia,
CEO

D. Jerry Garcia Throughout his career, he has worked with both the public and private sectors. He started his professional career as a management consultant for the European division of Alexander Proudfoot, a change-management consulting firm, where his tasks concentrated on productivity management, organizational development and strategic planning for organizations such as American Express (France), British Aerospace (Great Britain), and H&M (Sweden). He left Alexander Proudfoot to become executive director of the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Virgin Islands, where he was liaison between St. Croix’s business community and the local government. After several years, he launched Results Marketing, a commercial marketing agency, garnering clients in Europe, the Caribbean and United States. Always in search of a professional challenge, Jerry later joined President Clinton’s Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments which brought him to Washington, DC. Jerry served in the capacity of Special Assistant for Committee and Staff Affairs and Public Relations, reporting directly to the President. In addition, he has served on the advisory board of the Small Business Development Center (Washington, DC.), has been an instructor in entrepreneurial skills for the Corporation for Employment and Training and has worked for several consulting firms within the Washington, DC area concentrating on organizational development. He has extensive knowledge of federal contracting; most recently working with HUD on community, social and economic development housing issues. His most recent client is PuntoCom, a multimedia company, located in Rome, Italy.

Jerry is a native and resident of the USVI and has extensive networks and experience in dealing with complex organizations and will drive the awareness program and sales across the Caribbean Region. This will create a lot of exposure with merchants and governments. His close contacts with the Government in the USVI will ensure that we provide workable solutions for the public sector.