Management Team
Affinity Marketing Professionals
The Kessler Group management team comprises seasoned marketing consultants and financial services professionals with over 200 years of collective experience who are relentless in their pursuit of results and driven to structure win-win programs for Kessler clients and partners.
Leadership Team
Howard Kessler
Founder & Chairman
A leading innovator in the financial services industry and a consummate dealmaker, Howard Kessler pioneered the concept of the affinity credit card with MBNA in 1982. Mr. Kessler has spent the ensuing decades building businesses focused on delivering win-win solutions to the most critical problems faced by senior executives in retail financial services.
Deals and partnership programs created by Mr. Kessler have literally reshaped the landscape of the payments industry— resulting in the creation of billions of dollars in value for shareholders. Mr. Kessler has been at the forefront of innovation in credit cards and has developed concepts and techniques that have been exported to financial services firms around the world.
As a lifelong entrepreneur, Mr. Kessler excels in the relentless pursuit of out-of-the-box answers to intractable problems, especially in deal making and in the crafting of alternative solutions in “workout” situations. This unique combination of tenacity and creativity has made him a trusted advisor to the most senior leaders in the fields of politics and financial services, and these relationships give him unparalleled insight into the strategic objectives and needs of major financial institutions.
Mr. Kessler and his wife, Michele, are active philanthropists supporting a wide range of national and global causes, such as the William J. Clinton Foundation, the American Red Cross, the American Ireland Fund, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Prince of Wales Trust and Partners HealthCare, a not-for-profit, integrated healthcare system founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. Mr. Kessler has been the recipient of numerous public service awards, including the United Way Emerging Corporate Philanthropist Award, the Red Cross Lifetime Achievement Award, the Palm Beach Police Foundation Award for Community Service and the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Award for entrepreneurs who have made a significant difference in the lives of children.
Keryn Brunner
Managing Director, International
Keryn Brunner, managing director of Kessler Financial Services International, joined The Kessler Group in September 1998 to manage the company’s business in Australia. In that role, Ms. Brunner positioned The Kessler Group as the leader in Australia’s affinity market and spearheaded the company’s efforts to build partnerships and professional affinities and to structure retail financial service deals. In 2009, the Australian business further expanded to intermediating consumer debt sales in the Australian market.
Prior to joining The Kessler Group, Ms. Brunner spent a year working on co-brands and product development for MasterCard International in Australia and five years leading global marketing initiatives for MasterCard International in the US. Before joining MasterCard, Ms. Brunner worked for five years at Ernst & Young in Wellington, New Zealand, and Sydney, in both marketing and auditing roles.
Ms. Brunner has a Master of Commerce from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a Bachelor of Business Studies (Marketing and Accounting) from Massey University, New Zealand. She has completed a negotiation course with Harvard Business School Executive Education.
Kurt Campisano
Managing Director, Kessler Capital
Kurt Campisano heads Kessler Capital, where he invests in the growth of Kessler’s clients by funding at-risk marketing programs and making other capital investments. An integral contributor to Kessler Capital Holding’s development, Mr. Campisano played a key role in several of Kessler Capital’s initial investments while in his previous position as chief development officer of Epic Research, where he was also co-founder.
Before working at Epic, Mr. Campisano was managing director of Corporate Development at Barclaycard US and served as managing director of Barclaycard’s UK Partnerships business. He was a member of the management team that built and grew Juniper prior to its sale to Barclays. Mr. Campisano also served as senior vice president of Internet Marketing and Business Development at First USA (now Chase Card Services) and was a member of the founding team that launched WingspanBank.com, a Bank One company. Mr. Campisano has held a variety of other positions within and outside of the financial services industry, including as CEO of an early-stage Walker Digital business and senior roles at Marsh and Verizon.
Mr. Campisano holds a BS in Computer Science from The Pennsylvania State University.
Yi-Hsin Chang
Chief of Staff
As Chief of Staff, Yi-Hsin Chang works closely with Chairman and CEO Howard Kessler on all major deals, projects, and corporate initiatives. She collaborates with the M&A Team on strategy and major M&A transactions, and partners with the rest of the executive management team on strategies involving the firm’s major clients.
Prior to joining The Kessler Group in 2010, Ms. Chang worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York, and subsequently helped turn around two companies: The Hanover Insurance Group, a property and casualty insurance company based in Worcester, MA, and DTN, an information services company based in Omaha, NE. Ms. Chang began her career as a business reporter and writer, working for The Wall Street Journal and The Motley Fool.
