Elavon CEO on deep Wicklow roots of European payments powerhouse at it turns 25
For over two decades, Philadelphia native Jamie Walker has been flying back and forth to Arklow to help build out Elavon's Irish operations, which began back in 2000 as a joint venture between then Nova Corporation and the Bank of Ireland called EuroConex to process card payments throughout the Emerald Isle and eventually the rest of Europe.
As head of the Financial Operations Group at Nova (renamed Elavon in 2008), which was acquired in 2001 by U.S. Bank, Walker was charged with establishing U.S. Bank's European operations from an office in Arklow with a handful of employees, which has blossomed into a European payments behemoth that employs 200 people in the seaside town, and around 1,100 across Ireland.
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