In the twenty years he has been active in financial services and payments, Mr. Huss has built a strong reputation for turning around organizations and steering them to success.

He served most recently as chief executive officer of Ingenico Group, a global player in online and in-store payments and payment devices. He is credited with rejuvenating the Paris-headquartered business in the two years he led it, as well as consummating the merger with Worldline in Q4 2020 to form the fourth-largest payment services provider in the world - and Europe’s biggest.

Prior to Ingenico, Huss headed Visa Europe, during which time it was bought in a multibillion Euro deal by Visa Inc., to which executive committee he was subsequently appointed.

Nicolas is now an independent non-executive director for Amadeus IT Group and Entersekt, a South-African FinTech provider in mobile-authentication and app security for online banking. He also chairs the Amadeus audit committee.

Commenting on Nicolas Huss’ appointment, Marc Deschamps, Executive Chairman of Drake Star Partners, said: “It is an honour that Nicolas joins Drake. His hands-on experience and thought-leadership in payments, FinTech and financial services will add much to our analysis, corporate reach and transaction execution. These sectors are in complete transformation with the inroads of digital and mobile payments worldwide, digital transformation of banks with AI and data analytics software, blockchain and smart contracts and security/fraud management, for example. And these trends, between others, will promote strong increases of investments and M&A activities.”

Nicolas Huss, Senior Advisor at Drake Star Partners added: “This is an incredibly exciting time in the payment, FinTech and financial services space. I’m truly excited to join the Drake Star team to help build value for its stakeholders.”

Bruno Tourme, Managing Partner at Drake Star Partners commented: “I am delighted that Nicolas has decided to join our global network of Senior Advisors; his impressive track record will be of huge value for our clients, both corporates and private equity, worldwide”.