Beth R. Horowitz is Senior Vice President of Marketing and Merchant Relations for Discover Network, a business unit of Discover Financial Services. In this capacity, Ms. Horowitz is responsible for leading the client marketing organization, including brand integration, communication services, product management and global pricing, as well as overseeing the direct relationships Discover has with key merchants in the U.S. She also leads emerging product initiatives such as EMV, contactless, mobile and prepaid.

Ms. Horowitz joined Discover in 2006 as Vice President of Product Management where she served in a leadership role to drive prioritization for Discover Network functional capabilities and to seed emerging product innovation.

Prior to joining Discover in 2006, Ms. Horowitz was Senior Vice President, Advanced Payments Solutions for MasterCard International. In this role she was responsible for the Innovation and Planning group that managed product marketing, planning and R&D efforts, and led the company-wide innovation practice to drive new product development worldwide.

Before joining MasterCard in 1989, Beth held positions at Shearson Lehman Hutton, Development Dimensions International and Working Woman Magazine.

Beth earned her Master of Business Administration from Pace University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York. She is a member of the American Management Association, W.net, and International Who’s Who and serves on the board of Lambs Farm, a non-profit organization serving adults with developmental disabilities.

Michael Canady is Vice President, Strategic Merchant Relations (SMR) for Discover. In this role, Mr. Canady is responsible for the retained merchant portfolio (1,500 of the largest merchants in the US), supporting the growth of domestic and international acceptance, merchant funded contributions to US Card and ensuring merchant engagement as new initiatives develop.

Mr. Canady has been with Discover since 1989 and has served in a variety of merchant sales and client management positions within the company. Mike has negotiated acceptance contracts across all merchant categories, has been integral to our success with the Walmart-Sam's acceptance and co-brand card relationship, and has transformed the SMR team from an initiative based organization to a strategic business group.

Joseph Hurley is the Global Head of Business Development for Discover Financial Services, a position he has held since January 2010. His responsibilities include: building broad alliance partnerships, developing merger and acquisition opportunities, and managing current network alliances.

Mr. Hurley joined the company just prior to the national launch of the Discover card in 1986 and has held positions in Marketing, Product Management, Government Relations, and Network Products and Services.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Hurley was Deputy President of Diners Club International and Head of Global Client Relations from 2008 to 2010, and Vice President of Discover Network Strategic Development from 2003 to 2008. In his network role, he was responsible for the strategic initiatives associated with Discover Network, including Network Alliances, Third-Party Credit Issuance and the Network Prepaid business. He also led the acquisition team for the PULSE ATM-Debit Network in 2005 and Diners Club in 2008, and is responsible for the strategic alliances forged with China UnionPay and JCB. He has been Chief Representative for Discover in China and sits on the Board of Diners Club Switzerland and Germany.

Mr. Hurley holds a degree in business and economics from Randolph-Macon College and attended graduate school at the University of Chicago and Keller Graduate School of Management. Mr. Hurley is involved in a number of financial, civic and charitable organizations, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Electronic Funds Transfer Association.

Peter Illian is the Vice President of Global Merchant Marketing at Discover Network, a position he has held since 2010. In this role, Peter is responsible for building relationships with Acquiring banks and driving acceptance of Discover Card.

Peter joined Discover in 1995 and recently returned from London where he was the Director of Acquisition and New Card Member engagement. Prior to that role Peter was the Director of Scored Acquisition Marketing and has held several other senior positions in the organization.

Peter is a graduate of the University of Iowa where he received a degree in Marketing.

Matt Johanson is Vice President of Operations for Discover Network, a business unit of Discover Financial Services. Mr. Johanson is responsible for the operational support of the network’s transaction processing infrastructure and the issuers, acquirers, merchants, processors, and peer networks handling Discover transactions throughout North America and Asia. Additionally, he has responsibility for operational and counterparty risk management, and operations centers located in Columbus, Ohio and Phoenix, Arizona. Mr. Johanson has previously served as ex-officio member of the Electronic Transactions Association’s Board of Directors.

Since joining Discover Network in 1996, Mr. Johanson has held positions of increasing responsibility within Information Technology, Operations and Business Development. In his immediate prior role, Mr. Johanson was responsible for Discover acceptance throughout North America, and oversaw Discover’s relationships with merchant acquirers.

