Writers
PaymentsPulse features a team of talented writers with a variety of backgrounds. Click on the writer’s
name to send them an email.
Kurt Strawhecker
kurt@thestrawgroup.com
Kurt Strawhecker, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of The Strawhecker Group, is Editor and Chief of PaymentsPulse. He is a well-respected and admired leader in the electronic transaction industry with 25 years of executive experience in marketing and financial services. Strawhecker provides specialized consulting services to diverse organizations in the merchant acquiring space including ISOs, acquirers, financial institutions, card associations, third-party processors and providers. Strawhecker attended the University of Nebraska and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Advertising.
jamie@thestrawgroup.com
Jamie Savant helmed one of the largest acquirers in the U.S.—Humboldt Merchant Services. In 1997, Savant co-founded Humboldt Merchant Services and as their Executive Vice President, he advanced the entity to become the 49th largest merchant acquirer in the country with 15,000 merchants processing over $1 billion annually. Savant is a member of the Electronic Transaction Association (ETA) and sits on the board of the Western States Acquirers Association (WSAA) Jamie is focused on Financial Trends and has written for several industry publications
bdavis@thestrawgroup.com
Barry is our resident Financial News expert. He is a Business Development and Consulting Executive with over 12 years of experience in the Electronic Payments and Financial Services industries.
ray@thestrawgroup.com
Ray is our expert writer on financial Valuation and Portfolio Management. Sobczyk has over thirty years of financial management experience in the Payment Industry, having held several senior management positions at First Data Corp including First Data Resources CFO, SVP Finance-M&A, SVP Finance- Merchant Services, and Government Solutions CFO
mike@thestrawgroup.com
Mike is our financial Trends writer and research guru at PaymentsPulse. Mike is well respected in the Payments industry for his reporting of
- ETA/TSG Economic Indicators Report
- The Emerging ISOs of America Study
- TSG’s Top 120 Acquirers Report
- The Electronic Payments Industry Encyclopedia
- 10+ additional presentations on various payments industry topics and trends in 2009
ANuss@thestrawgroup.com
Andrew Nuss, a Marketing Associate, assists Mike Strawhecker in managing TSG’s Marketing and Strategic Research Division and is our news research writer. Nuss also contributes extensively to the creation and distribution of TSG’s NewsFilter, a weekly industry newsletter delivered to over 4,000 recipients inside and outside of the payments industry. Nuss completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) as a Marketing Major with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) along with a Minor in Accounting, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He also received a marketing excellence award as one of the top marketing students throughout the junior and senior classes at UNO.
BLoewens@thestrawgroup.com
Bob is our inhouse Financial Industry news and strategic research writer. Loewens served as an intern for TSG while completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) as a triple finance major with degrees in investment science and portfolio management, banking and financial markets, and business finance along with a minor in accounting. In June of 2009 Loewens successfully completed Level One of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is currently a Level Two Candidate.