Seasoned payment security executives to provide strategic guidance on the company’s payment security product expansion
February 6, 2019 – Bluefin, the leading provider of payment security technologies and PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) solutions for retail, transportation, hospitality, healthcare, and higher education, today announced that Stephen W. Orfei, the former General Manager of the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) and MasterCard executive with a distinguished fourteen-year career, will serve as Chairman of the company’s Product Advisory Board. Additionally, Rodney Farmer, member of the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) Board of Advisors and Board member of the EPSM (European Payment Service Providers for Merchants), has also joined Bluefin’s Product Advisory Board.
Bluefin’s Product Advisory Board brings together industry experts who have commercialized disruptive FinTech innovations to advise the company on its product and strategic path. Former Board chair Dickson Chu, Global Head of Portfolio Management for BBVA and former Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at Ingo Money, Inc., will remain on the Board. Jeff Liesendahl, Managing Partner at Island Peak Capital and former CEO and co-Founder of Accertify, which was acquired by American Express, will also remain.
Mr. Orfei joined Bluefin as a strategic advisor in 2017. As former General Manager of the PCI SSC, he led the Council in its mission to increase payment data security globally. Stephen is a recognized industry expert in global payment platforms, E-commerce, mobile payments, transit, and cybersecurity, with over 20 years of experience developing and delivering complex global payment solutions. He also holds several payments industry patents and awards.
Mr. Orfei said about Bluefin’s PCI-certified P2PE solutions, “We cannot prevent our systems and networks from being breached – but we can prevent it from being compromised by devaluing the data, making it useless in the hands of criminals, organized crime and state-funded actors. Bluefin’s encryption and security solutions do exactly that by helping merchants and service providers get connected, encrypted, and protected. I have always been impressed with Bluefin’s ability to implement their solutions and solve for both SMB and complex payment environments. They walk the talk.”
The addition of payment executive Rodney Farmer reflects Bluefin’s rapid expansion in Europe. Currently, the company has 11 connected partners across Europe, including payment gateways, software providers and key injection facilities, and serves customers in 59 countries. Based in Prague, Rodney has joined Bluefin’s Product Advisory Board to provide his experience and unique insights regarding the European marketplace.
“Bluefin is becoming a major payment security player in the European market,” said Mr. Farmer, PCI SSC Board of Advisors member. “I look forward to assisting the company with their product expansion in this region and beyond.”
Bluefin specializes in PCI-certified P2PE integrated and stand-alone solutions for retail, mobile, call center and unattended environments, and secure Ecommerce technologies including transparent redirect, payment iFrame and tokenization. The company was the first to introduce Decryption as a Service (DaaS) P2PE with their Decryptx® product, which enables payment gateways, processors and software providers to connect to Bluefin via an API and provide the company’s validated P2PE solution through their own platforms. Bluefin has 100 connected P2PE partners and 15 issued patents across the U.S., EU and Japan, with an additional 19 payment security patents pending.
“Vision is not only seeing the future, but also seeing the present clearly,” said Ruston Miles, Bluefin’s chief strategy officer and executive vice president. “I am honored that visionaries and leaders like Stephen, Dickson, Jeff, and Rodney are on our advisory board. Privacy and data protection are at the center of the electronic payment conversation globally. I’m confident that with their experience and expertise, we will be able to best position Bluefin to serve and protect the electronic payment ecosystem.”
