James Hicks is the Founder and Managing Director of the Kegaska Group, a Toronto based payments and financial technology advisory firm.
James has substantial international experience across the payments and fintech industries. He previously was the Executive Vice President, Global Acceptance and Solutions for Mastercard, based out of the company’s global headquarters in Purchase, New York, where he was responsible for developing and driving the strategies, services and solutions to expand the company’s role in the merchant acceptance market worldwide.
He also served in several executive positions around the globe for Global Payments Inc., one of the world’s leading payment processors and providers of payment technology. While based in Hong Kong, he was President, Global Solutions, responsible for developing and managing international partnerships with strategic merchants, partners and financial institutions, including leading the United Kingdom-based International Acquiring e-commerce business. James served earlier as President of Global Payments Asia Pacific, responsible for the company’s businesses across the region, and also was Chair of the Board of Directors of the Asia-Pacific Global Payments / HSBC Joint Venture up to Global Payments’ purchase of HSBC’s minority interest.
Prior to relocating to Asia, James was based in Prague as President and Executive Director of Global Payments Europe, leading the Central & Eastern European business across the region. James entered the industry in Toronto, joining the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as a National Account Business Development Manager in its Card Products Merchant Services unit. Subsequently, he headed the CIBC Merchant Card Services Marketing group, followed by leading Product and Marketing functions as Vice President and Senior Vice President within Global Payments Canada.