Walmart, Starbucks execs named to PCI board

WAKEFIELD, Mass. — PCI Security Standards Council has appointed representatives from retail merchants such as Walmart, Woolworths Limited and Starbucks, as well as from the Retail Solution Providers Association, to its board of advisors.

The open, global forum for the development of payment card security standards is looking to its board to provide counsel to SSC leadership.

The board of advisors, selected by the council’s more than 690 participating organizations, will include Walmart’s SVP of finance and assistant treasurer Mike Cook, Starbucks’ VP of global infrastructure and enterprise security Dave Estlick, Woolworths’ group information risk manager Peter Cooper and the Retail Solution Providers Association’s president and CEO Joseph Finizio. Representatives from Bank of America N.A.; Bankalararasi Kart Merkezi; Barclaycard; British Airways PLC; Carlson; Cartes Bancaires; Cielo S.A.; Cisco; Citigroup Inc.; European Payment Council AISBL; FedEx; First Bank of Nigeria; First Data Merchant Services; Global Payments Inc.; Ingenico; Micros; Middle East Payment Systems; PayPal Inc.; RSA, The Security Division of EMC; and VeriFone Inc. will also sit the board and offer their perspectives in the development of PCI Standards and other payment security initiatives.

Board of advisor members will be asked to provide strategic and technical input to PCI SSC on specific areas of council focus. According to PCI, past board members have provided reach into key industry verticals and geographies to help raise awareness and adoption of PCI Standards, have shared their experience with implementing PCI Standards in presentations at the annual community meetings and have contributed guidance on training product development and led special interest groups.

“Active involvement from our participating organization base is critical to ensuring the PCI Standards remain at the front line for protection against threats to payment card data. Once again I am impressed by the turn out in the election process. It’s particularly encouraging to see new markets looking towards open global standards like the PCI Standards to help secure payment card data worldwide,” said Bob Russo, GM, PCI Security Standards Council. “The Council and wider stakeholder community will benefit from the breadth of experiences and perspectives that this new board represents.”

The board says it will support the council’s mission to raise awareness and drive adoption of PCI Standards worldwide and will kick off its work in June with its first face-to-face meeting with council management.

“This year saw more European involvement than ever in the board of advisors election process. Although Europe contains mature EMV markets, this level of involvement in the PCI SSC confirms that the combination of PCI Standards and EMV chip is a powerful force for protecting payment card data,” said Jeremy King, European director, PCI Security Standards Council. “Our new board is a truly global group, and the council will benefit greatly from its input as we continue to drive awareness and adoption of PCI Standards worldwide.”