Darren is a thought leader in talent acquisition strategies with a specialist focus on the African FinTech sector and launched TalentintheCloud in 2016 to help FinTech’s accelerate their growth by acquiring and retaining key leadership talent.

Darren’s passion for digitization, transformation and people analytics was the real catalyst behind creating TalentintheCloud. By combining the latest technologies from across the globe with a highly experienced team of international staffing and recruitment experts, TalentintheCloud designs, builds and operates talent acquisition programs and strategies for some of Africa’s fastest growing FinTech’s.

Prior to launching TalentintheCloud, Darren was the Group CEO of an international technology and telecoms recruitment business with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Darren supports numerous professional groups focusing on diversity and financial inclusion across the continent including being a strategic partner and Ambassador to the African Women in FinTech and Payments network, Fidexable’s Ambassador to Africa one of the founding members of the South African FinTech Hub (part of the African FinTech Network).

Following his graduation from Middle East Technical University, Department of Industrial Engineering, Burhan Eliaçık started working at Garanti Bank in 2000 and remained there till 2011.

During those years, he managed the bank’s successful transition into digital banking, with the introduction of prepaid cards and other innovative technologies that helped offer alternative products and services to users and was instrumental in making Garanti achieve the largest market share in various sectors, insurance and tourism leading the way.

After his departure from Garanti Bank in 2011, Burhan Eliaçık assumed the role of Mobile Financial Services Senior Manager at Vodafone, where he led the establishment of the respective department and worked on many projects that enabled a wide range of users, who have yet to adopt mobile banking, access financial services using the latest mobile technologies.

During his 4-year service with Vodafone, he also put the Mobile Prepaid Card project into practice, in collaboration with Visa, PTT and ING Bank, covering the most extensive sales network with the largest membership base in Turkey. In addition, he developed and managed the realization of Vodafone Mobile Wallet, which is the first ever “Social Wallet” in the world, featuring the most innovative and newest technology. He has received many national and international awards in recognition of his achievements.

Eliaçık, also lead the establishment of the Payment and Electronic Money Institutions Association of Turkey (ÖDED) in 2015, which brought together mobile operators, mobile payment intermediaries, payment services providers, international money transfer companies and invoice payment companies under one roof, ensuring strong collaboration among industry players. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board.

With his extensive experience of over 19 years in payment systems, Burhan Eliaçık provides extensive consultancy services to organizations to help them successfully transition into the digital age and take advantage of emerging technologies, as well as mentoring FinTech startups.

I have been in sales roles in many sectors of finance my entire career, a double whammy of social exclusion. I have seen the worst examples of workplaces practices in diversity and inclusion, and very rarely the best. My purpose and mission of working with the EWPN is to help close the gap and speed at which change currently takes place. I don’t purport to have decades of experience, or have a Phd from a global university in Diversity/Inclusion or ‘Anything Else’ Studies, but I do critically observe, ask the questions that most people don’t, and reflect on situations to think how things can be done better. I’ve been told that goes a long way in making change happen. I’m looking forward to engage with the payments and FinTech community in order to promote EWPN’s objectives with other Male Allies.

Peter Kwakernaak, as CEO, has been responsible for AcceptEasy since 2008. For more than two decades he has been a driven and experienced entrepreneur at the cutting edge of ICT and financial services. Peter is a passionate baseball player and has a degree in business economics at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam.

Harry Smorenberg is Founder & CEO of SCC and is an international positioning strategist. He previously worked at Banque Paribas and ABNAMRO and was a director at two leading international strategic consultants.

He is a leading contributor to innovation in both the retail and corporate payments and transaction space. He has a solid background in Cash- & Treasury Management. With that, he is actively involved with repositioning the finance functions and the role of (new) technology.

He is also an expert in retirement management (pension scheme development and ageing issues). Next to that he is working actively on improving financial literacy and financial inclusion (a.o. solutions in areas like communication & education/budgeting/ personal financial planning solutions/pension planning). He also is very much involved with the ‘next generation developments of the way we will work and contribute to society’ (rebalancing work & income/working longer) and thus ‘social innovation’.

Harry is Founder of a.o. WorldPensionSummit and the GlobalPaymentSummits (EMEA, ASIA, Oceania). He is a columnist and guest speaker, sits on several advisory boards (such as GFLEC- Washington/ NIBUD – Netherlands/CAFF50.net – Beijing/P&I – New York) and regularly publishes in leading international media.

Arjan Bol is an experienced professional in the payments industry, with over 27 years experience in different organizations working in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. He held different roles at ING from 1997 until 2015, where he was the Head of Payments for ING Netherlands, managing payment products and processes that cater to a significant portion of Dutch payment transactions. His efforts included the digitization of payment systems and the implementation of the SEPA initiative.

