Richard Haycock

Chairman

Mr. Richard Haycock has over 30 years of experience within the currency industry, and has devoted his time to increasing the education, communication, and community within this industry. With a degree in Computer Science, Richard has a background in the computer and telecommunications industry, and has established himself as a serial entrepreneur. In 1991, he founded and was CEO of Currency Systems International (CSI), Currency Software Solutions (CSS), and Currency Consulting International (CCI). These companies were sold in 2001 to De La Rue, which resulted in Richard founding Currency Research.

Throughout his career, he has developed a knowledge and understanding of the key areas within the currency industry, and is the Founder and Chairman of the Currency Conference (1992) and Cash Cycle Seminars (ICCOS 1996), Founder and co-Chairman of the International Association for Currency Affairs (2004), co-Founder of Currency News (2004), co-Founder and Chairman of Intelligent Currency Solutions (2008), and the co-Founder and past Chairman of the Coin Conference (2010).

Mr. Haycock specializes in the Future of Currency and Central Banks.

Marci Chavez graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from Texas A&M University in 1990, and a few years later earned her CPA certification. She has worked for 3+ years in Public Accounting firms in Audit in both Waco and Dallas, Texas, as well as working as Controller for a Business Insurance/Risk Management company. She joined Currency Systems International (CSI) in 1996 as a Senior Accountant, and soon became Controller. In her last few years at CSI she served as CFO.

Throughout her career at CSI, Marci worked closely with the Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Service, and Project Management teams tracking progress of manufacturing and engineering development projects and sales contract completions and fulfilments. De La Rue bought CSI in 2001, and she played a key role in completing the transaction and the following transition within De La Rue. She left De La Rue in February of 2002 and worked as a financial consultant for Trailblazer Studios out of their Dallas office, while also helping Richard Haycock organize Currency Research USA Corp. She initially worked on a consulting basis for Currency Research, and then joined them in a full-time position in 2005 as CFO and Sponsor Coordinator. She was promoted to Vice-President/CFO in 2009 and in August of 2011 was named President.

Marci also serves as a Board Member and Treasurer the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) and acts as Treasurer for the Cash Management Association of the Americas (CMAA), and is a member of the ATMIA Cash Council. Marci currently lives in Hurst, Texas.

Gonzalo Santamaria has honed much of his leadership skills and industry knowledge within a realm spanning more than 30 years of technical, commercial and managerial experience in the currency sector. He has forged much of his background first in the technical, and consequently in the commercial and business development streams within world-class supplier companies in the industry. In parallel, he has accumulated valuable experience in automation of banknote processing, process re-engineering, supply-chain optimization and efficiencies through security of cash in the cash cycle. During these tenures and in diverse global locations, he successfully assisted in designing and implementing state-of-the-art automated currency vault solutions, cash management re-engineering including commercial cash processing patents, and supply chain optimization solutions.

In June 2011, Gonzalo was named Managing Director for Currency Research (CR) in the Europe and Latin America regions. In October 2014, he was promoted to Vice President with full oversight over all regional Cash Cycle Seminars (ICCOS) as well as CR's Review Seminars, and Co-Chairman of the Coin Conference. As of 2017, Gonzalo was promoted to Vice President of Payments & Business Development to foster and manage the consulting arm of the business in addition to the Central Bank Payments and Infrastructure initiatives.

In 2018, with the addition of the Payment Summits to CR's portfolio, Gonzalo's focus has centered on the payments sector, overseeing all initiatives related to both the Central Bank Payments Conference and the Global Payments Summits: Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Gonzalo currently resides in his birthplace of Madrid, Spain. Throughout his educational and professional life he has also lived in various countries including Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States before settling once again in his native country. He is fluent in Spanish, English and French.

Dan Harrison has 25 years’ experience working in the currency industry. He has held senior management and senior sales roles in a variety of highly regarded multi-national companies including CSI, De La Rue and Prosegur, providing solutions across the cash cycle. Dan has worked closely with Central Banks, Issuing Banks/Authorities, Commercial Banks, Cash Management and Logistics Companies, Casinos, and ATM Deployers, as well as small, medium, and large Retailers across Europe and the South East Asia region.

