About Elavon

Vice Chair, Payment Services

Shailesh Kotwal is vice chair, U.S. Bancorp Payment Services. Appointed to the position in March 2015, Kotwal leads a division that provides digital and card-based payment and money movement capabilities to consumers, businesses, and institutions of all sizes in North America and Europe. Kotwal has more than 30 years of experience in international financial services. He has managed several businesses throughout his career including consumer banking, payments and cards, wealth management, insurance, mortgages, deposits, and lending in 30 different countries across North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Kotwal is a Chartered Accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance. He serves on the board of Early Warning Systems (Zelle) and the New York City chapter of the American Red Cross.

EVP, Head of Merchant Payment Services

Jamie Walker has been with Elavon since 2001 and served as chief executive officer since 2017. He is responsible for Elavon’s global acquiring business, operating with more than 4,000 employees in the United States, Canada and throughout Europe.

Since joining Elavon, Walker’s leadership roles have spanned many areas. They include leading accounting operations, managing acquisitions and international expansion as chief financial officer, and assessing risk and opportunities for strategic growth in the role of chief administrative officer for U.S. Bank’s Payment Services division.

Walker holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and marketing from Emory University. He is active in the Atlanta community and serves on the board of directors for the Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber of Commerce, Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) and American Transaction Processors Coalition (ATPC).

Global Head of Strategy and Corporate Development

Manny Cofresi Jr. oversees Elavon’s global strategy, mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, and strategic partnerships.

Prior to joining Elavon, Manny held various senior executive roles within Automatic Data Processing, membership on the International Executive Committee, and acted as a Board Member for ADP’s operations in Mainland China. He has also served as a Strategic Advisor to WestSphere, a Private Equity firm, and as an Investment Banker at Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.

Manny has an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business, a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering/Device Physics from Cornell University, a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation, and a Charter Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He is also a Director Member of the Latino Corporate Directors Association.

Head of Acquiring Risk and Compliance

Kevin Troxell is responsible for providing a holistic view on business line risks as well as U.S. Bank risk framework implementation within the business. He leads a team that assesses new industry trends and emerging risks. Troxell is also responsible for driving business enablement through business line engagement while maintaining risk frameworks.

Before joining U.S. Bank, he spent a decade at Bank of America in positions of increasing leadership responsibility in risk management and regulatory compliance.

Troxell earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Virginia Tech. He is also attending the executive banking school at the Consumer Bankers Association with an anticipated graduation date of August 2024.

Deputy General Counsel, Payment Services

Lauren Giles is senior vice president and associate general counsel at U.S. Bank and chief counsel of the bank’s payment processing and merchant acquiring subsidiary Elavon. She has overall responsibility for the bank’s Retail Payment Solutions business, as well as the global Elavon legal team.

Before joining Elavon, Lauren specialized in payment card issuing and acquiring, merchant processing and new payment product development at Alston & Bird. In particular, she focused on the development of person-to-person and faster payment systems.

Giles has a bachelor’s degree in political science and creative writing from Emory University and a Juris Doctorate from New York University Law School. She is a member of the National Leadership Board of the Michael C. Carlos Museum.

Chief Administrative Officer

As Chief Administrative Officer, Kim Osborn is responsible for managing all overarching operational functions at Elavon, implementing efficient administrative efforts and strategic initiatives that enhance organizational performance. In addition, Osborn focuses on creating a positive, inclusive culture for employees across the global footprint. She leads the teams responsible for Global Employee Experience, Corporate Marketing & Events, Inclusive Growth & Community Impact, and Organizational Change Management.

Before joining Elavon in 2018, Osborn was a consultant at North Highland. In this role, she led the brand strategy practice and was a senior project delivery leader, specializing in customer and employee experience, branding, and marketing.

Osborn holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Florida. She serves on the advisory board for the Georgia Fintech Academy and Women in Payments.

Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Payments

Brad joined U.S. Bank as the Chief Financial Officer for the Corporate Payments division in ’16. In 2020, his responsibilities expanded to include the Prepaid and Global Treasury Management divisions. In 2023, his role expanded to include Elavon.

