Our Leadership
The people behind Fullsteam come from diverse backgrounds in payments, finance, and software. Our team has the experience and knowledge to help you grow your business faster than ever before. If you are an experienced M&A professional, or have a background in payments technology, and are interested in working at Fullsteam, please reach out to contact@fullsteam.com.
Michael A. Lawler
CEO
Mr. Michael A. Lawler became the CEO of Fullsteam in April 2018. Prior to this, Mr. Lawler was the President-Strategic Markets Group at Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY) from June 2012 to April 2016 prior to the acquisition of Heartland by Global Payments. Mr. Lawler was responsible for leading the company’s presence in various vertical markets including K-12, higher education, micropayments, biller direct, petroleum, e-commerce and other segments of the company’s SME payment processing.
Mr. Michael A. Lawler became the CEO of Fullsteam in April 2018. Prior to this, Mr. Lawler was the President-Strategic Markets Group at Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY) from June 2012 to April 2016 prior to the acquisition of Heartland by Global Payments. Mr. Lawler was responsible for leading the company’s presence in various vertical markets including K-12, higher education, micropayments, biller direct, petroleum, e-commerce and other segments of the company’s SME payment processing. In addition, he was responsible for most of the company’s M&A during his tenure. Prior to becoming President, he served in other positions at Heartland including Chief of Corporate Development, Executive Director and as a consultant since October 2008. Before joining Heartland, Mr. Lawler served as Senior Vice President at Official Payments (OPC) from June 2004 to September 2008. At OPC, he was responsible for the combined operation of OPC and EPOS, subsidiaries of Tier Technologies (Nasdaq: TIER) and its payment processing service for government, utility and education clients. Prior to taking over the leadership at OPC, he served as President of EPOS Corporation since November 1989 and its Chairman from September 1991 to June 2004. He joined EPOS in 1987. At EPOS, he was responsible for the company’s payment processing and telephony products. Mr. Lawler holds a Bachelor of Science in computer engineering and a Master of Science in computer science from Auburn University.
Fred Byrd
CTO
James F. (Fred) Byrd joined Fullsteam as CTO in June 2018. Previously Fred was Sr. Director of Operations and Director of Product Development for the Heartland Payments Systems (HPY) Billing Solutions business unit from 2011 to 2018. During his tenure at Heartland he was responsible for the design, architecture and development of the Biller Direct credit card and ACH payment platform targeting government entities, utilities, medical practices and various other service verticals.
James F. (Fred) Byrd joined Fullsteam as CTO in June 2018. Previously Fred was Sr. Director of Operations and Director of Product Development for the Heartland Payments Systems (HPY) Billing Solutions business unit from 2011 to 2018. During his tenure at Heartland he was responsible for the design, architecture and development of the Biller Direct credit card and ACH payment platform targeting government entities, utilities, medical practices and various other service verticals. Prior to joining Heartland, from 2004-2011, Fred was the director of Product Development and the Director of QA for Official Payments (OPC). In 1981, Fred was a principal founder of EPOS Corporation and served in various roles including Executive Vice President and CTO. Fred has 20-years experience with payment processing across multiple channels such as Web UI, Web Services, IVR, POS and IOT. During his career, Fred was involved in designing systems to meet industry compliance including the latest PCI-DSS specifications, NACHA requirements, Federal regulations such a Regulation “E” and various Personal Data Privacy rules. These payments systems were designed to be both scalable and available with an emphasis on data integrity. Fred has served on the advisory board for three local banks and has a US Patent for work performed as a consultant for EPOS Corporation. Fred received his Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1981 and a Master’s of Electrical Engineering in 1982, both from Auburn University.
David Pincus
CFO
David Pincus joined Fullsteam as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in August 2018, overseeing the company’s Finance and Human Resources activities. David has more than 25 years of domestic and international financial and operational leadership experience in a combination of multinational, private equity and venture capital funded businesses and has also served as the CFO of a Private Equity fund.
David Pincus joined Fullsteam as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in August 2018, overseeing the company’s Finance and Human Resources activities. David has more than 25 years of domestic and international financial and operational leadership experience in a combination of multinational, private equity and venture capital funded businesses and has also served as the CFO of a Private Equity fund. He has held key positions within the technology, medical device, manufacturing, publishing and direct marketing spaces. In these roles, David was responsible for the Finance, IT, Legal and Human Resources groups in a range of situations, having also raised capital through debt and equity strategies and sold companies to strategic acquirers. Most recently, David was the CFO of Pilgrim Quality Solutions and Liquent prior to that, both private-equity owned, Healthcare IT companies and each acquired by a strategic, publicly traded multinational company. David earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and is both a CPA and Chartered Accountant (Canada). He began his career at the Toronto office of Ernst & Young.
Gregory Colella
Director of M&A
Greg Colella leads the M&A team at Fullsteam and emphasizes transparency and clarity while communicating with CEOs. He has worked as a Director of Finance and Operations for a medium sized software company (Tinypass, acquired by Piano Media) and was most recently a software investor at Susquehanna Growth Equity where he focused on industrial, logistics, and payments technology.
