Industry Veteran Appointed VP Sales and Business Development, Canada

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France, July 29th, 2008 – Continuing to build its strength in the Canadian smart card market, INSIDE Contactless, the world leader in advanced contactless microprocessor platforms, today announced the appointment of Kim Madore to the position of vice president, sales and business development, Canada.  In her new role, Kim will bring her extensive industry background and experience to bear on leading INSIDE’s expansion into Canada, introducing products and building and maintaining strategic relationships with key customers, bank card issuers, card associations and others in the Canadian payment and NFC markets, as well as in other payment-related application areas.

“Kim brings hands-on managerial experience and an intimate knowledge of the technologies and market dynamics of the industry to INSIDE Contactless, and we are very excited and appreciative to have her here to help us make the most of the substantial opportunities we believe this emerging market will present,” said Didier Serra, general manager and executive vice president of sales, North America at INSIDE Contactless.  “As contactless payments take off in Canada, fueled by recent retail successes and a major national migration towards EMV standards, Kim will be leading our charge to deliver cost-effective, high-performance solutions for both traditional and dual-interface cards.”

INSIDE Contactless has already delivered more than five million of its intelligent MicroPass® contactless payment chips for MasterCard® PayPass™ deployments in Canada  since the end of 2007, and has quickly established itself as the leading provider of contactless payment technology to the Canadian market.

According to Advanced Card Technologies (ACT) Canada, chip and pin payment cards will be deployed in significant numbers over the next five years as credit and debit cards are converted to EMV standards, creating opportunities in a variety of markets, including transit, retail and access.

“Canada has always been a leader in the adoption of advanced payment technologies , and while two thirds of purchases in Canada are already made using a card, we envision contactless cards and terminals becoming the dominant payment platform for small-ticket item transactions at the high-volume retailers,” said Kim Madore, vice president, sales and business development, for INSIDE Contactless.  “The opportunities for this technology are still in their infancy, and I look forward to expanding INSIDE’s role in creating exciting new applications and cementing their leadership in the market.”

Before joining INSIDE Contactless, Kim spent four years in Toronto as vice president, emerging technologies, for Giesecke & Devrient, a leading supplier of banknote paper, banknote printing, currency automation systems, as well as smart cards and complex system solutions. In her position there, Kim   created a vision for emerging technology and played a pivotal role in domestic and international product development, Prior to that, Kim was senior consultant, smart cards, for Visa USA, where she managed the development and implementation of the first card manufacturers, service bureaus, processors and personalizers to support smart Visa, and led various vendor and Visa partner initiatives.  Kim was also a senior manager for internal audit and security at Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada, and a product development manager for smart cards at Toronto Dominion Bank. 

A recognized expert in technology and market requirements for the card industry, Kim co-patented leading-edge smart card loyalty concepts involving various cardholder image replacement processes.