GIACT CEO and leadership

As one of GIACT’s two founders, Melissa has led GIACT since its founding and is responsible for setting the strategic direction for the company. With deep expertise in payment processing, risk mitigation and compliance, Melissa identified the need in the market for a new approach to identify and eliminate payments fraud as multiple industries increasingly began to rely on digital payments. Under her leadership, GIACT has grown to include a client roster of over 1,000 companies, many of them in the Fortune 500. Prior to founding GIACT in 2004, Melissa held a broad range of leadership positions across multiple departments including sales, customer service, claims payments and more during a 17-year career in the insurance industry. While the COO of iPromotion, she led new business development while it rapidly grew to $100 million in annual revenue in its first 18 months of operation. Outside of GIACT, Melissa is active in several nonprofits focused on improving the lives of children both locally and internationally. She has helped raise money to build schools in developing countries, send thousands of children to summer camp, and provide children in need with clothing, school supplies, and other essentials.

Senior executive with significant experience in financial services and technology services companies. Skills developed in public, private, for-profit, and non-profit entities. Highly successful in driving revenue growth and effectively managing cost structures to increase bottom line performance. Experienced in leading dynamic teams in disciplines that include finance and accounting, strategic planning, operations, business development, and organizational development. Established direction and led teams through pre-IPO, mergers/acquisition and divestiture processes and follow on integration/corporate strategic alignment implementation. Please contact me directly at [email protected] and/or 214.507.1076.

Merlin is one of GIACT’s founders and is the technology visionary responsible for driving new product development. As a widely-recognized thought leader in the payments industry, Merlin applies his holistic understanding of payments and risk to create innovative solutions that have a proven track record for proactively identifying fraud and reducing payment risk. With deep experience in network security, infrastructure design, encryption, risk modelling, and designing and building risk engines, Merlin has spent much of his career combatting multiple types of payments and identity fraud. Prior to founding GIACT, Merlin was the chief technology innovator behind multiple successful businesses, including the first fully encrypted peer-to-peer video conferencing platform and a digital imaging solution for enterprise healthcare providers. Merlin is actively involved in coaching youth sports programs and volunteering in the Allen area.

Benjie Guion is a Chief Financial Officer at GIACT and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has worked as Senior Auditor at KPMG Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co, Board Member at NewDominion Bank, and COO at NewDominion Bank. Benjie works or has worked as BOARD MEMBER at Lake Norman Young Life, BOARD MEMBER at Charlotte Regional Partnership, and BOARD MEMBER at Charlotte Regional Young Life. He studied at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Megan Nicholls is a Chief Compliance Officer at GIACT and is based in California. She has worked as Manager:Compliance at Hyundai Capital America, Corporate Counsel at CORELOGIC INC., and Associate at Troutman Sanders LLP. Megan attended University of Dayton between 2006 and 2009 and University of Dayton between 2000 and 2004.

As one of GIACT’s two founders, Melissa has led GIACT since its founding and is responsible for setting the strategic direction for the company. With deep expertise in payment processing, risk mitigation and compliance, Melissa identified the need in the market for a new approach to identify and eliminate payments fraud as multiple industries increasingly began to rely on digital payments. Under her leadership, GIACT has grown to include a client roster of over 1,000 companies, many of them in the Fortune 500. Prior to founding GIACT in 2004, Melissa held a broad range of leadership positions across multiple departments including sales, customer service, claims payments and more during a 17-year career in the insurance industry. While the COO of iPromotion, she led new business development while it rapidly grew to $100 million in annual revenue in its first 18 months of operation. Outside of GIACT, Melissa is active in several nonprofits focused on improving the lives of children both locally and internationally. She has helped raise money to build schools in developing countries, send thousands of children to summer camp, and provide children in need with clothing, school supplies, and other essentials.