AUSTRALIA
AWARDS COMMITTEE
Meet the women who are giving back and paying it forward as the dedicated Committee members responsible for managing the Women in Payments Australia Awards.
LYNN KRAUS
Chair of the Awards Committee
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Payment Plus
LYNN KRAUS
Lynn is the CEO of Australian Payments Plus which brings together the legacy businesses of eftpos, BPAY and the NPPA. As the CEO, she is focused on ensuring that the company is strategically placed to deliver world class payments for Australia now and into the future. Lynn is a member of Young President’s Organisation (YPO), Chief Executive Women and was honoured as one of Australia’s 100 Women of Influence by the AFR.
BIANCA BATES
Chief Client Officer & Deputy CEO
Cuscal
BIANCA BATES
Bianca was appointed to the role of Chief Client Officer & Deputy CEO in December 2020. As well as leading Cuscal’s Product, Client Services and Operations teams, Bianca is Craig Kennedy’s delegate, and is involved in Cuscal’s engagement with industry bodies, regulators and shareholders.
CAROLYN HELY
Executive Director Head of Australia and New Zealand, International Banking, Commercial Banking
J.P. Morgan
CAROLYN HELY
Carolyn leads the J.P. Morgan CB International Banking team based in Sydney, Australia and is the Network Lead for APAC. Carolyn has over 26 Yeats of experience in corporate banking. She joined J.P. Morgan in March 2014 and has been leading the team for the past five years. Carolyn has a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in Economics and Management from Wollongong University, and a Masters of Business in Finance from the University of Technology, Sydney.
EMILY ROBERTS
Vice President & General Manager, Internal Card Services for Australia & New Zealand
American Express
EMILY ROBERTS
Emily is VP & GM, Internal Card Services for Australia & New Zealand at American Express. She is also the relationship lead for strategic partnerships across the airline and retail sectors. Emily utilises customer-driven strategies to identify and exceed customer needs and deliver business growth.
Executive Sponsor for Community Partnerships and the Disabilities Awareness Network, Emily also plays an active role in the Families@Amex network and as a PRIDE ally.
MELISSA RUSSO
Director, Commercial Cards Product Head Treasury & Trade Solutions, Australia & New Zealand
CITI
MELISSA RUSSO
Melissa Russo has 12 years of experience in the Finance and Banking industry in both Australia and Hong Kong across product management, client solutioning, account management and balance sheet management. Melissa is currently leading the Product Management team for TTS Commercial Cards for Australia and New Zealand and is responsible for driving innovation and product development, commercialization of B2B solutions, and strategy for the local portfolio.
CLAIRE SHOEMAKE
Vice-President, Account Management, Merchant and Commerce and Head of Melbourne
Mastercard
SONJA STEINER
Claire is Vice President in Retail and Commerce and Head of Strategic Partnerships. Claire leads a team who develop strategic retail partnerships, working with retail partners to drive additional value-added services that ultimately deliver improved customer insights and ultimately more customers and spend. She also leads the Melbourne Mastercard Hub.
SONJA STEINER
Head of Fintech
Coles
SONJA STEINER
Sonja is Head of Fintech at Coles, leading the team building and delivering strategic technology solutions for payments and financial services.
An experienced financial services executive with deep payments expertise, Sonja has driven large payments and operations transformations. She previously served as Head of Wrap Operations at Colonial First State and as Head of Payments & Cash Operations Australia at ANZ Bank.
She is also a Senior Fellow of FINSIA.
DEBRA TAYLOR
COO
OpenSparkz
DEBRA TAYLOR
Debra Taylor is Co-founder and COO of Fintech scale-up’s OpenSparkz and PAX Technology. She is a board member of Stone & Chalk and serial entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience within the industry. She has received multiple awards including in 2020, the Women in Payments - Distinguished Payments Professional, a lifetime achievement award.
LISA VASIC
Managing Director - Transaction Banking
ANZ
LISA VASIC
Lisa is the Managing Director, Transaction Banking at ANZ. With a career in banking and finance spanning over 25 years, the early part of her career in Retail and Wealth followed by a move to the Institutional Bank across relationship and product roles.
Lisa holds a BA from the University of Sydney with majors in Economics and Economic History and recently completed a Digital Transformation program at MIT, Cambridge.
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