Dan has led teams working with these organisations to deliver tailored solutions including high-speed automation, medium speed processing systems, Cash Management Software, Cash recycling, and Self Service solutions. Dan is also experienced in designing and delivering Cash Management and Cash Logistics services to the FI and Retail sectors.

As VP Operations at Currency Research Dan combines this wealth of experience across the currency industry with his passion for Education and Learning. He holds a Bachelors Degree of Education and Training from the University of Melbourne; during his studies he was awarded a place on the Dean Honours List. Dan is currently based in Melbourne Australia and also worked in Europe.

Jens has been in the industry for nearly 30 years with senior management roles in sales and marketing, operations, customer service, business development, and general management. During his time with both Thomas Cook and Travelex, he developed complex outsourcing propositions, building turnkey end-to-end solutions including client front-end systems, efficient fulfilment options, accurate interfacing with back office systems, and the provision of timely reporting.

During his career, Jens managed up to 18 global cash centers simultaneously and led a global wholesale banknotes business. He has significant experience in building and modernizing cash centers, running extensive transformation programs, and introducing new automation solutions, best demonstrated through his pivotal role in the Taxidia project. Jens led a number of major change programs throughout the years and managed teams of up to 450 people across five continents, generating revenues of several tens of millions of pounds.

In its role as a knowledge-based services company, CR is in a unique position to offer consulting services to the cash industry. Jens’ depth of experience in developing tailored solutions for banks and financial services companies makes him a valuable addition to the CR team and enhances CR’s ever-increasing portfolio of proprietary research reports, market intelligence, and consulting work.

Prior to joining Currency Research, Nena worked as Business Sales Manager for Evonik Industries, one of the world’s leading Speciality Chemical Companies, with its Head office in Essen, Germany. The bulk of her industry experience has been accumulated during her 18-year tenure with the South African Mint Company, an ISO 9001 accredited organization specializing in coin design and manufacturing for local and export markets through its highly innovative Computer-Integrated Manufacturing plant.

During her extensive career at the South African Mint Company, she fulfilled various roles and functions starting as a Lab Manager, Manager of Plating Business Unit and lastly as a Marketing Consultant.

While working in the coin manufacturing industry she was instrumental in the successful rollout of numerous projects related to plant optimisation, implementation of new technologies and manufacturing cost improvement.

During her last function at the South African Mint Company, she was responsible for marketing and sales of circulating coins in Africa, where she gained a wealth of experience collaborating closely with Central Banks and Monetary Authorities in the region. This vast knowledge and experience in the coin manufacturing industry has given her a strong platform to offer advice and consulting towards Central Banks with coin related issues, both in numismatics as well as circulation coins and actively participating in Coin Tenders throughout the African region.

Nena holds an Honours Degree in Chemistry which she obtained in 1989 in University of Chemistry, Nish, Republic of Serbia. She is a native of the Republic of Serbia, however, since 1993 she has made South Africa her permanent home.

Nena has worked for Currency Research since February 2015 and is responsible for regional Cash Cycle Seminars in Middle East/Africa and Europe.

Before joining Currency Research, Shaun spent 16 years at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Shaun began his career in currency in 2000 in the Division of Monetary Affairs where he forecasted daily changes in currency in circulation. In 2003, he transitioned to the Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems where he oversaw all operational and policy aspects of U.S. banknote issuance and processing.

Shaun was appointed Assistant Director in 2013 and was responsible for the global issuance of U.S. currency and operations of Reserve Bank cash processing centers. Shaun is an expert on the usage and circulation of U.S. currency and represented the Federal Reserve on numerous domestic and international policy making groups. Shaun also chaired the Committee on Custody Controls and served on the Interagency Currency Design Committee where he gained extensive knowledge of security features, design elements, and counterfeit risks.

Shaun graduated from Connecticut College with bachelor degrees in Government and Economics and later earned a masters degree from Johns Hopkins University in Applied Economics. He currently resides just outside Washington, D.C., in Springfield, Virginia.

Tom Mitchell is based in Edinburgh, UK. As Regional Director – Northern Europe he plays a key role in maintaining Currency Research’s engagement with organisations in both the cash and payments industries across Northern European. He draws on a background of business development, business management and research to ensure that the changes, challenges, and interests arising both regionally and globally from these countries are well understood and addressed throughout Currency Research’s activities.

