Brett Smith, President and CEO

Brett Smith has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. After graduating with a degree in Accounting, he worked for the accounting firm of Peat, Marwick & Mitchell prior to beginning a career in banking. At the age of 28, Mr. Smith became one of the youngest bank CEO's in the State of Texas.

Mr. Smith's investments and acquisitions have centered on technology solutions for the financial services and electronic payments industry. In 2001, he acquired Futurex from Comcast Cable. As part of his investment strategy, he assembled a team of experts to introduce a new line of "best-in-class" data encryption solutions. His high energy and keen leadership turned a 20 year old company into an energetic, fast-paced, result-oriented, solutions provider. As part of his strategy, he relocated the company from Northern California to a 14 acre corporate technology campus in the scenic Hill Country town of Bulverde, Texas located between Austin and San Antonio.

Today, he has devoted his efforts behind his vision to develop Futurex into one of the corporate leaders in the data security and electronic payments industry. Strategically, he expanded the business model of the company to include a first class support infrastructure for our business partners and Tier 1 Accounts with a targeted emphasis on enhancing their bottom-line.

Chris Hamlett, Chief Technology Officer

Chris Hamlett has 15 years experience developing enterprise-class software for both the commercial market and the U.S. Government. He is focused on applying his expertise in software development practices to providing innovative solutions for issues facing the retail and financial services industries. He is currently involved with:

• The architecture, design, and implementation of next-generation hardware security modules.
• Secure key management and its applications, using both symmetric and asymmetric techniques.
• Development of distributed software with a focus on strong security, reliability, and scalability.
• Representing Futurex on the ANSI X9F work group dealing with financial security.

Roland Allen, Director of Sales - International

Roland Allen has over 20 years of senior sales and management experience in the IT industry with major software authors and hardware manufacturers such as ACI, Oracle, NCR and Xerox.

For six years, as a Sales Director for EMEA at ACI, Mr. Allen was responsible for sales of Enterprise level EBPP solutions to the banking, financial services and corporate sectors.

He has strong international sales and management experience in Europe and Africa and was even based in the Middle East and Gulf with NCR. Mr. Allen also has served as a General Manager and Sales Director where he was directly involved with the organic growth and successful IPOs of two international software companies.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Allen worked for Oracle where he was responsible for defense electronic sales. He gained his initial sales experience while working for Xerox in the U.K. Mr. Allen has an educational background in marketing and is a member of the Institute of Directors.

Mr. Allen’s role at Futurex will be to further develop and grow business in the EMEA and APEC regions.

Roland Tamez, Director of Marketing

Roland Tamez brings over 12 years of marketing experience with a track record of success in various industries. Most recently, he worked at USAA, a company focused on providing financial services to individuals and families that serve, or have served, in the United States military. While at USAA, Mr. Tamez served as a Website Content Manager. In this role, he was directly responsible for writing and editing website content for all lines of business in order to effectively promote and sell USAA’s portfolio of online products and services.

Prior to USAA, Mr. Tamez was a Product Marketing Manager for KCI, global medical technology company with worldwide leadership positions in advanced wound care and therapeutic surfaces. Here, he managed the entire product launch process from concept phase to full product launch. In addition, Mr. Tamez created high valued marketing programs and advertising campaigns that focused on increasing revenue and driving market share of newly launched products.

As the Director of Marketing for Futurex, Mr. Tamez will be responsible for online and offline global marketing initiatives, as well as, implementing key strategies and tactics that will help enhance Futurex’s brand and product solutions in the marketplace.

Mr.Tamez has a Bachelors of Business Administration degree with a double major in Marketing and International Business from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, TX.

Ryan Smith, Director of Solutions Architecture, CTGA

Ryan Smith has been with Futurex and in the data encryption industry for nearly 8 years. While at Futurex, Mr. Smith was the leading Systems Engineer for the Secure Key Injector (SKI), which became VeriFone’s new Secure KIT 3.0 and is now considered the standard for key injections solutions in the terminal manufacturer industry. Mr. Smith also played a critical role in the development and integration of Futurex’s Remote Key Solutions for both the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and Point of Sale (POS) devices.

Mr. Smith also has an extensive background in the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and POS industries. Outside of the EFT/POS industry, his experience included working in the Key Management and Delivery Infrastructure for the United States Department of Defense.

As the Director of Solutions Architecture for Futurex, Mr. Smith’s responsibilities will include:

• Overseeing the creation and development of compliant cryptographic solutions for Futurex’s International customer base.
• Recruiting and managing other Solutions Architects for both the US and International markets.
• Developing and maintaining sustainable global Futurex partners and distributors.