Prior to joining Discover, Mr. Johanson held leadership roles in Information Technology with Caterpillar, Hewitt Associates and Eastman Kodak Company. Mr. Johanson is a member of the Illinois State University College of Applied Science and Technology Advisory Board, and sits on the Board of Directors of Little Friends, a local non-profit organization serving children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Amy Parsons is currently Head of International Acceptance at Discover Financial Services and is responsible for Global Expansion on behalf of Diners Club and Discover branded cards. She has 24 years experience in Payment Services with expertise in developing business opportunities and partnerships in the acquiring community. Ms. Parsons has responsibility for the International Business Development and Client Management with offices located in London, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Shortly after the acquisition of Diners Club International, Ms. Parsons had responsibility for managing a team that created a new global program and then ensured delivery starting from the business development efforts and through to live implementation. The extension of this now worldwide network was activated within 12 months of conception. Throughout her 19 years of service with Discover Financial Services, Ms. Parsons has served in numerous capacities such as opening the Phoenix Network Services Center in 1994, member of the PULSE acquisition team and lead for integration at DFS in 2005, strategic input for the Merchant Acquiring Program and lead for Business Development in 2006. Ms. Parsons has also spent time at TSYS Acquiring providing strategic direction for new and existing products. She currently reside and manages the business from the London office.

She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing from Arizona State University and her Masters in Business Administration through the Executive Program at the W.P. Carey School of Business.

Joby Orlowsky is Vice President, Strategic Initiatives of Discover Network. In this role, he is responsible for development and management of external strategic business relationships, designed to drive market change and support Discover’s growth initiatives.

Previously, Mr. Orlowsky was responsible for the Office of Integration, Diners Club, where he was responsible for integration of the Diners Club business into Discover. In addition, Mr. Orlowsky was responsible for the creation and management of both a Marketing Department and Product Management group within Diners, with a heavy focus on development of emerging payments technologies. Prior to assuming that role, Mr. Orlowsky was Vice President of Acceptance, Analytics & Decision Support at Discover Network, a business unit of Discover Financial Services. In this role at Discover, Mr. Orlowsky was responsible for all marketing strategy and execution related to the acquisition, lifecycle management and retention of merchant and acquirer relationships. In addition, responsibility for all data structures and analysis for Discover Network fell under his span of control. As one of the four major payment networks in the United States, Discover Network is actively driving growth in the payment industry and increasing the utilization of the network to increase value to merchants, acquirers and cardmembers. Additionally, Discover Network is a leader in applying relevant information to support growth in the payments arena and deliver value to our constituents.

Mr. Orlowsky began his career in 1989 at Household International, now a division of HSBC, where he held multiple functional responsibilities in finance, marketing and operations. Since joining Discover in 1996, Mr. Orlowsky has held positions in the issuing and network business units of Discover.

He holds a BS in Finance from the University of Iowa and his MBA, with a concentration in Marketing, from DePaul University.

As the head of the Payment Services' risk organization, Rob is responsible for internal control, counterparty risk management, compliance and fraud prevention activities for the division.

Rob joined Discover Financial Services in 1986 as a fraud investigator. Since that time he has held positions in virtually all areas of the payments businesses. He has lead the implementations of numerous strategic projects, from the first third party issuers on the Discover Network to the network reciprocity agreements with China UnionPay and JCB. Most recently, prior to his current assignment, he lead the integration of the Diners Club International network into DFS, which enabled Discover acceptance on DCI merchants outside the US.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He is currently a board member of the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council.

Gerry Wagner is Vice President Global Acceptance for Discover Financial Services. In 
this role, Mr. Wagner is responsible for developing and maintaining merchant and acquirer relationships and ensuring acceptance for Discover, Diners Club, and Pulse networks.

Mr. Wagner has recently returned from London after serving for two years as Vice President of International Acceptance for Diners Club International.

Mr. Wagner began his career with Discover in 1985 and has served in a variety of management positions within Discover Network’s merchant sales organization. Drawing on his more than 30 years of experience in the payment-services industry, Mr. Wagner has been instrumental in the successful signing of Discover Network’s key merchant accounts and the payment industry’s largest merchant acquirers. In 2004 alone, he and his team successfully acquired more than one million new merchant outlets-an industry record. As part of Discover Network’s evolution, Mr. Wagner is the leader of its current strategy of partnering with acquirers to offer merchants the power of an integrated single-source solution for three major card networks. Not only has he been the face of Discover to the industry for many years, he has been a visible supporter and advocate for the industry and its organizations.

He received his B.B.A. from Iona College in New Rochelle, NY.