in Fellerman's career in financial services has spanned more than a quarter century, thanks in part to fortuitous timing, a knack for business and a keen sense of integrity. His success story unfolded the way such stories are supposed to: He started at the bottom, worked his way up the corporate ladder to become President and then went on to start his own company.

Perhaps contradicting the stereotypical rise to the top, though, Fellerman's reputation as a dedicated, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-pitch-in, hands-on boss has won him the respect of people who work for him and with him. Fellerman, President and CEO of Secure Payment Systems, is quiet and soft-spoken. He's been around the payment industry long enough to see it evolve from the time before there were such newfangled things as POS terminals and ATMs.

Today, his company specializes in providing a range of electronic information services, such as risk-management solutions, collection support, all types of card processing, and check authorization and conversion for small to medium-size retailers. His goal has been to move forward technologically while establishing and maintaining old-fashioned relationships with everyone he does business with.

The unusual facet of Fellerman's story is that he just as easily could have been a doctor instead - his quiet and soft-spoken demeanor could have been used for a soothing bedside manner instead.

Fellerman went to college with the intention of going into medicine. As a senior at UCLA in 1975, though, a job he took to earn money for school ended all that; with one genetics class to go, he switched his major to economics.

"I was pre-med for three years. I could have applied to any med school in the country, but I found I really wanted to be in business, that I was more inclined toward business," he said.

He credits part of his career choice to being in the right place at the right time. "I got a job with Telecredit to earn gas money. I was doing voice authorizations - I was lower than the mailroom clerks. There were no POS terminals then, so 99% of all traffic was voice authorized. But I was very fortunate because there was tremendous growth then, too. I was able to take advantage of that opportunity."

Fellerman went on to earn his MBA at Pepperdine University, perched on the hills above Malibu and the Pacific Ocean, but he said he wasn't really able to enjoy the view because he attended at night. By day, he continued to work his way up the corporate ladder.

Fellerman ended up staying at Telecredit for 20 years. During that time, management at Telecredit moved him around a lot, placing him in many departments and giving him practical knowledge of various aspects of the business, he said. He worked in several divisions within the company, learning the ropes and just about everything there was to know about running a large corporation.

Telecredit sent him to Tampa, Fla., and made him responsible for the check services division. He and his wife raised their two daughters there. Fellerman became Vice President of the data processing division and in 1986, became President of the entire company; he stayed in that role for 10 years, even after Equifax purchased Telecredit in 1990.

"My career path there covered many areas and was all-inclusive, from operations to product development to technology. I discovered I had a good business sense for the technology division," he said. Telecredit's management embraced advances in technology in the early days of PCs and data processing and was good at hiring smart people and letting them do what they did best, Fellerman said.

The company was open-minded to trying new things as it looked for ways to apply those technological advances to the payment industry. "We had R&D experts who were truly geniuses. We gave them free reign to design and allocated money every year for R&D. We wanted to stay ahead of the competition. We had to scrap a project every now and then, but once in awhile you hit a home run."

Fellerman and his family moved back to Southern California in 1995, when he took his first break. Retirement didn't suit him, though, and it wasn't long before he immersed himself in creating a company of his own. He started Secure Payment Systems (SPS) in 1996.

During his tenure with Telecredit, he is credited with helping to develop algorithms now used nationally by check services providers in evaluating and managing risk and in preventing check fraud. Fellerman decided to focus his knowledge and experience in a direction that would allow flexibility and close interaction with his customers. SPS offers POS transaction processing, ACH electronic check conversion and check processing, debit and loyalty card programs as well as a range of business services such as collection support and the ability to extract demographic information at the POS.

Fellerman views his corporate background, with the wide range of responsibilities and positions he held, as a definite plus. "There's no experience that you don't use in managing a small enterprise," he said. This time around, he wanted to take a different approach with his own endeavor. The challenge of starting from scratch was invigorating and rekindled his passion for business.

