Melanie Barker Email and Phone Number

Melanie served as COO for a start up Issuer Processing solution that is an API based, “fit for purpose” platform, built modularly to support multiple digital and Fintech use cases, including neobanks, installments, POS lending, GIG economy constructs, digital wallets, and real time payments.

Melanie contributed strategic direction, as well as developing the product technology roadmap. She led the Information Technology and Operations functions, encompassing Secure Network Infrastructure, Database Architecture, Data Security Management, Brand Certified Manufacturing, PCI Compliant Personalization Service Bureau, Customer Care, Quality, Audit and Compliance.A few of Melanie's accomplishments include:• Enabled next generation EMV personalization technology for chip application programming. • Delivered client facing technology by creating and developing software solutions for program design, inventory management and fulfillment reporting tools.• Defined new business model utilizing universal data input, providing clients with seamless integration for legacy processing platform data.• Scaled fulfillment operations by employing machine learning technology to increase operational efficiency and reduce errors.• Directed initiatives to engineer scalable IT growth while doubling operational capacity for manufacturing and personalization processing.

With The Members Group (TMC, LLC), Melanie provided strategic and operational leadership of the company as well as performed credit/debit/prepaid processing functions for partner financial institutions including: client delivery operations, PMO, product development and management, risk & consumer service call centers, client relationship management, marketing and brand strategy. She established strategic vision for quality/efficiency standards in all areas of responsibility; ensured these standards were measured and reviewed on an ongoing basis. She identified new product and business opportunities, participated in new business pitches and assisted in drafting new business proposals and contributed towards development of the company’s business plans by developing and launching two new business units.Achievements within her core functional areas include: *Participated in strategic planning and execution of revenue enhancing initiatives; directed operations and instituted product expansion strategies resulting in revenue growth of 20% per year.*Launched new Product Development and Management Office and Partner/Client Consulting business units; generated $350,000 in first six months of operation.*Actively involved in performing credit/debit/prepaid processing functions including Client Delivery Operations, PMO, Product Management, Risk & Consumer Service Call Centers, Client Relationship Management, Marketing and Brand Strategy; successfully developed and launched new organizational brand strategy.*Optimized profitability on partner contract renewal processing; achieved 97% contract retention and renewal rate.*Revamped the Canadian joint venture processing business operational structure.*Participated and contributed in board meetings, senior staff meetings, offering ideas, insights and recommendations on policies, staffing, client service, new business and other topics that ultimately impacted the overall quality of the company.

Within Melanie’s each and every capacity at UMB Bank, she proved her mettle in successfully managing the professional functioning of the Consumer Credit Card business. She participated in formulating and administering policies and developed long-range goals and objectives. She reviewed analyses of activities, costs, operations, and forecasted data in order to determine department or division progress toward stated goals and objectives; ensured all established costs, quality, and delivery commitments were met. Moreover, Melanie identified and developed new opportunities and product solutions for agent bank and affinity partners, as well as participated in consumer research studies, market & product trend information, and financial analysis in order to evaluate new product ideas. She also ensured all administrative pieces were in place (work plan, contract, budget, projections, etc.).Highlights during this tenure include: *Championed the redesign and implementation of affinity partner technology platform incorporating new CMS and entitlement capabilities to further enable partner marketing of card programs.*Drove revenue increase through development of inaugural partner direct mail programs.*Introduced cross-functional capability focused on identification of new product platforms; signed new Visa Signature product with market-leading travel rewards.*Identified potential new partner product solutions and evaluated new product ideas using a variety of tools, including consumer research studies, market and product trend information, and financial analysis.

As Managing Director, Marketing Consultant, Melanie suggested new and innovative ideas to the business and looked for opportunities in order to expand in the market; set business goals and targets for evaluation by the senior management team. She developed strategies to boost sales and profits of the company, planned the future prospects, and networked with other potential clients and competitors in the market while getting business tactics and ideas from them. Furthermore, she supervised the progress of individual departments and the overall progress of the company; and provided better growth opportunities for the employees. She led the execution of leveraged financial transactions; drove revenue growth by instituting effective rewards programs with value-adding capabilities including market investment feature. She also established strong client relationships; contributed to new business presentations, draft marketing materials as well as participated in due diligence and drafting sessions.

As Vice President and Home Lending Partnership Channel Manager, Melanie's role was focused on developing and maintaining reward partner relationships within the direct-to-consumer home loan channel. In addition to strategy development, she was responsible for product launches, including the launch of a first-to-market co-branded home equity line VISA access card with the ability to earn partner rewards.In a period of three years Melanie increased the partner loan portfolio from $500MM to $1B and successfully negotiated with all partners to increase the size and frequency of partner communication programs, increasing overall program response to 124%. In addition she designed and executed an automated process for external partner files to fulfill reward offers decreasing the number of process errors by 25%.

From 2003 to 2006 Melanie was responsible for managing the Universal Studios portfolio. This included the development of customer management strategies and rewards programs. Melanie achieved many successes during this time including the design of a multi-channel system to execute fulfillment to card members for specialized reward events. In addition she increased website traffic through enhanced customer communication and development of a rewards auction web site exclusively for card members, used to redeem earned reward points on one-of-a-kind movie props from Universal Studios films.

In 2000 Melanie was charged with leading the integration of acquired credit card portfolios, including all marketing communication strategy development and client retention. She managed a budget of $8M and delivered more than $1B in revenue.

Melanie served as Managing Director of National Tele-sales for one year, with full accountability for strategic development and operational implementation of a virtual direct retail sales channel. She managed a customer experience call center comprising 75 staff and a budget of $16M, and developed processes and strategies to enhance sales. In addition to other successes, Melanie facilitated the creation of a comprehensive tracking and reporting mechanism to monitor internal mutual fund sales process as well as external customer experience.

In this role Melanie oversaw development of programs focused on activation of cardholder accounts and increased customer satisfaction. She led a team of 7 staff and managed a budget of $12.5M with a corresponding revenue line of $2.1 billion.

As VP of Marketing Control Operations, Melanie directed a team focused on system development and design support for credit card projects, programs and informational databases. Her role was technically focused and included documenting user requirements, user acceptance testing, and conversion and parallel testing, implementation and production controls. One of Melanie's key successes includes leading the project that converted all portfolios to a unified balance transfer processing platform during the Chase/Chemical merger.

Leading a team of between 75 and 100 people, Melanie was responsible for the processing of incoming customer service calls for the Chase Card Services credit card portfolio. The team dealt with close to 2.1M calls per month, making customer service and query resolution two of her top priorities. In addition, Melanie was responsible for ensuring call center staff members were appropriately trained and equipped to deal with customer queries. She continuously reviewed processes to improve service delivery and was proud to have reduced call-handling time by 10%. Melanie re-engineered the annual Performance Evaluation System for non-exempt and exempt employees, linking performance and compensation to corporate KPM’s, and designed a process to categorize and track representative unproductive time, which resulted in a 15% increase in productivity.