Virtual Piggy Inc. (OTC BB: VPIG) announced the appointment of John R. Coyne as Chief Executive Officer, effective April 18, 2016. Coyne, 63, will also serve as Chairman of the Board and a member of Virtual Piggy Inc.'s Board of Directors.
"Virtual Piggy's Oink is the world's only payment system capable of compliantly serving 80 million children under the age of 17 in the United States alone who influence over $160 billion in spending," Coyne said. "It's an untapped opportunity."
Attracting substantial and high-profile investor interest during its initial rollout, Virtual Piggy is the provider of Oink, an award-winning financial payment delivery platform that enables online businesses to ensure compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and similar international children's privacy laws. During his initial months on the job, Coyne will focus on simplifying and updating Virtual Piggy's business models by leveraging its current infrastructure and enhancing its operating environment for mobile payments to enable more flexibility to meet rapidly changing e-commerce technology trends.
One of the world's leading experts in real-time regulatory and compliance oversight, Coyne brings over 30 years' experience in the technology, financial services, media and defense industries. He has founded and operated start-up businesses, as well as consulted for Fortune 500 companies. His notable achievements have included creating the most advanced reusable financial software library in the United States for Systemhouse (a Canadian services company) that was ultimately purchased by MCI. Coyne also led the technology team for NYNEX in the Bell Atlantic/Nynex merger (that became Verizon) and was the key technologist consulting for Netscape that led to Citibank's entry into internet banking and the creation of the brand "eCiti."
More recently, he has advised European banking institutions, including the Bank of England and Dutch financial regulators. Coyne holds multiple patents, as well as current applications for patents in software, electronics, bio-tech and green energy.
"Oink will be ubiquitous for payment use anytime, anywhere and anyhow, including peer-to-peer financial transfers," Coyne added.