Over the past seven years, Deborah has provided business and technical guidance for multiple banks, credit unions, and a national switch in Canada through their EMV migrations. Deborah is one of a select group of industry professionals who have earned the Certified Smart Card Industry Professional Certification (CSCIP) from the Smart Card Alliance demonstrating her expertise in Smart Card technology.

Recent announcements from MasterCard and Visa mandate that U.S. acquirers must upgrade their infrastructure to support EMV by April 2013. EMV (which stands for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) is the global standard for the inter-operation of integrated circuit cards ("chip cards") and chip-capable POS devices and ATMs for authenticating credit and debit card transactions. Financial institutions, acquirers, and processors face a multitude of challenges to meet the April 2013 date.

"Knowledge about EMV in the United States is limited," notes Deborah Spidle, Director of EMV Solutions for Paragon Application Systems. "Organizations may not realize how the decisions they make now will impact them in the future. Training and consulting services provided by Paragon's EMV Solutions team can educate your staff, guide you through the choices you will be facing during your project, and present options that make sense for your business."

"Over the past decade, Paragon has worked with organizations throughout the world to help them implement chip card capabilities," says Jim Perry, VP of Sales and Marketing for Paragon Application Systems. "This experience has taught us that project success is tied directly to education and early planning. Deborah possesses a high degree of technical and project management knowledge and is uniquely qualified to help organizations understand EMV and define a tactical and strategic approach to implementing a chip card infrastructure."