Ms. Chang holds a BA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead Scholar, and an MBA from NYU Stern.
Dax Cummings
Senior Executive Vice President, New Business Development
Dax Cummings brings expertise in partnerships to endorsed program management and new business development, leading The Kessler Group’s efforts with key clients and the company’s emerging payment strategy.
Mr. Cummings rejoined Kessler in 2011 after spending the previous five years as a founder and COO of Revolution Money, an emerging payments company that was sold to American Express. Prior to his position at Revolution Money, Mr. Cummings served as division head and senior executive vice president of MBNA’s Key US Endorsed business, where he led the company’s 11 business sectors, 5,500 endorsing groups and a consumer portfolio in excess of $65 billion. In addition, Mr. Cummings has held management positions leading MBNA’s regional offices, the college and university sector, and the company’s new account activation efforts.
Mr. Cummings is former chairman of the United Way of Delaware’s Tocqueville Society and serves as vice president of the Canterbury School of Florida Board of Trustees. Mr. Cummings holds a BA in Politics from Washington and Lee University.
Carl Erickson
Senior Executive Vice President, Strategy
Carl Erickson is responsible for corporate-wide strategic planning and improving The Kessler Group’s prioritization and resource allocation processes. He also works closely with Mr. Kessler and the management team to grow the current client and key group relationships. This work includes coordinating and leading projects including Kessler’s go-to-market approach with affinity groups to develop new channels and improve card value propositions.
Mr. Erickson rejoined Kessler in 2013 following eight years with Exchange Solutions, Inc., where he managed the Retail Banking Practice focused on helping create and deploy a proprietary web-based technology platform to help banks deepen their customer relationships. Under his leadership, the solution was deployed in 22 countries and was contributing over $1.7 billion in annual incremental bank balances across all consumer banking products. Prior to Exchange Solutions, Mr. Erickson worked at Kessler for eight years in both Corporate Development and Marketing roles where he helped grow both the breadth of marketing services and the clients served. Mr. Erickson’s additional experience includes performing corporate planning and market analysis at MasterCard and consulting to large banks at Booz|Allen|Hamilton.
Mr. Erickson holds an MBA in Finance and Accounting from Columbia Business School and a BS in International Finance from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
Sanji Gunawardena
Executive Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Solutions
Leveraging his expertise in deal structuring, securitization and valuation, Sanji Gunawardena manages the execution of portfolio transactions and whole business transactions globally.
Mr. Gunawardena has over 15 years of extensive mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, and capital market experience. Prior to joining Kessler, he headed the Bank of America Credit Card Mergers & Acquisition team, where he conducted over $6 billion in credit card transactions, including structuring the credit card joint venture between China Construction Bank and Bank of America.
Mr. Gunawardena holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
Jeffrey Meiler
Senior Executive Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Solutions
Jeffrey Meiler joins The Kessler Group to assist clients with strategic analysis, acquisitions and divestitures. Previously Mr. Meiler had worked closely with The Kessler Group as a client to establish a $80 million marketing line of credit with Kessler Capital and to both buy and sell assets with the Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Solutions Team. Mr. Meiler will be working closely with David Smith and Chairman and CEO Howard Kessler on M&A deals.
Mr. Meiler has over 18 years of experience in Financial Services working at The Associates, Citigroup and Barclays. His roles in the past have included being CFO for The Associates European Business, running Citigroup’s UK Card business, leading Barclays’ Open Market Card Business, and being Barclaycard’s Chief Strategy Officer. Most recently, Jeffrey was President and Co-founder of a startup energy supply company that launched in June of 2011 and was subsequently purchased by the Fortune 500 company NRG Energy.
Mr. Meiler holds a BA in Economics from Franklin & Marshall College and an MBA concentrating in Finance from USC’s Moore School of Business.
Chris O’Brien
Chief Operating Officer & Managing Director, Partnership Solutions
As COO and leader of the Partnership Solutions practice at The Kessler Group, Chris O’Brien is responsible for managing major affinity partnerships and government relations, overseeing general partnership structures, managing workouts, and leading regulatory and legislative strategy. Mr. O’Brien joined Kessler in 2006 after having spent a number of years in the travel business, most recently with the Smithsonian Institution, where he was president of the Travel and Affinity Group.
Prior to his position with the Smithsonian, he was at EF Education, where he was president of the Go Ahead Vacations business and president of EF Latin America. Mr. O’Brien holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College.
