ePayResources Payments Award Recipients

2023:  Laura Steele, ePayResources
Steele, ePayResources' former CEO, for her exemplary leadership in advancing, implementing, and promoting electronic payments. Laura’s impact on the payments world and payments professionals is exemplified in her leadership in the formation of the Center for Payments, a collaborative of 10 payments associations to advance the payments industry as a united voice through market intelligence and thought leadership. 

2022:  German Vargas, Ocean Bank
Vargas, AVP and ePayments Supervisor for Ocean Bank, was recognized for implementing cross-payment fraud monitoring and emerging payment solutions and enhancements, including RTP®, Same Day ACH, real-time posting for deposit products, and other cash management solutions. 

2021: George Bassous, Affirmative Technologies
George founded Affirmative Technologies over 20 years ago to facilitate the successful participation of more financial institutions, third-party service providers, and businesses in electronic payments with an emphasis on risk management, security, and the value of data. 

2020: Fred Gibbons, AAP, APRP, CTP, Broadway Bank
Fred has been a tireless leader and promoter of the payments system for over 35 years, enthusiastically sharing his knowledge and experience, not only within his own institution, but with other financial institutions and organization nationwide.

2019: Jorge Jimenez, Juniper Payments and eZForex
Jorge has been developing innovative payment solutions globally for more than 20 years, including his role in the first live blockchain transaction out of a U.S. financial institution, an international transaction that used Same Day ACH to settle.

2018: Sylvia Young, AAP, Security Bank
Sylvia was honored for being an enthusiastic champion of small commercial adoption of electronic payments for over 30 years.

2017: Wanda Chambers, retired from Suncoast Credit Union
Wanda was recognized for her contributions to the faster payments effort and her role on the Federal Reserve's Faster Payments Task Force.

2016: Ruth Brown, AAP, SunTrust Bank
Ruth was honored for her extensive knowledge, dedication, passion, and active role in the ACH Network for over 40 years.

2015: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama was recognized for their multi-year, multi-channel project to improve and streamline the customer payment experience. 

2014: Mickey Lawrence, Capital Bank
Mickey was an innovative payments leader for over 40 years who served on ePayResources’ Board of Directors for more than 20 years.

2023: DJ Seeterlin 
DJ Seeterlin, Chief Innovation Strategy Officer for Chesapeake Bank in Kilmarnock, Virginia, for significant achievement in developing or implementing innovative payments solutions, tools, and resources that facilitate the adoption of emerging payments solutions. 

2022:  Corporate One Federal Credit Union and Sherpa Technologies
Corporate One FCU and Sherpa Technologies were recognized for their joint effort to enable emerging payments solutions and products for credit unions, including enablement of RTP and the ability to connect with an open-platform, core-agnostic solution.  

2021: Peter Davey, The Clearing House
Peter was honored for being a major influencer in Same Day ACH and real-time payments, as well as a champion of community financial institutions and their role in the payments space. Peter currently serves as Head of Product Innovation at The Clearing House; Advisor to the ePayResources Board of Directors; and Chair of the ePayConnect Conference Planning Committee. 

2020: Corporate America Credit Union, accepted by Lisa Coffey
CACU was recognized for their ongoing work creating and facilitating adoption of solutions that enable credit unions to participate in emerging payments opportunities. CACU and its fintech partner, VSoft, developed two faster payment solutions, Bread and Rise, that provide benefits in technology, liquidity, and the ability to accommodate younger consumers. CACU is also a funding agent for The Clearing House’s RTP network as well as a third-party service provider, which facilitates providing faster payment methods to credit unions in a cost-effective manner.

2019: Steve Ledford, The Clearing House
Under Steve’s leadership, The Clearing House developed and launched the RTP network, the nation’s first real-time payments infrastructure, in November 2017. This transformative network is the first new payments rail in more than 40 years. Throughout his career, Steve has been a champion of innovation and a catalyst for forward movement in the payments industry.

2022: Joe Proto
Joe Proto is a payments industry leader, collaborator, and influencer who has founded many successful companies that have helped the banking and payments industry thrive.   He has been a tireless industry supporter, providing his expertise as a speaker and board advisor for numerous organizations.  In his retirement he continues to help companies grow and invest in the payments and fintech space.