Kevin Gary Smith AAP, AFPP
Manager, Payments Compliance & Operations
Galileo Financial Technologies
Biography
Kevin Gary Smith is the Manager of Payments Compliance & Operations at Galileo Financial Technologies, leading a team focused on helping some of the most innovative companies in the world design, implement, and scale their payments capabilities. He is passionate about building cross-functional processes and driving strategic organizational changes that improve efficiency, mitigate risk, and ensure regulatory compliance. With nearly a decade of experience at the intersection of fintech and banking, Kevin possesses deep technical and regulatory expertise across multiple payment rails. He is an Accredited ACH Professional (AAP) and is distinguished as one of the first 161 people nationwide to hold the Accredited Faster Payments Professional (AFPP) certification.
How is the nominee propelling the industry forward?
Kevin was recently promoted as Manager over the Payments Compliance and Operations team at Galileo Financial Technologies. For 5 years he led his team through many changes. He rebuilt Galileo's funds flow consultation and documentation process, resulting in better alignment between each sponsor bank, fintech client, and Galileo on how funds move into and out of FI accounts to support cardholder activity, what triggers that movement, and who is responsible for performing that movement. Over the years, Kevin has become Galileo’s foremost subject matter expert on ACH, earned the Accredited ACH Professional (AAP) certification, encouraging others on the team to do the same. He led internal and external teams to capture program funds flow needs, and drove changes to improve customer outcomes with Galileo’s ACH offerings. Kevin directed needs analysis, technical setup, and testing design for new programs. He also performed RCA to eliminate production issues related to ACH and money movement and documented his findings to help others in troubleshooting future issues.
Where do you see the nominee succeeding in the future?
Kevin is a trailblazer. Where others are trying to just keep up, Kevin is always on to the next thing. He quickly signed up to take (and gain) the Accredited Faster Payments Professional (AFPP) certification the year it was offered and being beta tested. Now as a Manager, he is looking to build a credible team of payments specialists to run operations at Galileo Financial Technologies. Attending many conferences through the years, he keeps up to date on the latest rule changes and will explain the nuances to several internal teams. Kevin's industry knowledge could propel him in the industry in many ways. He may soon sign up to present at a Nacha conference, or start a podcast on better, faster, and more secure payments. Kevin has a wonderful eye for detail, technologies, and design. These skills make Kevin Gary Smith in the years to come one to watch in the payments industry.