Scott Shaw
Managing Director, Corporate Development & Special Projects
Responsible for a range of corporate-wide projects, Scott Shaw develops and manages new financial service partnerships and annuity income streams by extending client capabilities into new areas such as consumer loans, mobile payments, enhancement services, risk syndication, etc. He is also responsible for helping drive complex workout situations with Howard Kessler and the Kessler M&A team.
Mr. Shaw joined The Kessler Group in 1990 and was instrumental in helping Howard Kessler purchase its predecessor company and create strategic partnerships in the credit card, telecom, payment and consumer finance businesses. After a year spent as president of Aliaswire, an emerging payments company in Cambridge, MA, Mr. Shaw rejoined Kessler in October 2010.
Mr. Shaw holds a BS in Biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire.
Jeff Slawsky
Managing Director, Marketing & Consulting Solutions
As managing director of the Marketing & Consulting Solutions practice at The Kessler Group, Jeff Slawsky is responsible for all strategic, advisory and marketing initiatives undertaken on behalf of clients and for the planning, design and execution of direct marketing programs in support of those strategies.
Prior to joining The Kessler Group in 2010, Mr. Slawsky was the founder and principal of the independent consulting firm J. Slawsky & Associates, Inc., where he advised financial services organizations and technology companies around the globe on business strategy, product development, operations and other matters. From 1980 to 2000, Mr. Slawsky held positions of increasing responsibility in the financial services industry in such notable institutions as Partners First (a joint venture credit card company of Bank of Boston, Bank of Montreal and First Annapolis Consulting), Bank of Boston, Bank One and HSBC Bank (USA). He specialized in retail financial service products, with particular emphasis on credit cards.
Mr. Slawsky holds a BS in Marketing Management from the State University of New York at Buffalo (1980). In addition, he is a 1987 graduate of the Consumer Bankers Association Graduate School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia. Mr. Slawsky is a frequent speaker at industry events and also the author of the book The Bank Card Business: Today and Tomorrow published by the American Bankers Association in May 2003, and co-author of the book Managing a Successful Payments Card Business published by Gower Publishing (London) in November 2005. He is currently an instructor with VISA Europe International Bankcard Business School (Cambridge, UK) and VISA Inc. Bank Card Management Schools.
David Smith
Senior Executive Vice President & Managing Director, Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory Solutions
Responsible for The Kessler Group’s North American Mergers & Acquisitions business, David Smith assists clients with strategic analysis, acquisitions and divestitures. Mr. Smith brings deep expertise in the payments industry to his role, having spent 10 years at First Annapolis Consulting, where he co-managed the firm’s card-issuing practice - its largest and most successful practice area - and worked with leading financial institutions around the world.
While at First Annapolis, Mr. Smith developed comprehensive re-entry strategies for banks with diverse capabilities and outsourcing needs. He was closely involved in all stages of the entry process, from directing RFPs for processing and negotiating contracts to overseeing marketing collateral and direct mail campaigns. During his tenure at First Annapolis, he also assisted in some of the highest-profile M&A transactions of the last decade, including Sony Corporation’s $1.2 billion portfolio sale to Chase Card Services.
Prior to his work at First Annapolis, Mr. Smith was director of finance at Commercial Credit. He was also head of Strategic Planning at Travelers Bank.
Mr. Smith holds an undergraduate degree from Duke University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He serves on the board of Partners First.
Frank Spellman
Chief Financial Officer
As CFO, Frank Spellman oversees all of The Kessler Group’s finance and accounting functions for the company worldwide, including financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting, cash management, expense and allocation policy, and expense controls and procedures. Mr. Spellman works with client managers to develop shared financial models built on aligned interests and helps manage the risk profile of Kessler’s capital investments.
Mr. Spellman joined the company upon his graduation from Babson College’s MBA program in 1997. Before joining Kessler, he worked for several years in commercial credit and lending at Fleet Bank.
In addition to his Babson MBA, Mr. Spellman holds a BA in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross.
Al Tringali
President, Financial Institutions Group
Al Tringali is president of Kessler’s Financial Institutions Group (KFI), a key business development role that delivers products and services to the banking sector. Major activities include card portfolio acquisitions, agent bank card programs and merchant processing portfolio acquisitions. Since joining the company in 1988, Mr. Tringali has overseen the creation of over 1,000 partnerships for The Kessler Group’s clients, applying more than 25 years of experience in the payments industry to his responsibilities in development, sales approach consulting, valuation analysis and the negotiation of acquisition prices.
Prior to joining the company, Mr. Tringali held executive positions at First Data Resources and Bank of New England. Mr. Tringali holds a BS from Salem State College.