Our executive consultants have all held senior management roles in the financial services industry with a minimum of 12 years' relevant experience in the card payments arena. They offer real experience, depth and breadth of knowledge, combined with a practical approach enabling our wider consulting team to deliver excellent results with openness and honesty. Our highly experienced team of associates spread across Europe complements the Accourt team and brings invaluable local market expertise throughout the various European markets.
Our approach to challenges is to provide positive ways forward, facilitate decision-making and then act with confidence and passion to implement the chosen path effectively.
John Berns, Managing Director
John Berns has two decades of international retail banking experience, with an extensive background in inter-bank clearing, settlement, treasury and ACH systems. Before joining Accourt he was Senior Vice President of Marketing at Visa International. His work has taken him across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, assisting banks and other organisations in bringing together divergent consumer-facing technologies to reap the benefits of smarter customer interaction. He continues to consult with a broad range of major companies including many leading retail banks, MasterCard and Visa, and multi-stakeholder industry associations.
Vaughan Collie, Director
Vaughan Collie has over 15 years' experience in the international payments and information systems industries, and has led a series of domestic and global initiatives underpinned by international payment cards. Vaughan's consulting roles have utilised his extensive and diverse experience, particularly in international payments, risk and fraud intelligence, where his in-depth industry and technology knowledge across a broad range of relevant initiatives enables him to deploy his well developed problem-solving skills. He is able to rapidly understand, manage and communicate issues at senior management and board level. Vaughan's background includes consultancy with major industry players such as American Express, APACS, Visa, MasterCard and a number of international retail banks and financial services institutions.
Ravi Purushothaman
Ravi Purushothaman specialises in banking and payment systems bringing experience with a number of 'blue chip' clients, including Visa Europe, to his role at Accourt. His skills include systems development and enhancements, working from initial requirements gathering through to implementation and handover. His recent roles have included business analysis for settlement and clearing systems, project management, and client liaison and training. Many of his projects have been geographically dispersed and his work has included time spent in Tokyo and the USA.
Julie Moore, Company Secretary
Julie joined Accourt as Company Secretary and to manage all the administrative processes for the company. She has a background in the sales and marketing of computer networking products, and for eight years ran her own business.
Clive Leader
Clive Leader has a unique blend of experience in the payments sector, working in banks, payment schemes and with clients across the spectrum of card related disciplines - marketing, strategy, operations and inter-bank environments - in over 30 different countries on six continents. He started his career at Midland Bank (HSBC) in a variety of roles, which included heading the bank's Payment Strategy Unit before taking on the challenge of managing a 24x7 card operations centre. He then moved to Europay, working in business relationship and marketing posts. As a consultant since 1993 he has advised many 'blue chip' banking clients on the development of their card payment businesses.
Bernard Tournier
Bernard Tournier has held a succession of financial control, planning and senior management posts across a number of 'blue chip' companies in France and the UK, and has an excellent understanding of the industrial, banking and payments sectors. In recent years, he has provided consultancy on strategy and system implementation to leading businesses throughout western Europe and north Africa. He headed the international card payments operations of the Crédit Mutuel group following its merger with CIC, and many of his more recent assignments have also been in the payments arena.
Patrick Abrines
Patrick Abrines has a comprehensive understanding of the international payments and banking environment gained over three decades. He has first class experience in sales, marketing and relationship management. For 20 years he worked for Visa International in a variety of roles with responsibilities across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. More recently, he has combined periods of consultancy for major players in the payments arena with full-time posts managing business in the region for First Data International and VocaLink.
Barry Wright
Barry Wright is an acknowledged expert in all aspects of loyalty and reward schemes and customer relationship management. This is underpinned by almost 30 years' marketing and management experience, working directly for major companies, with marketing agencies and with his own business, and with a focus on the hospitality, travel and banking sectors. This gives him an intimate grasp of the dynamics of customer loyalty and CRM, the development of strategy and its role and management in the marketing mix. His recent assignments have included work for card issuers, leading hotel groups, retail chains and airlines, and he is a frequent speaker at international conferences.
Joseph Bourner
Joseph Bourner is an experienced IT project manager and business consultant, successful in delivering projects within an unusual variety of challenging environments. His background is primarily in the financial services sector but also includes medical systems and public utilities. He has strong planning and organisation skills, and is equally at home with technical specialists and with end-user staff, working at all levels within an organisation. His projects have included the very earliest stages of requirements analysis, through to the roll-out and marketing of the end products, with a recent emphasis on work in environments requiring the highest levels of financial and information security.
Joseph Marton
Joseph Marton has 15 years' experience of complex business and technology projects, primarily in the financial sector. He has specific interests in software architecture and development methods, but is always focused on ensuring the delivery of measurable business value from the effective and appropriate use of such technology. Prior to joining Accourt, Joseph was the Solutions Director for a software development and systems integration company, and previously spent eight years with a global consultancy, focusing on business and IT solutions, including a series of senior roles during the development of the Intelligent Finance direct service bank.
Andrew Veitch
Andrew Veitch has extensive expertise in the payments industry, including a significant career with Visa Europe where he was involved in a number of strategic developments across the continent. He specialises in payment systems implementation, service development and management, and marketing. He combines excellent creativity and innovation skills and management abilities with a strong technical foundation, which enable him to devise and deliver solutions which are both technically feasible and highly customer-focused.