Mr. Venezia has extensive management and retail experience in both the financial services/payments and consumer products industries. In 2006 / 2007, led by business partner Mario Trujillo, Mr. Venezia and Mr. Eduardo Villalobos (colleague/partner) performed the search, planning, fundraising and execution of a strategy to acquire another “Platform” (RQI) to become a leading electronic funds transfer company in the US and Europe serving Latin America. RQI was successfully acquired in April 2008 in partnership with Institutional Private Equity Investors, led by Palladium Equity Capital. At RQI, Mr. Venezia manages all of Sales & Marketing and assists with Operations support.
Mr. Venezia played a key role in the growth and ultimate sale of Vigo Remittance Corp. in 2005. As EVP Sales - United States and Canada, Mr. Venezia lead the sales team of more than 70 and played an integral part of operations support in exceeding company growth goals. With a base line of 6% growth, the sales team, led by Mr. Venezia, was able to achieve YOY growth in the low 20% range in less than 24 months. This was part of the Vigo “success story” and along with Mr. Venezia’s participation in the actual selling of the company, in October 2005, Vigo was successfully sold to First Data Corporation in an all cash sale, which resulted in a 5.0 times “cash on cash” return and an IRR of 88% to the Investors.
For three years prior to joining Vigo, Mr. Venezia held the position of SVP Sales at American Payment Systems (APS), the largest processor of walk-in bill payments in the US. In addition, Mr. Venezia served on the Board of Directors for Cell Cards Inc. a subsidiary of APS. During that time, APS experienced transaction growth of over 50% and successfully launched two new products at retail (Non-contracted Bill Payments and a Pre-Paid Debit Card). In July of 2002, APS was awarded the Bell South Contract which represented a 25% increase in business. In September 2003, with Sales being the driver of the company’s success, APS was sold to CheckFree. Prior to APS, Mr. Venezia was the RVP Sales for Paystation America (consumer Bill Payments) which was sold to APS in September 2000. Mr. Venezia has also held several Sales Management positions at Western Union, including District Manager of New York, the largest assignment within that position.
Mr. Venezia earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Penn State University in 1988.
