The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) today announced that O.B. Rawls, President of Payment Processing North America at payments provider Paysafe Group (Paysafe), will be named Distinguished Payments Professional on Tuesday, April 30, at the Visa President’s Dinner and Star Awards Gala at TRANSACT, the premier payments technology event.  The Distinguished Payments Professional is the industry’s top honor and part of the ETA Star Awards which recognize the individuals and companies making a significant difference in the payments technology industry through innovation, business practices, or contributions to the association. In addition to the Distinguished Payments Professional announcement, ETA also named the companies and individuals who are finalists for additional ETA Star Award categories.

“We are pleased to announce the companies who will be honored at the Visa President’s Dinner at TRANSACT,” said Amy Zirkle, Interim CEO of ETA. “The Star Awards are the payments industry’s highest honor and give us a chance to recognize the innovative companies and leaders from all aspects of this vibrant industry.

“It’s an honor to recognize O.B. Rawls of Paysafe as this year’s Distinguished Payments Professional. O.B. has played an instrumental role in developing and adopting new technologies, expanding the value proposition for companies and merchant customers, and truly serving as an agent of change over the past thirty years serving in the payments technology industry. He’s a wonderful partner to ETA and we are thrilled to salute him at TRANSACT.”

All nominations were judged by the ETA awards and recognition committee, comprised of a panel of industry executives of ETA member companies. Finalists were named in the following categories and the winners will be announced at the Visa President’s Dinner: ISO of the Year, FinTech Innovation in Payments, Technology Innovation, Business Partner of the Year, and Committee Volunteer of the Year.

Individual Awards:

Distinguished Payments Professional Recipient 
An individual who has demonstrated significant leadership within the industry and is an acknowledged trend-setter, role model, and positive contributor to its efficacy and image.

• O.B. Rawls

Pay It Forward Recipient
Recognizes an unsung payments industry hero who has exhibited selfless acts of kindness to improve their community and make the world a better place through community service.

• Pamela Joseph

Committee Volunteer of the Year Finalists: An ETA committee volunteer who has dedicated extraordinary time and effort to his or her committee, ensuring its overall success.

• Russell Palay, Nuvei
• Jared Poulson, Payroc
• Craig Ross, Apple

Company Awards:

ISO of the Year Finalists: An ETA member who is currently registered with Visa and Mastercard whose actions move the payments industry forward, exhibits high ethical standards, and has successfully met industry challenges with demonstrated results. ISOs of all sizes are eligible.

• C&H Financial Services, Inc.
• Payroc
• Pineapple Payments

FinTech Innovation in Payments Finalists: A company whose innovative practices and leadership have raised the bar for the payments industry and changed the business model of the industry.

• Adyen
• BillingTree
• Pushpay
• Square

Business Partner of the Year Finalists: A current ETA member company who has demonstrated an exceptional level of support for the association to further the association’s goals and objectives.

• ControlScan
• talech
• Worldpay

Product/Solution Awards:

Technology Innovation Finalists: Recognition of a TRANSACT exhibitor who uses technology to provide a creative solution that does one of the following: promotes customer usability, increases profitability, reduces friction, or otherwise enables significant advances for the payments ecosystem.

• BlueSnap, All-in-One Payment Platform
• Amaryllis Intelligent Payment Facilitation Platform
• PayVus® by Aliaswire, Inc.
• Pineapple Payments Platform
• Womply

TRANSACT, happening April 30-May 2 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, provides 4,000 attendees with a robust exhibit hall with more than 200 exhibitors, extensive networking events, and forward-looking educational sessions on the groundbreaking technologies, trends and policies shaping the payments industry. Click here to register for TRANSACT, the world’s largest payments technology event.

SOURCE ETA