In tandem with this role, Tom is also the Global Sales Manager - Sponsorship, incorporating Currency Conference, Banknote Conference, Central Bank Payments Conference, Cash Cycle Seminars and Global Payments Summits. This involves a leading role in engaging with established and challenger organisations across the globe to promote market growth and development for their products. This is undertaken in conjunction with each of Currency Research’s regional Managing Directors to ensure the transfer of knowledge from supplier to end-user is scaled from the national/regional level to a global perspective.

Tom holds a Masters in Business Management from the University of Reading and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Exeter.

David began his career in events in 1995 at United Business Media, working in the tech portfolio and launching events on the back of B2B tech publications. He then diversified and launched conferences and exhibitions in other tech sectors such as broadcast and film. Moving on from UBM in 2003 David joined Complinet, a start-up regulatory information provider for the financial services sector with close ties to the FSA (now FCA), where he launched an events division providing compliance and regulatory focused events including conferences, round tables, an awards gala dinner and a RegTech exhibition. The company was eventually acquired by Thomson Reuters.

In 2005 David joined DMG World Media as Group Sales Director in charge of three portfolios of events in the chemicals and commodities sector, taking place in geographic locations as diverse as Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, Central America, and Eastern Europe. Following this he relocated to Dubai in 2008 to take charge of Dubai World Trade Centre's GITEX TechnologyWeek and CABSAT events. Since returning from Dubai in 2012 David was instrumental in setting up the PaymentsCompliance regulatory information platform and series of events for Compliance Online, and has also organized events focused on emerging technologies such as Blockchain Live and Cybersecurity Summit & Expo for GovNet. In 2018 David joined the Currency Research's Payments portfolio of events as Global Head of Payments.

Outside of work David is a father of two sons and is a keen hiker and lover of the great outdoors.

Brianna Erban is the Senior Editor of Central Bank Payments News (CBPN). Based in Edmonton, Canada, Brianna has extensive experience in writing business and academic reports, editing, in-depth research and analysis, project planning and management, and communications. For almost five years and counting, Brianna has focused her research on developments in the fast-moving world of cash and payments. Although primarily focused on news emerging from the digital payments ecosystem, she remains interested in efforts to uphold cash as a consumer choice and democratic right. Brianna studied at Keele University (UK) and the University of Alberta (Canada), and holds a Master of Arts in English Literature degree and a Master’s degree in Library and Information Studies.

Lehana Rose has over eight years of experience in marketing, communications, and design, across a variety of different industries including events, media, and financial consulting. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Surrey, a post-graduate certificate in International Business from St. Mary’s University, London and a certificate in Graphic Design from Shillington College, London. Her interests include working on creative projects that involve art and design, and volunteering in her local community. She is based just outside of London in Kent, UK.

Robynn Hyde has over 10 years of experience within the currency industry, focusing on market research and conference administration. She has worked for Currency Systems International, Reconnaissance International and Currency Research and in that time has helped develop a comprehensive list of industry players, written for Currency News and expanded the marketing network for Currency Research. She has an avid interest in Counterfeit Detection and the Coin Industry.

Robynn holds a Masters in Medieval History from Edinburgh University (2009) and a Masters in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University (2013).

Britnee Hursin graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Hospitality from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2013. Britnee realized her passion for event planning and educational seminars after she hosted her first large-scale event in 2011. While completing her degree, Britnee was involved in many different endeavors which built her experience of customer service, marketing and fundraising and raised over $5,000 for different charities including: The American Cancer Society, The Special Olympics, and the Domestic Violence Organization. After concluding her internship at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, she developed a curiosity about the cash cycle and she holds a particular interest in alternate payments systems.

Britnee has been an integral part of the Cash Cycle Seminars planning team since she began at Currency Research. She is now applying her in-depth experience and her certified meeting planner (CMP) status to her role as Conference Director for CR, with a focus on the Banknote Conference, Currency Conference, and Americas Cash Cycle Seminar.

With 13 years of experience in the currency industry, Natasha began her career at the South African Mint Company in 2003 in Engineering Administration. She concluded her tenure at the company as Area Manager and Sales Coordinator for the Circulation Coin Export Division, focusing on circulation coin sales, business development activities in target regions, and acting as relationship manager and customer support liaison to the existing Central Bank, Monetary Authority and Mint customer base.

