Jan Smith

About Jan Smith

A life of travel contributed to becoming an entrepreneur and falling into financial services, payments, and fintech for the last 30 years. I am also a climber and photographer.Travel: It started two weeks after I was born, when my family moved to Iran and I\'ve traveled ever since. When the Shah left we did too. Since then, I\'ve lived and worked in 30 countries and am lucky to know another threescore. I\'ve visited many countries as consultant, but I\'ve done my share of couch-surfing with a camera, and I\'ve spent a year in my life in tents across the world, most often in the Cordillera Real above more recently in Greenland.Strategy Consulting: As a consultant I\'ve founded two firms and sold the first one to a US$100B professional services firm. Today, I advise many types of financial services players and investors and have a stellar team helping me. The combined enterprise value of our clients is US$1T.Payments Advice: I learned the four-party card model so that today I can either defend it from challengers or help challengers dismantle it. On any given day day my job mixes Vaudeville star with a dash of a Hessian mercenary. I mostly cover Real-Time-Payments, Merchant Processing, Commercial Payments, and Cross Border Payments. On really special days I get to speak in front of international crowds or get into the likes of The Economist or Forbes-I was even trusted to co-author a book; Can Latin America Compete, Palgrave Macmillan 2004.Living the Life as a Photographer: I\'m not bad with a camera. I have a few international shows under my belt, a book, gallery representation, and belong to the Guild of Atomic Photographers due to working in Fukushima and Chernobyl.Helping Others: I mentor students and startups. My photography sales go to HIV-AIDs help groups. I help my friends displaced and maimed by war.

Experience

1. Founding Partner

   Korefusion - Strategy Consulting And M&a

   Apr 2014 — Present

   My team and I advise clients in the fintech and financial services space, and by extension, a lot of what we do is related to payments. The challenges are a mix of strategy and M&A advisory-both on the buy-side and sell-side. We help companies find growth opportunities, launch products, engage competitors, conduct due diligence, and build or buy partnerships. We work across three continents and have on-the-ground experience in over 60 countries. Lots of travel, lots of challenges, lots of learning.

Education

• Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo

  Masters, Philosophy

  2001 — 2003

• Universidad de las Américas, A.C.

  Bachelors, Business

  1992 — 1995

Skills

• New Business Development
• Merchant Acquiring
• Bill Payment
• Debit Cards
• Market Research
• Alternative Payments
• Risk Management
• Remittances
• Marketing Strategy
• Hnwi
• Strategic Partnerships
• Payment Systems
• Payment Cards
• Latin America
• Business Development
• Marketing
• Credit Cards
• Team Leadership
• Leadership
• Program Management
• Product Development
• Venture Capital
• Payment Industry
• Portfolio Management
• Competitive Analysis
• Market Intelligence
• Start-Ups
• Management
• Analytics
• Business Strategy
• Business Planning
• Finance
• Strategy
• Mobile Payments
• Management Consulting
• Space Tourism
• Consulting
• Strategic Planning
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Fine Art Photography