NACHA, The Electronic Payments Association, on Wednesday announced the election of new officers to its board of directors, including a credit union CEO in the No. 2 spot.
James Morrell, president and CEO of $172 million Peninsula Community Federal Credit Union in Shelton, Wash., was elected NACHA vice chairperson.
The board oversees the governance and administration of NACHA and addresses topics of strategic significance to the ACH Network, the group said in a press release. The board consists of 19 directors representing a diverse set of depository financial institutions of all sizes and types that use and support the ACH Network.
NACHA said it recently added two new representatives to its Board Advisory Group, which consists of diverse end-user organizations and technology solution providers who engage directly with the NACHA board of directors and provide input on topics of strategic importance to the use of ACH payments and evolving ACH Network capabilities. NACHA said the Board Advisory Group is another way in which it reaches out and listens to various stakeholders across the payments industry.
The newly elected Board officers are:
- Laura Lee Orcutt, AAP, senior vice president, group product manager, Wells Fargo, NACHA Chairperson
- James M. Morrell, president and CEO, Peninsula Community Federal Credit Union, NACHA Vice Chairperson
- Craig T. Vaream, managing director, product executive for North America Payables & Receivables, J.P. Morgan, NACHA Secretary/Treasurer
The new representatives to the Board Advisory Group are:
- Sima Gandhi, JD, LLM, head of Business Development & Strategy, Plaid
- Cindy Newton, CPA, system director, Banking Operations, Baylor Scott & White Health
“We are pleased to welcome the new board officers, who range from small natural person credit unions to large institutional banks, in addition to the new and re-elected members of the board – all of whom have strong and equal voices at the board level, regardless of the size of the financial institution represented,” Janet O. Estep, NACHA’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “It is through the important and inclusive engagement of the board of directors and Board Advisory Group that we continue to successfully evolve to meet today’s needs and tomorrow’s innovations on the ACH Network.
“We are looking forward to working together with an array of market stakeholders of all types and sizes represented on our board and Board Advisory Group to further grow the ACH Network,” Estep said.
Troy Strang, president and CEO of the Northwest CU Association, also congratulated Morrell on his appointment.
“We applaud Jim for his leadership and new role as vice chair of NACHA and really want to acknowledge that he is also an important voice at WesPay and on CUNA’s payment subcommittee,” Strang said in a statement.
In addition to the newly elected officers, the members of the board include:
- Michael Bellacosa, managing director, head of Global Payments, BNY Mellon
- Richard W. Burke Jr., CCM, head, Corporate Products & Services, TD Bank, N.A.
- Paul E. Byrne, head of Deposits Portfolio Management, PNC Bank
- Kevin J. Christensen, CISA, CRISC, CTGA, senior vice president, Market Intelligence & Data Analytics, SHAZAM, Inc.
- Janet O. Estep, president and CEO, NACHA
- Michael Fossaceca, CCM, NASD, managing director, North America region head for Treasury & Trade Solutions, Citibank, N.A.
- Robert Garinger, president and CEO, American Express Centurion Bank
- David Kretz, managing director, head of Global Payments, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- Fred Laing II, AAP, CCM, NCP, president, Upper Midwest ACH Association
- John E. Lucas, CCM, senior vice president, Product Management; director, Treasury Management, Huntington National Bank
- Rhonda L. Pavlicek, CPA, MBA, CCUE, senior vice president & CFO, Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU)
- William J. Schoch, president and CEO, WesPay
- Amy L. Smith, AAP, CAE, vice president, executive director, The Clearing House Payments Authority
- Laura Steele, AAP, president and CEO, ePayResources
- Larry Taft, AAP, CTP, executive vice president, director of Retail Banking & Operations, Citizens Bank & Trust
- Tynika Wilson, vice president, Debit Cards & Funds Services, Navy Federal Credit Union
- Uma Wilson, AAP, CTP, executive vice president, director of Product Management, UMB Bank, N.A.
The nonvoting, advisory representatives of the ACH operators to the board are:
- Brian D. Egan, senior vice president, Retail Payments Office, Operations & Customer Support, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
- Alex C. Romeo, vice president, EPN Product Manager, The Clearing House
The new Board Advisory Group members join the existing representatives:
- Mary Ann Francis, executive business advisor, Global Treasury and Payments Solutions, Wipro Ltd.
- Colleen P. Lindow, CCM, vice president, Payments, Risk & Compliance, Bill.com
- Bill Phillips, group president, Enterprise Payment Solutions, ProfitStars – A Jack Henry Company
- Joe Proto, CEO and Chairman, Transactis
- Wanda J. Rogers, deputy commissioner for Financial Services & Operations, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service
- Kim Sipes, CTP, director, Treasury, Duke Energy
- Thomas Spataro, CTP, FLMI, U.S. Treasurer, Computershare
- Julie A. Walker, senior treasury analyst and Card & Payments specialist, Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI)
Same Day ACH Launch
The Board Advisory Group met with the NACHA board directors in November to discuss several strategic payments topics, including the successful launch of the first phase last September of Same Day ACH, which made ACH credit transactions eligible for same-day processing.
In planning for 2017, the group discussed how to further ensure that businesses, in particular, are prepared for phase two of Same Day ACH, which enables same-day debit transactions, and becomes effective Sept. 15, 2017. Additionally, the group explored the value of standardized APIs to support payments and information exchange and the role NACHA and the ACH Network could play in facilitating their use to ensure the safety, security and efficiency of payments into the future.
More information about NACHA’s governance is available at
