GATE Lands Apple Mobile Payments Bigwig

Recently, the folks at the Global Acceptance Transaction Engine (GATE) passed word our way about a coup in hiring it had landed, and it was indeed one great whopping feather in GATE’s collective cap. GATE managed to land Mark Gerban, who previously served as Apple’s Senior Leader of Payments.

GATE, meanwhile, gave Gerban a serious kick up the ladder, bringing him in as its chief commercial officer. Gerban will be tasked with bringing GATE to more products and services worldwide, a task that should work well given that Gerban has over 10 years experience in payments as well as a expert ranking in PSD2 operations in the EU. Gerban will be called upon to oversee GATE’s overall commercial strategy, as well as develop the product further including work with customer interfaces.

Gerban noted “The next wave of payments will have a focus on the Internet of Things, and GATE’s technology provides the perfect solution for making payments accessible at all times. Even when consumers do not have access to the internet in their cars, clothes, watches, or other devices, they can still have secure access to their payments. Leaving Apple to join GATE was not an easy decision. But once I understood the technology and the impact it could have in the payments space, it was only natural to join.”

That actually clears up a couple questions immediately; why, besides the C-level title, would a fairly major operator within Apple leave it? The belief in the technology is one thing, and certainly, if Gerban can get GATE off the ground, he’d be in line to reap some serious windfall as its CCO. Gerban would be well-placed to know that mobile payments technology has been gaining a lot of ground recently, and he would be able to pretty readily put two and two together to see where a new technology is going. Given that this looks like an offline payments technology—note Gerban’s reference to “not hav(ing) access to the internet”—that could put GATE well ahead of the curve, especially in areas with poor internet access.

Only time will tell what GATE pulls off, or what Gerban can help lead GATE to do. In the end, though, GATE has a much better chance of accomplishing it with Gerban in its corner.