22 September 2004

Hannon, Harper and industry leaders lauded at ATMIA awards banquet - ATM Marketplace www.atmmarketplace.com

SAN DIEGO — At its third-annual Global ATM Industry Awards Banquet, two of the ATM Industry Association's (ATMIA) key honors went to one of the early pioneers of the retail ATM industry and a man who, in more recent years, helped the industry find a common voice.

Emotions occasionally ran high at the Manchester Grand Hyatt here, as attendees remembered the late Tom Hannon Sr., founder of Hanco Systems in the United States and Hanco ATM Systems in the United Kingdom . Hannon, who died earlier this year, posthumously received the ATMIA's Lifetime Achievement award.

The ATM veteran and international entrepreneur founded Hanco, one of the country's first ISOs, in 1991. In 2002 he sold his portfolio of some 2,500 machines to eFunds and went to the UK , where he became that country's largest independent deployer in just three years. The Royal Bank of Scotland recently purchased Hanco's portfolio of more than 5,000 machines for a reputed $143.5 million.

Hannon was nominated for the award by Triton, his longtime ATM supplier. Though not in the audience, both Ernest Burdette, Triton's president emeritus, and Brian Kett, its president, made digital appearances to honor Hannon. Noting that Hannon had "a vision to see the European market develop much as North America did," Kett said Hannon had a "passion that was felt by all in the industry."

"There are three styles of management: leading by example, delegation and fear," said Jeff Barrow, Triton's vice president of sales and marketing, in a statement read to the room. "Tom was all of those."

Accepting the award, son Todd Hannon said, "He would really appreciate this award, because it came from an organization that has the same passion as he did."

The individual award for Best Contribution to Promoting the Interests and Growth of the ATM Industry went to Tom Harper, co-founder and current president of ATMIA. Mike Lee, ATMIA's CEO, said the honor was "richly deserved" for Harper's "caring for the industry he has exhibited from Day One through today." Harper is also founder and publisher of ATMmarketplace.com.

That caring was on display in a speech to the assembly during which Harper mentioned some of ATMIA's latest achievements, including adding 225 new members in the past year, launching an Asian chapter and creating the Global ATM Security Alliance (GASA). Harper said ATMIA presented eight conferences in 2004, doubling the number from 2003. It signed five new global regional sponsors, which helped put it on stronger financial footing.

Six years ago, said Harper, the ATMIA was "a rag-tag group of idealists too busy writing bylaws and putting an insurance program in place to dream about the industry and its potential."

But now, he said, some of the group's dreams are beginning to become reality. "The cash machine and ATMIA with it are driving a wave of self-service adoption."

Among his future goals, Harper said, is establishing a series of regional offices throughout the world. Noting that "borders and oceans don't get in the way" for ATMIA's far flung staff, who "operate as if they are in the same building," Harper said offices would help give the group a higher profile.

Harper also wants to establish a network of international sales representatives to promote the group's products and services, to help grow ATMIA from its current 528 members to 2,000 within the next five years.

"What should be our response to all of this opportunity?" Harper asked. "We should drive forward steadily, and we'll continue to succeed together."

Other award winners announced at the ceremony included:

* Runner-up for Best Contribution to Promoting the Interests and Growth of the ATM Industry: Hansup Kwon, president of Tranax Technologies , who Lee said has "always insisted that his products be of the highest security standard," even when it has negatively impacted his company's bottom line.

* Organizational award for Best Contribution to Promoting the Interests and Growth of the ATM Industry: Palm Desert National Bank (PDNB), which Lee said under the leadership of Sandra Hartfield, president and CEO of its electronic banking division, has "routinely committed staff and resources to playing a leadership role in the industry."

* Runners-up for the organizational award for Best Contribution to Promoting the Interests and Growth of the ATM Industry included a tie between two Australian companies, Cashcard and ATM Solutions Australasia.

* Most Influential Member: Mike Urban of Fair Isaac Corporation, who introduced card fraud alerts for ATMIA members and played a key role in establishing GASA.

* Runners-up for Most Influential Member: Steven Kark, president and CEO of ATM Solutions of South Africa, and PDNB's Hartfield.

* Best Practice ATM Deployment, ISO category: Cardtronics.

* Runner-up: eFunds.

* Best Practice ATM Deployment, financial institution category: Singapore 's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited.

* Runner-up: JP Morgan Chase.

* Best ATM Technology, through-the-wall category: Triton, for its RT2000.

* Runner-up: Australia 's Braintree Communications, which Lee said has helped promote the usage of wireless communications for ATMs.

* Best ATM Technology, standalone category: Triton, for its RL 5000.

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