Greg Colella leads the M&A team at Fullsteam and emphasizes transparency and clarity while communicating with CEOs. He has worked as a Director of Finance and Operations for a medium sized software company (Tinypass, acquired by Piano Media) and was most recently a software investor at Susquehanna Growth Equity where he focused on industrial, logistics, and payments technology. He is also a Captain in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and commands the oldest continuously service cavalry unit, The First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, currently designated Alpha Troop, 1/104 CAV, founded in 1774. Greg graduated from Princeton University in 2012 with an A.B. in International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School and holds a Certificate from the East Asian Studies Department.
Our Team
Keith W. Abraben
Director of Corporate Human Resources
Keith W. Abraben joined Fullsteam as Director of Corporate Human Resources in November 2018. Keith has more than 40-years experience in strategic global human resources, total rewards, compensation, leadership training, employee relations, talent acquisition, payroll and O/D in the Software IOT and transportaion markets. Prior to joining Fullsteam, Keith was Vice President of Corporate Global Human Resources for Hitachi Vantara (Previously known as Pentaho Corp.). Building human resources infrastructure from scratch during the past 40 years in both software and transportation industries has afforded Keith the ability as a strategic business partner to scale early stage startups quickly while remaining true to the cultural identity and vision of the founder and the leadership team. Keith graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL, in 1976 with a B.A. Degree in Business.
Joey Alexander
Principal Developer
Joey Alexander joined Fullsteam as Principal Developer in June 2018. Joey has worked as a developer in the payments industry for more than 10 years. He has performed full stack development with expertise in frontend UI design and development, through middle tier business logic components, down to low level database work. He has experience with real-time online payments, card present and EMV payments via POS and recurring payments. At his previous position with Heartland Payment Systems, he was the team lead for the Billing Solutions group that created a full-service Bill Payments platform from the ground up and grew to more than $5 Billion in annual processing volume. Prior to working for Heartland, Joey was the Director of Development at Stone Martin Builders in Auburn, Ala., where he led a team to design and build custom business operating software for a medium-sized construction company. Joey also worked for Informatix, Inc., as a software developer for payment processing and operational software for Child Support disbursement units. Typically working on smaller teams and managing multiple projects, Joey has extensive exposure to operational support as well as infrastructure setup and support. Joey earned his Bachelor’s in Software Engineering from Auburn University in 2005.
Jon Armstrong
Director of IT and M&A Integration
Jon Armstrong joined Fullsteam as Director of IT and M&A Integrations in June 2018. Jon has worked in the payments industry for more than 8 years with a wide range of roles and responsibility. At his previous position with Heartland Payment Systems, Jon developed and managed the ACH Processing Gateway which quickly grew to more than $8 billion in annual volume. During his efforts at Heartland, Jon gained extensive experience in team management, product management, project management, systems automation, deployment automation, process automation, build automation, code-quality management, treasury management, accounts receivables, NACHA compliance & regulations, and PCI procedures. Before working at Heartland, Jon worked at Tier Technologies, supporting and developing software that serviced a wide number of verticals. Immediately after graduation, Jon worked at a local software development company writing construction project management software, CRM and contracts management. Jon earned a Bachelor’s of Computer Science from Auburn University in 2006.
Xander Berry
M&A
Xander Berry joined the Fullsteam Corporate Development team in November 2018. Prior to joining Fullsteam, he spent five years at GCA Advisors where he advised growth-stage technology companies in the software, financial technology, and digital media sectors. Responsible for executing M&A and private capital raising engagements, Xander worked closely with client management teams to optimize value for shareholders. His clients included Bazaarvoice, TouchBistro, Capsilon, and Operative, among others. He graduated magna cum laude from Lehigh University in 2013 with a B.S. from the Integrated Business & Engineering honors program.
Will Brinkley
Director of Payments and Marketing
Will Brinkley joined Fullsteam as Director of Marketing & Payments in June 2018. With more than 20-years experience as a writer, communicator and marketing professional, Will has created and managed content across multiple platforms including print, web, video and social media. In his previous role with Heartland Payment Systems, Will produced internal content and external marketing collateral to support a nationwide team of more than 1,000 sales professionals. Serving as a subject-matter expert for Heartland’s Billing Solutions group, Will provided presentation decks, technical sales support and pricing guidance for the Major Accounts team as well as Billing partnership opportunities. With more than 10 years in the payments industry, Will has in-depth knowledge of credit card brand and NACHA rules and regulations and served as a liaison between Heartland Sales, Development and Compliance teams to ensure Billing Solutions merchants maintained compliance with intricate industry requirements. During his tenure with Heartland and at Official Payments Corp. from 2006-2011, Will managed hundreds of RFP, RFQ and RFI responses for local, state and federal government entities as well as K-12 and higher education schools and school districts. Will earned two degrees from Auburn University, a Bachelor’s of Arts in Journalism (1998) and a Master’s in Technical and Professional Communication (2006).
