ow does someone become Senior Vice President for one of the world's largest payments industry processors just 10 years out of graduate school? Probably the same way a chunky junior high school student loses 50 pounds and stops being the target of classmates' taunts: through fearlessness, dedication and independent thinking.

Greg Cohen is Senior Vice President for Third Party Services at Global Payments Inc. His stunning success in improving his standing as an adolescent helped him realize that "if you want something bad enough or push yourself hard enough, you can accomplish anything," he said.

Cohen's motivation and determination are now as strong as ever. "That drive still propels me today," he said. "Whether it is the next new deal, the desire to better myself or the development need of an individual on my team, I look back to the 14-year-old kid who said, 'I am going to make this happen.'"

As a young adult, Cohen earned an MBA in Marketing and Strategic Planning from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Then he faced deciding how to best use his knowledge.

He explored career opportunities in different industries and found that each position was somewhat restricted. "Every job I looked at wanted me to do a specific task focused on a narrow segment of a specialized business," he said. He quickly realized he needed more freedom and room for growth.

Soon a friend who worked as a controller for an ISO approached Cohen and suggested they start their own ISO. "I didn't know anything about payment processing, but I did know, or thought I knew, about sales, marketing and strategy," Cohen said.

Two months later (against the advice of friends and family) Cohen moved to Atlanta and founded techTouch Cash (tTC), "with only a few thousand dollars, a line of credit off my Visa card and a lot of energy," he said.

In four short years, tTC grew to 12 regional offices with 100 sales agents serving more than 4,000 merchants. And, Cohen grew as well - not in girth, but in wisdom.

"In the end, we did not become anything close to millionaires, but taking that risk and the entire experience ... made me what I am today," he said.

He recognized the value of what he had done, even if it could not be measured in dollars. "Going after that challenge and putting years of sweat and heart into that business was my greatest achievement to date," he said.

After tTC, Cohen went on to become Vice President of Business Development for BankServ Check Services and later Vice President of Vital Merchant Services. In 2002, he joined Global.

In his current position, Cohen manages the ISOs, financial institutions, agent/partner banks, VARs and referral organizations.

Satisfaction from shared success

Cohen settled on the payments industry because of the continuous flow of opportunities it offers. He noted that while margins have diminished, business is not stagnant.

"As merchants look for more efficient solutions and stakeholders look to deliver those solutions, opportunities abound," he said. "Consumers will continue to spend, and merchants will continue to accept various forms of payment. Enabling this to happen more effectively and efficiently through a variety of distribution channels and solutions is exciting."

Cohen derives his greatest satisfaction from watching his staff blossom and leading them to victory. He reported that in the last four years, Global's stock (GPN on the New York Stock Exchange) has risen from $12 per share to $50 per share. His team has played a large part in that growth. "Success like that requires buy-in at all levels, and I enjoy being a part of that success," he said.

This sharing of achievement is a manifestation of Cohen's personal and business philosophies. When it comes to business, he believes it is critical to "take care of your customers, hire the best people you possibly can, treat your colleagues well and have some fun."

He also tries to live by the tried-and-true Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you) and believes that no one is better than anyone else. He relishes the prospect of sharing his expertise in new ways.

"Long-term, I would like to manage a venture/angel capital fund where I can help and mentor entrepreneurs and business owners to get their businesses to levels they would not be able to achieve without assistance and guidance," he said.

In the meantime, Cohen plans to continue to develop his team and himself by identifying new opportunities and taking on new challenges in the payments space.

Cohen sees many of the challenges our industry faces as opportunities. "I believe challenges breed opportunity," he said. Areas of opportunity Cohen highlighted are security and regulation, Association governance changes and competition in numerous forms.

• Security and regulation: Cohen thinks recent security breaches, government investigations and lawsuits make future regulation probable.

  "We have self-regulated for years, but it may only be a matter of time until more outside entities regulate our industry, adding cost and complexity," he said. "We have already seen new PCI [Payment Card Industry Data Security] standards and other rules and regulations regarding compliance driven by the Associations. With greater public scrutiny, this may just be the start."

  However, he does not believe regulation is necessarily a negative. "In some ways, outside regulation would be good for the industry," he said. "It would keep data in the hands of organizations who can truly protect the information."

  Cohen also pointed out that if licensing were required for sales agents (as in the insurance and securities industries), it would be a bit more difficult to enter the industry; but if candidates had to take exams and pay associated fees, perhaps those either not qualified or not serious about the industry would be weeded out.

  "I think a higher barrier to entry at all levels of our business would remove a lot of problems," he said.

  Yet, Cohen is well aware of regulation's negative aspects. "On the flip side we already have to deal with Sarbanes-Oxley, banking audits, SAS70 reviews, PCI compliance, etc. At a certain point, the costs and time consumption of compliance/regulation become onerous."

• Association governance: Acquirers derive most of their revenue from Visa U.S.A. and MasterCard International transactions. Cohen thinks that changes in these card Associations' governance may transform their operations, rules and regulations, and interchange. This could affect the acquiring world dramatically.

  "We have already seen the elimination of merchant surcharging, the 'honor all cards' mandate and financial institutions' issuing other cards," he said. "Furthermore, the exact fallout of the 'troubled damages' settlement has not yet been determined. Visa and MasterCard control much of our world, including a majority of our revenues."

  He said that acceptance, profit and public opinion will all drive the Associations' decisions, and this will affect business significantly.

• Competition: Cohen noted that while Visa and MasterCard transactions comprise the majority of electronic payments, competing networks are gaining ground. Financial institutions are now issuing Discover Financial Services LLC and American Express Co. cards, and these networks are working directly with merchants to drive "preferred" acceptance. Also, bill payment companies, biometric processors, private networks and others have increased their automated clearing house transactions.

  "Bank of America as well as a few other consortiums are considering the creation of new end-to-end, private-loop payment networks," he said. "These initiatives are not only replacing cash and check, but are attempting to move transactions away from Visa and MasterCard.

  "Store wallets and more intelligent devices at the POS are driving merchants to lower cost transaction modes." And fierce competition at every level has brought down margins.

  This is why Cohen offered the following advice to those just starting out as merchant level salespeople (MLSs): "You are not going to be able to live on selling hardware terminals. People will need to be able to live off savings or other money until their back-end residual has caught up with them."

  He also suggested that MLSs become specialists. "There are so many different products and verticals. MLSs will have to become specialists at providing a solution. They cannot try to be all things to all people."

Optimistic outlook

Cohen is very optimistic about the payments industry. "The U.S. continues to show solid growth in all payment networks," he said. "The Associations, competing payment networks and value-added organizations are busy finding ways to move cash and checks out of the system and make commerce more efficient.

"Consolidation and price compression in the U.S. market will continue, but that will leave openings for niche opportunities and vertical strategies. The line between VARs, gateways and acquirers/processors will be narrowing as players look to present full service solution suites to merchants."

In Cohen's view, international opportunities are even more exciting. "Asia Pacific, Western Europe and Latin America are all positioned for tremendous double-digit growth (much greater than the U.S.) during the next 10 years," he said.

Cohen envisions a bright future for our industry. "Overall, as long as consumers continue to buy and merchants continue to sell, there will be a healthy and vibrant space for the payments industry," he said.