Brad graduated from the University of North Dakota with a BA in Accounting, received an MBA from the University of St. Thomas and attended the Executive Program at the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) School of Business. Additionally, he graduated from GE’s Executive Financial Leadership Program and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Chief Product Officer

As Chief Product Officer, Pari Sawant spearheads the Elavon product portfolio, acting as a strategic leader, visionary, and champion for product advancements across the organization.

Prior to joining Elavon in 2022, Sawant served as Head of Product at Adobe, where he led the Document Cloud business on Adobe.com. Pari also led the launch of machine learning and AI capabilities on the Adobe Experience Platform. Prior to Adobe, Sawant held diverse senior product and technology leadership roles with MetricStream, Fiserv, eBay and Hewlett-Packard for more than 20 years.

Sawant has an MBA from the Haas School of Business, Berkeley and a Masters in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Head of POS Lending

Mia Huntington brings more than 20 years of financial services experience and a background in technology solutions to Elavon. With a reputation for driving results and successfully executing strategy, Huntington currently leads Elavon’s Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) business, which strives to deliver compelling customer solutions to the market and develop commercial models in one of the fastest growing areas of the organization.

In addition to her current role and prior to joining Elavon in 2001, including her tenure as the General Manager for Elavon Canada, Huntington held roles at both ICONIX and Unisys Canada. Huntington holds a bachelor’s degree from McMaster University in Canada and is a member of U.S. Bank Americas Holdings Board, as well as the Women in Payments Advisory Board.

Chief Information Officer, Payment Services Technology

As Chief Information Officer, Rachel Hansen leads payment technology for U.S. Bank and Elavon. Hansen is heavily focused on advancing U.S. Bank and Elavon technologies through business alignment, developing an overarching technology strategy and implementation plan.

Since joining U.S. Bank and Elavon in 2003, Hansen has held several roles across the organization including her tenure in Corporate Payment Systems, Financial Crime and Fraud Technology, Compliance and Enterprise Services and more. Hansen also serves on the Board of Directors for Pivital, a global IT project management firm and is an Executive Sponsor of Elavon’s partnership with the Georgia Fintech Academy.

Hansen has a Bachelor of Business, Information Technology from the University of Colorado and continued her education obtaining a Banking Graduate Degree from the Pacific Coast Banking School.

Chief Credit Officer, Elavon and Small Business Credit Cards

Akash leads the global credit and fraud risk management organization, which oversees underwriting and loss prevention at Elavon, as well as airline credit globally. In addition, Dua is also responsible for the credit risk management of small business credit cards. Prior to his current role, Dua served as the Senior Vice President of Consumer Risk Management at U.S. Bank.

Before joining U.S. Bank Dua worked for Amazon in product leadership for their NA co-branded credit card programs. Additionally, Dua’s experience includes risk leadership roles at Lending Club and American Express and consulting roles at Fair Issac.

Dua holds an MBA in Finance from the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon and graduated with honors in Economics from Delhi University.

Head of Merchant, Corporate and Commercial Banking

Nicole Tackett is the as head of Merchant for Corporate and Commercial Banking. In this role, Nicole collaborates with leaders across Elavon and Corporate and Commercial Banking to develop business, product, and revenue management strategies on behalf of vertical specialty groups across U.S. Bank.

Prior to joining U.S. Bank, Nicole managed Global Product and Marketing at WEX Inc. leading the globalization of its commercial card product, building international brand awareness, creating lead generation strategies to sustain growth, and developing customer retention strategies.

Nicole earned a BBA from the University of Georgia and her MBA from the University of Maryland. In 2018 and 2021, Nicole was named Most Influential Women in Payments by Payments Source.

Head of Merchant Business Banking

Jordan Owen leads a team of 200+ who drive merchant success within business banking at Elavon. With a remarkable track record of driving innovation in the payments space, both in bank-backed institutions and private equity funded fintech’s, Owen has also previously led new country expansion for the likes of the Dutch payments firm Mollie and has held leadership positions and commercial roles at Barclaycard, Worldpay and Morgan Stanley. Owen has dedicated her career to championing excellence in merchant solutions and has cultivated strong relationships with industry partners along the way, delivering results and solutions that optimize for customer experience, efficiency, and profitability.

