PEOPLE

WHO WE ARE

TEAM

Our strength and confidence derive from our team.
Each member of our team brings their own brand of talent and sweeping experience to every deal.
Working groups are tailored based on mutual assessment of the client's needs.

 

LIONEL DANENBERG

Founder

A computers and electronics engineer, who jumped the years at university to earn his degree. Lionel is fluent in multiple languages and is a specialist of monetary systems of scale and financial technologies from a regulatory, operational, procedural and technical standpoint.

Lionel served on several expert panels, notably at the Economics Affairs committee of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), and conducted work with world renowned economists, including Mr Bernard Lietaer the cofounder of the Euro currency. Lionel has been recognized by the United States government as a person of extraordinary ability due to his work and achievements in the field of banking and financial technologies.

Lionel founded PayServices in 2012 as an enterprise with the goal to solve complex compliance and treasury matters often met in the financial and banking industry.

He works extensively with governments worldwide and is accustomed to meeting with world leaders, central bank executives and working with private organizations delivering solutions of global scale bringing a positive impact on the people of the world. With 15+ years in the IT industry, banking, financial services & technologies, Lionel has worked in the US, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

In a short, Lionel loves innovation that is meant to do good.

HANNA F. KHOURI

African Governmental Affairs

EDUCATION:
    MSc, Project Management
    BSc, Civil & Structural Engineering

CERTIFICATIONS:
    -DOT and USACE, ASHTO Certifications
    -OSHA HAZWOPER, OSHA Supervisor Management & Construction Safety Certifications
    -PMCM Certificate
    -USACE Construction Quality Management Certificate

Mr. Khouri has over twenty years of experience performing master planning, engineering, construction/project management and research. He has extensive international experience including work in West Africa, Middle East and Caribbean. He has worked with federal and state governments (US) as well as international governmental agencies. One of his highest values is his ability to understand the market demands from a developer’s point of view to an engineer’s point of view. He worked on numerous challenging projects from the private sector to the public sector and from new construction to rehabilitation. The projects include industrial and power sector; civil engineering and road sector; institutional and commercial sector; and residential sector.

Hanna has traveled extensively throughout the world, including the US, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South and Latin America, and West/Central/North Africa. Seeing the opportunity to use his international experience and Arabic background, Hanna is using his experience as an expert in Public Relations, Networking, Time Management in worldwide market, preparing / scheduling / facilitating opportunities to heads of governments, investors, developers, privatizations, and branding. Hanna speaks English, Arabic, and French and is eager to use his international background in a new endeavor.

His international experience includes projects in Western and Central African Countries, Middle East and United Sates. He served as the Project Engineer / Construction Manager on the new American embassy design/build project in Togo, Ghana and Nigeria where he got his security clearance from the US government (OBO).

His expertise includes public relations, master planning, geotechnical, site-civil, mechanical, electrical, structural, environmental, site-safety, landscaping capabilities and extensive interaction with federal and state governments (US) as well as international governmental agencies. One of his highest values is his interaction with key leaders on all trades of the International world. He managed some of the highest profile development programs for residential, commercial, and industrial real estate throughout the world (USA, West and Central Africa, Middle East, and South America).

He can provide a one-stop-shop of innovative and integrated engineering services for all land development and Infrastructure projects for private and public sectors around the world. He is well diverse and brings measurable value to any type of projects and/or conditions.

Adding to his Engineering and Construction skills, Hanna is an advisor for a multitude of firms who provides very aggressive buying/selling/provider of products and services to the public & private sectors. He also works with a team who focuses on a rare combination of finance experience and an appreciation of sustainability by sourcing, securing and documenting capital structures for construction and permanent financing, including debt and equity from the private and public sectors.

He has the capabilities to facilitate networking and information security systems due to his close relations to leading firms in this arena. One of these firms is a proven traceless biometric technology that uses a combination of facial recognition, algorithmic codes, and a unique identifying code on an ID card to authenticate a person simply, accurately, and in real time.

Hanna can also facilitate global commodities collaborating with a network of clients across multiple geographies and sectors. Oil excavation, refined fuel, and gas Excavation Company are one of his focus. While conducting seismic surveys, exploration and development

CLEMI ELIA

Chief Relationship Officer

Clemi Elia is an accounting degree graduate and bank officer for close to 30 years. His past tenures include notably Senior Vice President at the Republic National Bank of New York, Executive Vice President at Clariden Leu (private banking owned and later merged with Credit Suisse) and director at the Safra National Bank of New York, a bank that offers a comprehensive range of services to meet the global needs of a select group of high-net worth individuals, their families and their respective businesses.

RON RAITAN

Chief Operating Officer

Mr Raitan is a dynamic, award-winning leader with 25+ years of broad experience in relationship building, operations, strategy, sales and business development who successfully built and led teams from scratch throughout North, Central and South Americas while working for Fortune 10 companies including Ricoh, Canon, Hewlett Packard and Citrix.

Raitan brings strong business development skills in C-Suite Negotiation, Sales Strategy Development and Execution, Management and Software as a Service (SaaS) with an excellent balance of entrepreneur and corporate process.