Natasha is the Conference Coordinator for the MEA Cash Cycle Seminar and the Central Bank Payments Conference and also supports the Banknote Conference. Natasha is based in Pretoria, South Africa.

Zoey Woodward is based in York, UK. She joined the CR team in the role of Sponsorship Co-ordinator and is currently an Event Manager, with responsibility for the Asia and Europe Cash Cycle Seminars.

Zoey brings a wealth of event and sponsorship management knowledge to the team, with over 9 years’ experience in the technology sector. She has delivered a variety of events, from executive roundtables to large scale exhibitions with a delegate audience of 500 key decision makers.

Livia is responsible for the coordination of the Global Payment Summits, acting as the primary day-to-day contact and working alongside internal teams to ensure projects are delivered on time and to a high standard.

Livia has a background in global event management in automotive engineering, from concept through to delivery, working with international scientific committees to produce the technical programme from abstract stage to technical paper review and publication. Livia has also worked in the mutual and cooperative insurance sector producing seminars, and worked with member organisations in the MENA and South East Asia region, and with international regulators and development agencies.

Based in Manchester, United Kingdom, Livia holds a Bachelor’s degree from the UNAM University in her native Mexico and is fluent in Spanish, English and French.

Helen is responsible for managing all operational relationships with the sponsors across CR events as Sponsor Coordinator. She has many years of experience managing conferences and other corporate events within the legal and medical sectors. These events ranged from seminars for up to 350 delegates through to glamorous award ceremonies with 900 attendees. Helen particularly enjoys meeting new people and building lasting relationships. She of course also loves to travel.

Helen is based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK.

Jordan Taylor holds a degree in Philosophy as well as a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Southern California. Jordan provides support for a number of CR’s initiatives, but his main focus is research and editing for Central Bank Payments News (CBPN). He is based in Richmond, Virginia.

Lorna Winston-Blanks is a dedicated accounting and analysis professional. Recognized for being a strategic advisor, our Controller brings a wealth of accounting experience to the table from non-profit, manufacturing, healthcare, and financial service organizations. After completing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Accounting from the University of Texas at Tyler, this scholar has served as a public accountant and company controller for nearly 20 years in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Equally known for being an innovator and lifelong learner, she has continued her pursuit of excellence by acquiring a Charter Global Management endorsement from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in addition to holding the designation of Certified Public Accountant (CPA). These designations are reflective of her time spent as controller for various organizations in the global market and a continued passion for the success of today’s management accountants. With an unsoiled mind for continuous improvement, inspiring others to achieve their personal best is a daily goal.

The rich history of quality professional development at the Dallas/Ft. Worth chapter of Institute of Management Accountant (IMA) was the hook that drew this business analyst to join the organization, and soon after volunteer for its board as President. A conversation with Lorna revealed, “The Currency Research team are enthusiastic connoisseurs of currency and continue to provide high quality knowledge to the currency industry. I find being a part of the company’s support system both invigorating and challenging. Great things happen here, and I’m glad to be a part of that distinction.”

Mariosa has over 10 years’ experience in finance and accountancy. Throughout her career she has achieved many goals and aims and worked in different sectors which have made her stronger and more knowledgeable in what she loves to do, which is understanding and working the numbers. Mariosa’s experience prior to joining Currency Research allowed her responsibility for preparing and analyzing financial reports, managing deadlines, projects and teams to ensure the smooth running of the department and accounting function. She is currently studying for the ACCA qualification.

Mariosa is based in Malta.

Tan Chee Meng worked as an electronic design engineer for five years prior to joining the currency community 29 years ago. His currency experience started at the Central Bank of Malaysia where he gained a thorough understanding of high speed sorting machines and the currency supply chain. In 1995 he joined Currency Systems International (CSI) to further enhance his knowledge in the field of high speed currency processing and detection. Additionally, he ran an engineering and parts depot in Malaysia to service all of CSI’s customers in Asia.

When De La Rue acquired CSI in 2001, his knowledge in the industry expanded to include teller assist units, ATMs, substrates and security features. Tan joined Currency Research in October 2009 as Managing Director of Asia and Middle East. Tan is currently the Secretary of the Asian Cash Management Association (ACMA).

Tan Chee Meng specializes in Cash Management Alternatives and is a regional expert in Asia on all sections of the cash cycle. He is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.