Brad Wiskirchen – Kount

Why Nominated: Bradley J. Wiskirchen has established himself as a leader in protecting digital innovation, including protecting against digital fraud, leading the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) High- Level Advisory Group on Finance and Technology on data ownership, use, access and protection.

Profile:  Wiskirchen co-founded Kount after seeing eCommerce merchants struggle with fraud, with some eventually going out of business and others surviving, but under the constant threat of heavy fines and penalties from credit card brands for excessive chargebacks that could stack up to $1 million annually.

Wiskirchen and his team have accumulated patents – 29 in total, an have continually updated the company’s Wiskirchen Complete fraud prevention technology, which was most recently infused with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Wiskirchen has become a thought leader in his community and in the cybersecurity space with a commitment to bringing awareness and solutions in the retail and fraud prevention industry. Under his leadership, Wiskirchen has evolved into a leader helping enhance digital innovation, including protecting against payment fraud, account takeover and new account creation fraud. In March 2019, Wiskirchen became the only executive from the fraud control industry engaged in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) High- Level Advisory Group on Finance and Technology. Last year, he provided an insider’s perspective on the challenges of mitigating fraud from both the consumer and merchant perspectives to the Board of Directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

He has served as the board chairman of the Salt Lake City Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

What colleagues say: “Brad’s leadership has put the state of Idaho on the map for world-class security and technology solutions to the global commerce and payments ecosystem. I am responsible for First Data’s global merchant business for 6 million customers, processing approximately $2 trillion around the globe, and have personally experienced Wiskirchen’s tremendous impact.

The impact that Wiskirchen and Brad have had on the industry, which I have been part of for 30 years, has been very broad- based. When I first met Brad, he was the leader of a true start- up and I was a senior executive of JP Morgan Chase’s global merchant business. At that time, Wiskirchen had less than 20 clients and less than 15 employees. It operated in a space that was probably less than 500 square feet and all of its clients were domestic (U.S.). We reviewed all the different new technology companies and teams focused on the fast growing and very important security & fraud component of our industry. We selected Wiskirchen for its technology, team, culture and leadership. Brad had the vision and strategy that we felt most closely aligned with JP Morgan Chase, and knew we could trust our business to his team. It was a great decision that we never once questioned as we grew together. First Data is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. 70 percent of payment transactions taking place every day across America are processed by companies in Atlanta and around Georgia. That statistic has helped garner Atlanta the nickname “Transaction Alley.” There is no transaction alley without security and fraud solutions to protect consumers and businesses.” - Daniel J. Charron, executive vice president, global head of business solutions, First Data Corporation

Teri Robinson