PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Oct. 17, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Smart Card Alliance is celebrating the many achievements of its industry councils – Access Control, Health and Human Services, Identity, Internet of Things Security, Mobile, Payments, and Transportation – and member companies today through awarding 2016 Honor Roll and Center of Excellence designations.

Industry Council Recognition
The Smart Card Alliance’s 2016 Honor Roll recognizes individual members and top contributors in each of the industry councils whose contributions in the past year greatly assisted the Alliance in fulfilling its mission.

Member-led and driven, the Smart Card Alliance industry councils have made significant contributions to the smart card industry through publishing education and outreach material for different markets, hosting webinars and workshops, developing industry positions on key government and private initiatives, and establishing relationships with related industry groups. The results of the councils’ work are helping to drive smart card implementations in the U.S. and providing authoritative educational material for both the U.S. and international smart card markets.

“Each year, we recognize our qualifying top individual and organizational contributors and our most active council members for their outstanding leadership and expertise through our annual honor roll and Center of Excellence programs,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “I thank all of our Smart Card Alliance council members for donating their valuable time and efforts to contribute to many Alliance projects throughout the year. Their dedication has led to the creation of indispensable educational resources that are helping to move so many markets within the industry forward.”

The 2016 Honor Roll was compiled based on council leadership, project leadership, project participation and meeting participation from July 2015 through June 2016. The top contributors recognized were:

  • Access Control Council. Chair David Helbock, XTec, Inc., and top contributors Mark Dale, XTec, Inc.; Lolie Kull, Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Steve Rogers, IQ Devices; and Adam Shane, AMAG Technology.
  • Health and Human Services Council. Chair Morgan Richard, XTec, Inc., and top contributors David Batchelor, LifeMed ID, Inc.; John Ekers, ABnote; and Bryan Russell, XTec Inc.
  • Identity Council. Chair Frazier Evans, Booz Allen Hamilton, and top contributors Philip Andreae, Oberthur Technologies; Peter Cattaneo, Identiv; Sal D’Agostino, IDmachines; and Michael Poitner, NXP Semiconductors.
  • Internet of Things Security Council. Chair Willy Dommen, Accenture, and top contributors Gonda Lamberink, Underwriters Laboratories (UL); Sami Nassar, NXP Semiconductors; and Christopher Williams, Exponent.
  • Mobile Council. Chair Sadiq Mohammed, Mastercard, and top contributors Deborah Baxley, Paygility; Steve Rogers, IQ Devices; Tony Sabetti, CPI Card Group; and Sridher Swaminathan, First Data.
  • Payments Council. Chair Jack Jania, Gemalto, and top contributors Deborah Baxley, Paygility; Sarah Hartman, TSYS; Oliver Manahan, Infineon Technologies; and Sridher Swaminathan, First Data.
  • Transportation Council. Chair Jerry Kane, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), and top contributors Carol Kuester, Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC); Tina Morch-Pierre, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART); and Brian Stein, CH2M.

For more information on Smart Card Alliance Industry Councils, and the complete listing of the names and member organizations who qualified for the Council Honor Roll for 2016, visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org/alliance-industry-councils/.

Center of Excellence Organizations
The Smart Card Alliance also announced the organizations receiving the 2016 Smart Card Alliance Center of Excellence designation. The COE program recognizes an elite mix of member organizations who, each year, reach the highest level of active participation in the Alliance by having made outstanding contributions in the form of organization-wide leadership of time, talent and resources across a wide mix of Alliance activities.

This year, Center of Excellence recipients are: Advanced Card Systems; American Express; Chase Card Services; CPI Card Group; Discover Financial Services; First Data; Gemalto; Giesecke & Devrient; Heartland Payment Systems; Hewlett-Packard Enterprise; Infineon Technologies; Ingenico Group, North America; Intercede Limited; Mastercard Worldwide; NXP Semiconductors; Oberthur Technologies; TSYS; UL; Valid USA; Visa Inc.; Wells Fargo; Xerox; and XTec, Inc.

For more information about the Smart Card Alliance Center of Excellence, visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org/activities-center-of-excellence/.

About the Smart Card Alliance
The Smart Card Alliance is a not-for-profit, multi-industry association working to stimulate the understanding, adoption, use and widespread application of smart card technology.

Through specific projects such as education programs, market research, advocacy, industry relations and open forums, the Alliance keeps its members connected to industry leaders and innovative thought. The Alliance is the single industry voice for smart cards, leading industry discussion on the impact and value of smart cards in the U.S. and Latin America. For more information please visit http://www.smartcardalliance.org.

CONTACT: Megan Shamas
Montner Tech PR
203-226-9290
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