Owen holds a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Durham University and post graduate qualifications from London School of Economics.

Head of Partner Revenue

Leading our Partner Revenue team, Paul Sari has responsibilities for signing and growing our merchant business through strategic partnerships including financial institutions, merchant service providers and tech-led software.

Before Paul joined Elavon in 2021, he served as the Chief Commercial Officer at PayFlex. He previously worked at BNY Mellon as the Managing Director for Platinum Client Group in their investment management and wealth management businesses. He has also led the business development and client management functions for JPMorgan Chase and its corporate prepaid card franchise. In addition to his successful payment services career, Paul served as an Infantry Officer in the United States Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment.

Paul has a bachelor’s degree from The Citadel and a Master of Business Administration from the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.

Head of Operations, North America

Joy Lyons is SVP, Head of North America Operations for Elavon, a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank. Joy brings 20 years of operations experience, with strengths in employee engagement, innovation, and operations transformation. With an organization spanning North America, Joy loves traveling to interact with her team to hear their voice on ideas to enhance the customer journey. She values the urgency and accountability required for success in a global environment while ensuring a focus on customer experience and operational efficiency.

Before joining Elavon, Joy held roles of increasing responsibility at Bank of America and Ally Bank.

Joy is a graduate of the University of Tennessee Knoxville, a Six Sigma Black Belt and an active alumnae member of Alpha Delta Pi and UTK. In 2023, Joy received the Electronics Transaction Association’s Pay It Forward Star Award and was a finalist for the Women In Payments Change Agent award.

Joy enjoys traveling, attending concerts, and spending time supporting University of Tennessee athletics. Her free time is often spent volunteering in the community with a focus on services impacting women and children.

Head of Product and Sales Operations

As head of product and sales operations, Rob Grant leads the Elavon organization in product and sales enablement and optimization and is also responsible for Elavon’s portfolio of strategic initiatives.

Grant rejoined Elavon in 2019 to lead the Global Mergers and Acquisitions Integration team. Prior to rejoining U.S. Bank, Grant was at JPMC leading an International Expansion initiative with the mandate to expand merchant services capabilities across APAC and LATAM. Prior to joining JPMC, Grant was at Elavon Inc. since 1999 where he was a member of the Executive team and was Elavon’s Chief of Staff and Head of Enterprise Program Management Office, where he was instrumental in the delivery of high-value solutions to customers and partners.

Grant has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia, and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

President, Elavon Europe

Hemlata Narasimhan was appointed European President of Elavon Merchant Services in 2022 and is responsible for 1000 employees in seven countries.

Prior to joining Elavon, Hemlata led the merchant and acquiring business for Visa in Europe. She was also responsible for the growth in Europe of Cybersource – a payment platform acquired by Visa in 2010, and an Elavon partner.

Prior to Visa, Hemlata spent almost seven years at American Express in New York and London and had a successful career in management consulting with the Boston Consulting Group.

Hemlata is based in London.

Head of Strategic Projects

As the Head of Strategic Projects and a member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), Danielle Balch oversees a range of global initiatives and drives the strategic priorities for U.S. Bank, Merchant Payment Services (MPS). Alongside the Head of MPS, Balch works to to remove roadblocks, provide strategic support, and drive accountability within the leadership team for timely delivery against business goals. She also plays a pivotal role in evolving the SLT operating model to foster greater alignment and elevate the business operations IQ of the leadership team, as well as streamline processes and reduce administrative burdens, ensuring the seamless coordination of senior leadership events.

Outside of her primary responsibilities, Balch serves as co-chair and mentor for the U.S. Bank Atlanta Black Leadership Council, is a champion for the Women in Payments partnership and is a member of Management Leaders for Tomorrow.

Balch holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a BBA from Florida Atlantic University, and has a Prosci Certificate of Change Management. She brings more than 20 years of experience in operational readiness, specializing in post-merger integration, business transformation, organization design, and change management.

In her free time, Balch enjoys traveling the globe, having visited more than 40 countries, and has passion for the arts.