KAT TATOCHENKO

Chief Business Development Officer

20+ years in financial services, trading and technology. Kat has led and developed sales and product organizations at S&P 500 companies, and large private firms. She has worked in the US, Europe, Asia, and throughout private ventures in Africa, which provides her with a unique perspective and ability to build global teams.

Kat has consistently focused on emerging technologies, which propelled financial services into electronic and digital markets. She has become an expert in taking new products to market, building and executing business development strategies.

In her 7 years at Bloomberg, Kat managed the overall business relationships between Bloomberg and some of the largest global banks, finding new areas for partnership across all lines of their business: Sales & Trading, Custody, Fund Administration, Research, Risk, Compliance, Technology, Treasury, Investment Banking, Private Wealth Management.

During the 11-year tenure at Thomson Reuters, Kat has work across the entire spectrum of the organization, from managing FX electronic trading business operations, to working with emerging quantitative, communication and infrastructure technology solutions.

In her last role at MarketAxess, Kat ran their Data Business. Through implementing new commercial models, contracts, internal systems, restructuring the sales teams, and creating new data products, the business doubled sales year over year.

WILLY DANENBERG

Chief Product Officer

Willy Danenberg is an international business development executive, a senior consultant in Information Technology, Supply Chain, Lean Six Sigma, World Class Manufacturing, Payment Systems, Smart Factories and Smart Cities. Proficient in 7 languages, with 30+ years of experience as a systemic change specialist & consultant for Fortune 100 companies involved in industries such as finance, insurance, online gaming, supply chain and pharmaceuticals.

Danenberg co-founded PAYSERVICES and brought close to 18 years of experience in the gaming, telecom and credit card industry after working with and representing companies such as 888, MCI & Diners Club International.

During his career, Danenberg designed several products that were offered to frequent flyers of some of the major airlines of the time where he was notably directly responsible for the issuance and client base growth of nearly half a million customers in Europe to MCI & Diners club by some of the products that he designed via calling cards before that mobile phones were sold or that the internet even existed to the public - something which was impressive at the time.

Danenberg is a full member of the Club of Rome EU Chapter - an organisation headquartered in Brussels, Belgium at the heart of Europe that aims to build bridges between the institutions of the European Union, EU member state constituencies, EU citizens and the club of Rome as a leading think tank at world level. Its mission is to act as a catalyst for reflection on sustainable development in Europe.

Danenberg brings a lot of experience and also expertise in business development.

THOMAS KEHRER

Chief Financial Officer

A senior financial services executive in diversified global leadership roles with extensive experience in financial and regulatory reporting, operations, internal controls, risk management, and insurance. Significant achievements developing sustainable processes and procedures to meet business objectives while establishing and monitoring controls within appropriate internal and external frameworks. Managed large teams and multimillion-dollar budgets in international markets across Europe, South America, Asia, and North America. Turned around faltering operations, built portfolios, implemented new products, and used forensic auditing to uncover and eliminate potentially serious corporate governance problems.

Tom has significant depth and breadth of experience with regard to critical areas of finance end to end. The areas include extensive years as CFO of Israel Discount Bank ("IDB Bank"), public accounting for audit and advisory clients for KPMG. Tom has extensive experience with each function of the finance process including Quarterly and Annual close process for the issuance of the financial statement, merger integration, SOX, risk management as well as internal audit, and technical expertise in US GAAP as a CPA registered in NY serving banks in a senior role or providing advisory to clients in public accounting.

Furthermore, Tom is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Bank Auditor, a Professional Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the New York State Society of CPAs, and the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Throughout his career, Tom held various positions at international financial institutions such as the Republic National Bank of New York (acquired by HSBC Bank) up to Senior Vice President, Director, Internal Audit Department and Senior Vice President, Office of the President / Director Special Projects.

JOSE ROJAS

Mr Rojas is a highly respected person in the world of international finance. Having served as Minister of Finance of Venezuela from 1999-2001, he later served as Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington D.C. from 2001 to 2004 where he served notably as President of the budget committee where he implemented capitalization ratio reforms enhancing the bank’s efficiency.

Later Mr Rojas held the position of Vice President of the National Oil Company of Venezuela between 2004 and 2005 where at the time he implemented the company’s auditing functions, and in later years from 2005 to 2006 transferred to the Central Bank of Venezuela as Senior Counsellor to the Central Bank’s President where he designed a multi-faceted dynamic analysis to define the optimal level of international foreign exchange reserves and ensuring solvency.

In more recent years, from 2006 to the present, Mr Rojas held subsequently the positions of Executive Director at the The World Bank Group and the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC where he worked and works with the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency (MIGA), and the International Investment Corp (IFC) with the mission of creating sound macroeconomic policies to aid vulnerable populations through crisis and natural disasters.

Mr Rojas notably works with States and Countries at various levels to help defaulting countries restructuring their debts, implementing financial policies and guidelines to maintain integrity of the world’s financial system to ensure global economic stability. Recently, at the IMF, Mr Rojas prevented a bond default to avoid failure for $60B in bonded projects; and stopped a coup d’état in Latin America by draining international reserves affecting currency and exchange rate, which influenced an orderly regime change.

