Ginger Schmeltzer, Fiserv

As a payments leader at Fiserv, one of the financial services industry's largest technology companies, Ginger Schmeltzer has been a catalyst for a number of cutting-edge projects at banks.

"The area of emerging payments is extremely active with both financial institution and non-financial institution participants bringing new innovations to market on a regular basis," says Schmeltzer, Fiserv's senior vice president of emerging payments, a role in which she helps develop new payments strategies for her company, which has 16,000 clients.

"One of the best things about being in payments is that the technologies are so relevant in everyday life," she says. "Turning today's ideas into tomorrow's realities is not only fun, it gives you the opportunity to positively impact the lives of those around you."

Schmeltzer, who was also featured in PaymentsSource's 2013 Most Influential Women in Payments, assumed the newly created position at Fiserv in 2012 following a stint as senior vice president of digital channel management at SunTrust Banks.

She finds that mobility is still the most interesting area of payments technology growth. Over the past year, Schmeltzer has help build a program focused on mobile image capture capabilities, with an eye on enhancing the flexibility of Fiserv's payments and channel products.

"While mobile proximity payments are still highly fragmented in terms of providers and technologies, activity continues to increase in areas such as mobile bill payments, mobile P2P transactions, and remote mobile transactions," she says. "Consumers, financial providers and retailers clearly see the value and the opportunity in mobile payments, and are increasingly using their mobile device as the primary point of interaction with many aspects of their financial lives, from banking to bill payments to retail purchases."

Schmeltzer, who has also served as senior vice president of enterprise payments strategy at SunTrust and engagement manager at Edger Dunn & Co., has had a somewhat indirect career path.

After entering the payments industry in a consulting role, she left for a year and a half. "I spent six months working as a dive instructor in the Caribbean. I spent six months studying Chinese in Beijing," Schmeltzer said last year at PaymentsSource's 2013 Card Forum and Expo. This experience reinvigorated her.

She recommends that women who are entering the payments industry should find an area of interest a do a deep dive into learning about that topic. "Whether the payment type is established or emerging, there is a huge amount of opportunity for career growth and personal development in this industry," she says.

See the full list of honorees for this year's Most Influential Women in Payments.