Ed LabryPresident of First Data — North America
Edward (Ed) Labry is president of First Data – North America, a market that contributes over 85 percent of the company's consolidated revenue. Prior to being appointed to this role in Jan. 2011, Labry served as president of First Data’s Retail and Alliance Services segment.
In North America, First Data delivers products and services to financial institutions and bank alliance partners, merchants and commercial customers providing virtually all services in the payment continuum, from payment card issuing to acquiring transactions at the point of sale for processing and settlement. These products include credit and debit card issuing; ATM and EFT networks, including the STAR Network; fraud and risk management and analytic solutions; merchant services; prepaid services; TeleCheck; eCommerce; merchant loyalty; mobile commerce; and TASQ point-of-sale technology.
When First Data acquired Concord EFS, Inc. in 2004, Labry was president of this high-growth processing company. At Concord, Labry pioneered the acceptance of credit, debit and electronic benefit transactions in supermarkets, the introduction of pay-at-the-pump technology at gasoline stations, and the use of electronic payments in quick service restaurants. He joined Concord in 1984 and over the years helped evolve the company beyond payment services for retailers into network services for financial institutions. He engineered three strategic acquisitions that propelled Concord to the forefront of the ATM and debit card industry.
In April 2007, Labry was awarded the first-ever Distinguished Payments Professional of the Year Award by the Electronic Transactions Association. He was recognized as Payments Executive of the Year by Cards & Payments, a leading SourceMedia publication. Labry was presented both awards for his more than 20 years of industry innovation and visionary leadership.
Labry received a bachelor’s degree in science from Cumberland University, which granted him the “Award of the Phoenix” for Outstanding Service in 2002 and an honorary doctorate in 2003.