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Meet Our Leadership Team!
Making Financial Experiences Better
®
Heather Schumacher
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Heather leads the Central Payments operations team which includes implementations, IT, ACH, settlement and quality assurance. She brings more than 20 years of financial services experience, leadership and operations excellence to this role. She has extensive experience in the payments space working with several issuing banks and numerous program managers and processors. Heather believes in building people, and teams, around a culture of innovation and success.
Eric Cotton
Executive Vice President
& General Manager
With more than 15 years of experience in payments at a national issuing bank and national program manager, Eric brings a unique point of view to many of the challenges faced in the payments industry today. His proven track record in product and program development demonstrates his acumen for propelling concepts to market. He is the driving force behind successfully launching and overseeing programs utilizing Central Payment's Open*CP Fintech API MarketplaceSM, one of the only true bank-as-a-service payment platforms.
Nikkee Rhody
Executive Vice President, Chief of Strategy & Executive Director of Falls Fintech
With more than 20 years of experience in financial services and payments, Nikkee is responsible for ensuring that the Central Payments suite of services, products, and technological capabilities are responsive to the marketplace. Nikkee is also the co-founder and managing director of Falls Fintech, Central Payments’ fintech accelerator program. She also sits on the advisory board for RiftPay, a fintech company that was part of Falls Fintech cohort two.
Chad Noble
Chief Financial Officer, Business Intelligence
Chad joined the team in August of 2022 with over 25 years of experience in financial services and technology. Chad is responsible for providing insights through reporting and analytics to help Central Payments and partners achieve new heights. Chad’s broad, multi-disciplined, multi-industry background brings a unique and innovative perspective on improving product and operational profitability. In addition, he also serves as a member of the South Dakota State University Math Department Advisory Board and the University of South Dakota Analytics Advisory Council.
Jessica Drew, Esq.
Senior Vice President, General Counsel
Jessica joined Central Payments in August 2022 with over 19 years providing legal counsel in banking, payments, corporate governance and fintech. She has oversight of the compliance, anti-money laundering, security corporate governance, fraud risk management, vendor management and legal teams and processes. She also serves on various Company risk and governance committees and is based in Sioux Falls, SD and is also Treasurer of the Financial Fraud Consortium Board.
Jennifer Boone
Senior Vice President &
Chief Information Officer
Jennifer is responsible for administering the strategy and means by which data is used, delivered, shared, stored, and accessed by Central Payments’ employees and authorized third parties as well as management of technology-related assets, security, vendors, and regulatory/industry compliance and certifications. She has over two decades of experience as a successful leader in the telecommunications industry, including account management, sales engineering, product marketing and service delivery.
Chris Schattin
Senior Vice President of Revenue
Chris joined the team in August of 2022 and brought over 20 years of experience leading sales departments in the financial services industry. He is responsible for building the bridges of revenue accelerated by our capital raise. He has direct responsibilities for Sales, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships but is also be a key team member of strategy, product and go to market initiatives for the company.
Zack Bowen
Senior Vice President of Partner Success
Zack leads the partner success area including business development & partner solutions teams. He has over ten years of experience in selling SaaS software, applications, professional services and real estate and has a strong background building strategic relationships, selling and supporting both direct clients and partners who integrate with digital banking applications, ERP, mobile wallet technology and payment solutions.
Sridevi Anwar
Senior Vice President, Compliance & Risk
Sridevi leads our compliance, risk, and AML/BSA teams at Central Payments from a day-to-day perspective and for future strategic growth, which includes overseeing and improving all aspects of the compliance management system, enterprise risk practices and reporting, regulatory change, and audit processes. In addition, she ensures all Central Payments’ distributor AML programs conform with applicable legal and regulatory standards. Sridevi has extensive experience in the fintech space covering compliance, card operations, earned wage access and program management. A licensed attorney and active member of the Minnesota Bar since 1999, her previous experience also covers employment, commercial and insurance litigation.
Adrian Escalona Jr.
Vice President & Senior Legal Counsel
Adrian joined Central Payments after spending almost a decade as in-house counsel in the short-term consumer financial services industry. Adrian’s well-rounded business experience in conjunction with his work in regulatory compliance, secured and unsecured lending, and commercial agreement negotiation, provides the necessary background to support an ever changing and growing business. Some of Adrian’s primary responsibilities at Central Payments include providing legal guidance on complex legal issues, drafting and negotiating commercial contracts, identifying risks, and resolving issues.
Shannon Huether
Vice President of Project
Management & Implementations
Shannon is responsible for applying expert knowledge, providing strategic direction, and solving complex challenges for partners. She brings a detailed and timely approach to Central Payments’ implementations. Her broad background includes deep implementation experience working with numerous program managers, processors, and associations. She focuses on producing and delivering programs that are compliant, on-time, and on-budget.
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Mark Lanners
Vice President of Information Systems
Mark oversees the information systems, including database administration and technology helpdesk functions at Central Payments. Mark has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry. He brings a wealth of knowledge in database administration, data governance, network architecture, network infrastructure and a passion for strategic leadership.
Leah Christenson
Vice President of Platform Services
With seven years of experience in prepaid issuing & program management, Leah has a strong understanding of program, client and vendor management. Leah leads Central Payments’ program management team, who contribute to program implementation, day-to-day operations and overall cardholder experience. Leah is a 2020 graduate of Embe Women’s Leadership program and 2021 graduate of Leadership South Dakota.
Michele Lambert
Vice President & Controller
Michele has more than 25 years of accounting and operations experience in the payments industry with national issuing banks. Her background includes financial and regulatory reporting, reconciliation, project management and escheatment. She brings extensive experience developing and enhancing internal controls and implementing process improvements focused on accuracy and efficiency to this role.