Shane Ecclesine
M&A
Shane Ecclesine joined the Fullsteam Corporate Development team in July 2018 after spending two years in a partnerships role at Jopwell, a venture-backed technology recruiting company. Responsible for building relationships with the leading brands across corporate America, Shane helped the business secure a Series A round of funding in early 2018. Prior to working with Jopwell, Shane began his career at UBS as an analyst in the rotational Wealth Management Americas Graduate Training Program followed by a two-year stint as a Wealth Planning Analyst, where he served as a financial planning consultant to an office of 50+ financial advisors. He graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University in 2011 with a B.A. in Classical Studies.
Ed Graf
Director of Compliance and Contracts
Edward R. (Ed) Graf joined Fullsteam as Director of Compliance and Contracts in August 2018. Previously Ed was Director, Contracts, AML for Heartland Payments Systems (HPY). During his tenure at Heartland he was the AML Officer and advised in matters of regulatory compliance. He also served as Director for contracts, primarily public entities, such as universities, school districts, and city and state governments. Prior to joining Heartland, from 2004-2012, Ed established and managed a Money Transmitter program for Official Payments (OPC). Ed joined EPOS Corporation in 1987, upon retiring as Professor of Electrical Engineering from Auburn University, and served in various roles, including contracts and sales, until EPOS was sold in 2004. Ed received a Bachelor of Science (Electrical Engineering) and Master Degree (Electrical Engineering) from Auburn University, a PHD (Electrical Engineering) from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and a EJD in 2010 from Purdue University Global.
Jacob Greenberg
M&A
Jacob Greenberg has been a member of the Corporate Development team at Fullsteam since April, 2018. Prior to joining Fullsteam he spent two years at KKR working in both Special Situations and Equity Capital Markets. From 2014 to 2016 he worked at Western Asset Management as an Analyst on the Emerging Markets Fixed Income and FX trading desk. Jacob graduated from Bates College in 2013 with a B.A. in Economics.
Liz Gregg
Manager of Finance
Liz Gregg joined Fullsteam as Manager of Finance in October 2018. Prior to Fullsteam, she worked for Official Payments/ACI Worldwide for 18 years, in a variety of roles from staff accountant, client and operations accounting, exception management, vendor management and merchant ID acquisitions. Liz was responsible for the consolidation of two Client Service call centers and management of the Client Service team who handled 3,000+ clients within federal, state and local governments, municipal utilities, higher education, and charitable giving organizations. She received her BS in Accounting/Business Management from Troy State University and has worked in the banking, hospitality, government and payment processing businesses.
Trey Keenon
Manager of IT Operations
Trey Keenon joined Fullsteam as Manager of IT Operations in October 2018. Trey has worked in the financial technology industry in varying roles for more than 10 years. Throughout his career Trey has gained extensive experience in project management, development operations, automation, infrastructure, data analytics, PCI, HIPAA & SOX compliance. At his previous position with EBSCO Information Services, Trey developed and managed continuous integration tools and services to support financial operations and online content delivery. Prior to EIS, Trey worked at Synovus Bank and Tier Technologies. While at Synovus, Trey supported and developed the bank's next generation commercial loan platform to be used by 29 divisions at over 280 locations. At Tier Technologies, Trey contributed as a member of both the infrastructure and software development organizations on a project to consolidate three payment processing platforms into one unified platform.
Adam Maddox
Director of Product Development
Adam Maddox joined Fullsteam as Director of Product Development in June 2018 with 14 years of experience creating software solutions in the payment processing and customer relationship management industries. In his previous role as the Development Manager for Heartland Payment Systems’ Billing Solutions platform, Adam oversaw the ground-up development of a Biller Direct payments platform that rapidly grew to support more than 7,000 merchants and process $5 billion in annual processing volume. Through his work at Heartland, Adam gathered extensive experience and knowledge across the different components of payment processing including PCI/Security, uptime management, point-of-sale and terminal devices, EMV, card-not-present solutions and interchange pricing analysis. Before Heartland, Adam worked at Informatix and Tier Technologies, creating software and technology to support child support payment collection and customer relationship management for state governments. Adam earned a Bachelor’s of Electrical and Computer Engineering from Auburn University (2004).
John Stroud
M&A
John Stroud graduated from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and joined the Corporate Development team at Fullsteam in July, 2018. While at Michigan, John was a leader in the Social Venture Fund and the Zell Lurie Institute, in which he cultivated an interest in tech and entrepreneurship. He was also a Ross fellowship recipient and was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society for recognition of being within the top 10% of his graduating class. In his free time, John is an avid reader and runner.
Our Philosophy
Platform Vision
We are a family of technology and software companies in multiple verticals whose leaders are aligned to grow their top and bottom lines as shareholders of Fullsteam. Our business leaders proactively communicate with others in the company to share best practices and approach vertical markets collectively.
Payments + Software
We believe that payments and software are a powerful combination, and that credit card and ACH processing can be profit centers for software companies. Our specialized team has the expertise to unlock that potential for all Fullsteam companies.