A New Regional ISO/MLS Group Announced for the West

Seven founding members announced today the formation of a new regional association serving merchant-level salespersons, ISOs, vendors, processors, and financial institutions in the western United States. Called the Western States Acquirers Association, the new group plans to hold its first conference in November in San Francisco, and is in the process of setting up a Web site and a volunteer network. The association will embrace most states west of the Mississippi River. The announcement follows in the wake of successful regional ISO/MLS groups having been formed in the past few years for the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest regions. “There was a significant void in the Western region for offering a networking forum much like the rest of the regional associations,” said Sherry Friedrichsen, president of the WSAA, in a statement. “We just saw a need and are trying to meet it.” The WSAA hopes to attract 350 attendees to its first show, set for Nov. 3-4. It will charge an early-bird admission fee of $75 and an on-site rate of $125 for a trade show featuring educational seminars and networking opportunities with other ISOs and with vendors and banks. Attendees from all over the country are welcome. Details about specific venue in San Francisco and agenda are said to be forthcoming. The seven founding members serve as the group's board of directors. They are: Friedrichsen, of General Credit Forms Inc.; Ken Elderts, VeriFone Inc.; Lynele McGill, CardSystems Solutions Inc.; Steve Christianson, TranzPay USA; Steve Eazell, Secure Payment Systems Inc.; Bruce Ferguson, United Merchant Services; and Alice Kong, Concord EFS. The idea of providing regional conferences for merchant-level sales agents, particularly in the West, has been getting a lot of attention lately. Just last week, the Electronic Transactions Association, which has traditionally served as a trade group for larger ISOs, announced it was starting an “affiliate service provider” program to allow individual sales agents access to ETA programs at reduced rates. Part of the ETA's new program includes a series of regional conferences, with the first one set for San Diego in June.