First Data Exec Named Chairman of Transactis, Inc.
BETHESDA, MD - September 20, 2006 - A 25-year veteran of the billing industry, Joseph Proto, has joined Transactis, Inc., the industry leader in e-mail billing technologies, as Chairman of the Board. Thomas L. Kohn, CEO, Transactis, made the announcement.
Mr. Proto replaces Mark Walsh, who remains on the Board of Directors as co-vice chairman with Mr. Kohn. Mr. Proto will work with Mr. Kohn on new business development, strategic planning, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Walsh will continue to remain highly active with the company, Mr. Kohn said.
"I am extremely excited to join Transactis," said Mr. Proto. "Paper is finally going away and Transactis' BillMail™ platform will help both banks and billers suppress paper bills. Banks can present full bill detail for their treasury clients and billers can push bills into their customer's inboxes where they can securely pay their bill. Since our patent-pending solution does not require hotlinks back to a website, downloads of software or a click on an attachment, secure e-mail billing has an incredibly strong value proposition for banks, billers and consumers. This is where electronic billing is going."
"Joe is a leader in billing and technology," said Mr. Kohn. "He understands how big the e-mail billing space can be and that e-mail has the best chance to be the non-tech savvy consumer's medium of choice. The fact that he has been building billing companies since 1982 and selling them to leading companies like Wachovia Bank and First Data will create great value for our shareholders. Bringing Joe on board, together with our pilots and contracts we have in process, the closing of our recent financing round, and the recent signing of two reseller agreements gives Transactis great momentum going into the fall."
From 1982-1995 Mr. Proto was founder, owner and member of the executive management team of Financial Telesis, Inc., a holding company for businesses specializing in providing remittance and data processing services to banks and corporations. Financial Telesis and its holdings were sold in 1992 to CoreStates Bank, now Wachovia, and changed its name to QuestPoint. Through new clients and acquisitions, Mr. Proto helped build QuestPoint into a 2,000-employee company and an international leader in remittance processing with 18 sites in the U.S. and Canada, serving nearly 70 of the top 100 U.S. banks and over 3,000 corporate clients. In 1996, Mr. Proto partnered with the United States Postal Service to launch its remittance processing product, REMITCO. With some of the country's top billers as the first clients, Mr. Proto developed REMITCO into a high quality payment processor. In 1999, Mr. Proto divested REMITCO from the USPS in order to accelerate the company's expansion and, in 2000 REMITCO was acquired by First Data. The company now has seven operating facilities around the country with over 1,000 employees, serving many of the largest corporations and financial institutions in the U.S. and processing a billion financial transactions annually.
Mr. Proto is a graduate of Montclair State University, cum laude, where he received his B.A. in English/Humanities and his M.A. in Education/Communications.
About Transactis
Transactis, Inc. (www.transactis.com) - features a patent-pending e-mail billing platform, BillMail™, which combines secure bill presentment and secure payment within the e-mail experience. Built for financial institutions, telcos and utilities especially, BillMail™ does not require consumers to either download software or click on an attachment. BillMail™ allows billers to push customers full bill detail within an e-mail, thereby increasing their paper suppression efforts, plus lowers transaction costs and decreases DSOs (days sales outstanding). BillMail™ allows consumers to receive and pay their bills within the convenience and safety of their e-mail inbox. Founded in 2001, Transactis, has created transaction-enabled e-mails for corporate clients across the United States, such as NSTAR/Boston Edison, and is currently working with Louisville Gas & Electric and other large billers. For information, contact Transactis at info@transactis.com or 301/469-3800. Transactis is based in Bethesda, Maryland.