At Mastercard from 2015 until 2023, he served as the Country Manager for the Netherlands and Senior Vice President Product responsible for the product marketing of Mastercard’s Real Time Payments infrastructure solutions implemented in the USA, Canada, the UK, Scandinavia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Peru

Currently, Arjan is the general manager of the Dutch Payments Association supporting members and stakeholders with shared non-competitive tasks for the collective payment system in the Netherlands. He has served on the supervisory boards of Bunq, Geldservice Nederland, European Merchant Services and CM Payments.

Adrián is a thorough and devoted professional who goes right to heart of the question and is always prepared to go the extra mile

Adrián is a senior associate in our Banking & Financial Services Group, based in Madrid.

Adrián has over 9 years’ experience advising on European and Spanish legal and regulatory issues related to payments.
Prior to joining Bird & Bird, Adrián worked for Visa in Brussels where he led the regulatory work related to payments legislation, including in particular PSD2 and the strong customer authentication provisions of PSD2. In addition, Adrian has broad experience dealing with regulatory oversight by the European Central Bank/Eurosystem and the Bank of England. Adrian was also responsible to provide Regulatory advice in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Israel and Turkey.
Prior to Visa, Adrian was responsible for payment systems at the European Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB), and before that he was the company secretary and Head of Compliance/Regulatory Affairs at Servired in Madrid.

Adrián speaks fluent Spanish, English and French.

Andy is a senior leader at ACI Worldwide, and is currently Vice President of the platform payments and fraud business across Europe and the UK.

His background is in sales and marketing with considerable experience in both corporate and start-up companies where he specialises in helping companies grow their business in line with long-term strategic plans, often with an exit plan in mind as the end goal.

Read full Andy’s profile on his LinkedIn Profile

David G.W Birch is an author, advisor and commentator on digital financial services. Principal at 15Mb, his advisory company, he is Global Ambassador for secure electronic transactions consultancy Consult Hyperion, Technology Fellow at London-based think tank the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI) and Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey Business School. Before helping to found Consult Hyperion in 1986, he spent several years working as a consultant in Europe, the Far East and North America. He graduated from the University of Southampton with a B.Sc (Hons.) in Physics.

Dave was named one of the global top 15 favourite sources of business information (Wired magazine) and one of the top ten most influential voices in banking (Financial Brand); was found to be one of the top ten Twitter accounts followed by innovators, along with Bill Gates and Richard Branson (PR Daily); was ranked in the top three most influential people in London’s FinTech community (City A.M.); was ranked as a top 15 risk and regtech influencer (Thomson Reuters); was listed in the world’s top 100 most influential FinTech leaders (Hot Topics) and was rated Europe’s most influential commentator on emerging payments (Total Payments).

Described at the Oxford Internet Institute as “one of Britain’s most acute observers of the internet and social networks”, in The Telegraph as “one of the world’s leading experts on digital money”, in The Independent as a “grade-A geek”, and by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation as “one of the most user-friendly of the UK’s uber-techies” and in Financial World as “mad”, he has lectured to MBA level on the impact of new information and communications technologies. A member of the editorial board for Payments & Fintech Lawyer, he has contributed to publications ranging from the Parliamentary IT Review to The Financial Times and wrote a column in The Guardian for many years. A media commentator on electronic business issues, he has appeared on BBC television and radio, Sky and other channels around the world.

His last book “Before Babylon, Beyond Bitcoin: From money we understand to money that understands us” was published in June 2017 with a foreword by Andrew Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England. The London Review of Books called his 2014 book “Identity is the New Money” fresh, original, wide-ranging and “the best book on general issues around new forms of money”.

Don Ginsel is trained as Civil Engineer and former banker at ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank, also an entrepreneur and investor in early stage start-ups. After leaving banking for Venture Capital, the innovative power of start-ups and especially Leans Start-up drove him to choose the startup side for a while. He has been active as entrepreneur and as mentor and coach through several accelerators and incubators. He founded Holland FinTech in 2014, aiming to use the momentum in the financial industry, to change it for the better.For more information about Don, please see, his LinkedIn profile.

Holland FinTech is an independent organisation that offers an ecosystem approach to deal with the rapid changing financial landscape. The ecosystem encompasses all actors and stakeholders of financial services, and offers equal chances to all its members take part in the future of financial services. Holland FinTech provides access to knowledge, network, investments and talent. Since 2014, Holland FinTech connects people and organisations that believe in the power of innovation in financial services, allowing consumers and businesses to profit from progress and development. Holland FinTech connects more than 350 members, ranging from traditional parties to innovative start-ups, spread across all product and sector boundaries. Holland FinTech is committed to stimulating diversity and accessibility of financial services and views, educating the market regarding technological opportunities (and limitations) as an important means to this end.

See also: https://hollandfintech.com