"Since I knew the check business, I decided to go in that direction. I hired some developers and recreated the wheel. Our focus was on delivering a broad set of products to a niche that appreciates customer service," Fellerman said.

His target market turned out to be merchants who aren't large retailers. Fellerman knew that these small and midsize businesses often don't get the same deals or considerations many of the big ones do. At SPS, he set out to provide the same benefits of affordable pricing and access to technology the bigger retailers get while establishing and maintaining old-fashioned relationships with everyone he does business with.

Fellerman describes himself as "reachable." That's his understated way of saying he's involved in every aspect of running his company, from business development to administration duties; up to now, SPS's marketing and trade advertising mostly has involved Fellerman "beating the streets, talking to merchants."

There's also no corporate bureaucracy to bog down the decision-making process at SPS. Fellerman said SPS goes out of its way to make everyone feel as if they are getting individual attention.

One of the most important characteristics of his company is the level of personalized service ISOs and merchants alike receive from SPS - and Fellerman himself.

"We want them to know that when they have questions, those questions will be answered," he said. "We don't have committees. We don't belabor pricing or equipment issues. We're here to serve customers. With the kinds of relationships we've built, we have very low attrition rates.

"We're genuinely concerned for the merchant as well as the sales agent or vendor. We always try to do the right thing and not break promises and consider ourselves to be a risk manager as well as a transaction processor. We're adding revenue and a comfort level to their bottom lines."

Along the way, though, he never has considered himself to be infallible. "We're bound to make mistakes," he said. "We're not so big we can't correct them, though."

Steve Eazell has been SPS's National Sales Director for two years and knows how important relationships and integrity are to Fellerman. Eazell was "enticed" to help lead the development of a network of sales agents and expand SPS's foothold in the market.

"This company is his baby," Eazell said. "He started it by himself after coming from the behemoths. He thrived in that environment and wanted to emulate that but not lose that close merchant contact you have in a smaller company.

"With Lin, yes means yes and no means no. I don't know many people in this industry with his integrity and knowledge. He has a real passion for the feet on the street as the heartbeat of this industry and the vehicle that these individuals provide. Servicing merchants is something that banks have pretty much given up on. He's able to forge relationships and maintain them."

A strong work ethic is a basic part of who Fellerman is, Eazell said: "Nobody can outwork him! He still does the hands-on stuff. He still occasionally comes in at 3 a.m. to begin his day, he still involves himself in the day-to-day, and it is not unusual for him to take calls from merchants and ISOs. It is something to behold."

Fellerman's personal involvement and business savvy both seem to be benefiting his company; the company's annual growth rate is 30%, he said. SPS is a privately held company with corporate offices in San Diego and the national sales office, headed by Eazell, in Northern California. SPS continues to develop its relationship with ISOs nationwide.

Fellerman's commitment to and personal investment in the company shows in the care it takes when choosing partners. "We take a long time to sign ISOs," Fellerman said. "References aren't always the end all to be all. People can get burned by individual agents working through large ISOs. The spots on a leopard don't change, and we want to work with people who have the same philosophy as we do. My reputation is on the line."

With the company's consistent growth, it was difficult for Lin to take time off, but that has changed. "With much strategic wrangling, Lin over time has successfully amassed an impressive slate of management professionals," Eazell said. "Before, he didn't have the staff and systems completely in place. Before, he'd take a weekend or two a year. This year, for the first time since 1996, he'll take a few days or even more. He's confident that he's got the team in place."

His days off might include some well-deserved R&R at the beach. Fellerman's house in Del Mar is a 10-minute drive to the ocean. His daughters, now 21 and 19, are both at USC. He said none of them regrets moving from Florida - the Southern California lifestyle suits them just fine.

Another choice he certainly doesn't regret is leaving medical school. Dr. Lin Fellerman? At this point in his life, he guesses that's not very realistic. All those pre-med studies, though, gave him a real fascination with the field; he confesses that he does enjoy a good medical drama on television every now and then.