Roy Vella

A mobile financial services  expert, an independent consultant and an engaging storyteller,  Roy Vella advises players large (such as Vodafone and the GSMA) and small (a number of startups) on how to effectively implement their mobile efforts, bridging the gap between engineering vision and market reality.

A strong customer advocate , he aims to create possibilities through people, products and partnerships; his passion is for creating teams and growing companies at the  convergence of digital and physical activities  to deliver remarkable experiences.

Prior to offering his services-at-large, Roy worked at RBS where he developed the overall strategy and hired a team of 30 to implement the global bank’s development of new mobile products and services, stored value functionality, mobile enabled payments, customer acquisition and the management of joint venture partners.

Before RBS,Roy worked as the VP of Sales & Marketing at 4charity, Inc. (a software start-up focusing on corporate philanthropy for the Fortune 500); as a Partner at Quantum Technology Ventures (a corporate VC firm focusing on the storage industry); and as Head of Mobile Payments at Paypal (starting out as Director of Business Development in the US Merchant Services group) where he lead the mobile payments initiative in Europe.

As an entrepreneur, Roy co-founded NetAbacus Corporation, a web-based purchasing service for small businesses, serving as the VP of Marketing/Strategic Relations. When the market turned in mid-2000, he facilitated the acquisition of NetAbacus by Biztro and the combined entity became Rivio, where he was responsible for channel marketing and customer acquisition.

Roy received a BA in Mathematics (with High Honors and elected to Phi Beta Kappa) from the College of the Holy Cross, a JD from Stanford Law School, and an MBA (with certificates in Global and Public Management) from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Before graduate school, he began his career in Client Service at the Leo Burnett Company in Chicago, working with such clients as Sony Consumer Electronics and Miller Brewing.

Actively involved in the non-profit sector, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Stanford Business School Alumni Association and is also the Board President Emeritus of Variety Children's Charity of Northern California.  Formerly, for over 8 years he was the Board Treasurer of BATS Improv, an improvisational school and theatre company.