Mr Rojas holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Université Paris II Panthéon- Assas, Sorbonne, Paris, France; a M.S. in Econometrics & Mathematical Economics, Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas, Sorbonne, Paris, France; and a B.S. in Mathematical Statistics, Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela wit h1st Class Honors.

 

ADVISORS

The right advice can mean the difference between success and disaster.

At PayServices, we take our advices from top industry leading experts in their respective areas of expertise.

We surround ourselves with savvy professionals coming from different backgrounds to bring a broad analysis to a matter in order to make the most ethical and meaningful decision both for PayServices and its clients.

 

LINDA CHARITY

Financial Regulation Advisor

Ms Charity is based in Tallahassee, Florida, the capital of the State where she held an impressive 33+ years career at the Florida Office of Financial Regulation ("FLOFR") - the bank regulator of the State. During her years at the FLOFR, she held various and progressively responsible positions supporting the regulation of state chartered financial institutions. Starting in November 1979 as an Examiner, she was promoted to Financial Specialist, later as Financial Administrator to finally become Bureau Chief. In January 2003, after 23 years and 3 months, Linda became the Director of the Division of Financial Institutions at the FLOFR. The division that handles bank licenses. A position that she held until February 2013 after 10 years and 2 months.

During her tenure as Division Director, she was responsible for policy making and leader of a team of professionals dedicated to ensuring the safe, sound and successful operations of Florida state chartered banks, credit unions, foreign banks and trust companies. Linda oversaw all aspects of financial institution regulation including examination, enforcement, licensing, legal support, technology, budget, research, planning, training, staffing, consumer issues and legislative and rule-making activities. Between June 2009 and August 2009, and again between March 2012 and November 2012, Ms Charity was appointed by the Florida's Governor and Cabinet to serve as interim Commissioner of the Office of Financial Regulation. Responsible for regulatory, licensing, investigative and support activities for financial institutions, securities, mortgage brokers, small loan companies, and money services businesses.

Between October 2013 and May 2016, after an impressive career at the FLOFR, Linda joined the Government Affairs & Public Policy Practice Group at Akerman, LLP as Financial Institutions Policy Advisor with significant experience in the field of financial institution regulation, including regulation of commercial banks, credit unions, foreign banks, and non-deposit trust companies. Akerman, LLP is a leading transactions and trial law firm known for its core strengths in middle-market M&A, within the financial services and real estate industries, and for a diverse Latin America practice.

Between June 2016 and January 2019, Ms Charity served as a Financial Institutions Policy Advisor at Jones Walker LLP in the firm's Tallahassee office. She provided regulatory, licensing, corporate governance, and lobbying support to firm clients and attorneys. Jones Walker LLP is a law practice firm that provides an extensive range of legal services to a national and international corporate client base through offices in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Texas, and Washington, DC.

In January 2019, Linda became an independent Financial Services Consultant. Linda is working with PayServices on licensing and regulatory matters in Florida and the United States.

Linda Charity graduated in 1979 from the University of Florida - Warrington College of Business with a Bachelor of Science of Business Administration, Finance, General. Linda also holds since 1986 a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Finance, General, from the Florida State University - college of Business.

JADE CRAIG

Attorney & Legal Advisor

Jade is the founder and owner of Jade A. Craig, PA, a law firm in Tampa, Florida. He graduated with a B.A. from the University of Virginia, where he majored in French and Political & Social Thought and was a member of the liberal arts honors program. He graduated from the J.D. program at Columbia Law School in 2012 and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Race and Law and co-chair of the Civil Rights Law Society. After law school, he served as a law clerk to two judges on the federal trial and appeals courts. In 2014, he was appointed by the Obama Administration to serve as Special Policy Advisor to the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the leadership of Secretary Julián Castro. In that role, he managed relationships with civil rights groups and affordable housing stakeholders and coordinated the agency's efforts around addressing access to adequate housing in the United States in the context of international human rights in conjunction with the State Department.

Jade's career in private practice has focused on commercial litigation and appellate matters. He has represented businesses ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies in regulatory disputes with state and federal agencies, contract, partnership, and shareholder disputes as well as employment discrimination matters, whistleblower and retaliation cases, and professional negligence claims, among a host of others.

As of 2021, Jade is licensed to practice in Florida, Mississippi and New York; working with PayServices on various aspects of the operations from legal advises, research, opinions, litigations, attorney of record, and contract drafting.

PHILOSOPHY

NEUTRALITY

We are independent, thus unencumbered by potential conflicts of interests. To say we always put our clients' interests before our own would be false; we don't bring our interests to the table. What we do put is ourselves in our clients' seats, providing technology solutions, tailoring ideas and devising strategies that are true, relevant and always objectives.

APPROACH

PayServices is here to execute transactions and manage challenges that are among the most critical events for a company. We understand the impact these events can have, and take them with the outmost respect and precision. We act in senior executive capacity. We commit the full resources of our firm and team to ensure optimal results.

GLOBAL PRESENCE

PayServices has put in place a global framework of reps that are complemented by partnerships and strategic alliances with leading providers in key markets throughout the world.