02.12.07 | TRANSFIRST Names Michael Higgins President of Direct Sales

Industry veteran to lead sales partner programs & initiatives

DALLAS (March 12, 2007) — TRANSFIRST, a leading provider of credit card processing services and payment enabling technologies, today announced Michael Higgins as President of Direct Sales. Higgins brings more than 22 years of executive experience in the financial services industry. In his new role, Higgins will be responsible for overseeing TRANSFIRST's sales initiatives related to and in support of the company's independent sales partners.

"With an extensive background and a leadership style that builds on development, accountability and profitability, we consider Michael Higgins a perfect candidate to lead our direct sales programs and support team," said John Shlonsky, TRANSFIRST's president and chief operating officer. "Our independent sales partners are key to TRANSFIRST's growth. Michael's skill set complements this important stakeholder group and allows us to continue offering industry-leading customer service and cutting-edge payment technology solutions."

Prior to joining TRANSFIRST, Higgins served as senior vice president-sales and portfolio management for the Nova Information Systems/ US Bank in Atlanta, Ga.. There, he lead and managed payment services to public and private sectors with focus on financial institutions, and his responsibilities included bank relationships with alliances, joint ventures, community banks, associations, direct sales, telesales, sales support, independent sales organizations and airlines. Prior to that, Higgins was senior vice president-business development and relationship management for US Bank Merchant Services where he was responsible for franchise sales and portfolio management. He was also vice president-sales for First Data Merchant Services, where he managed alliances with Unified Merchant Services/Nations Bank and Boatman's Bank Merchant Services and built their sales organizations. Higgins spent 11 years with Automatic Data Processing, Employer Services. He earned a bachelor of arts in marketing from the University of Northern Iowa.

Higgins is based in Atlanta, Ga., and can be reached at mhiggins@TRANSFIRST.com.

About TRANSFIRST
A premier provider of transaction processing services and payment enabling technologies, TRANSFIRST offers a first-rate suite of products and services and customized processing programs uniquely tailored for the special business needs of financial institutions, independent sales organizations and agents and its referral and reseller partners. Through its in-depth industry knowledge, partnership strategy and innovative solutions, TRANSFIRST provides a specialized approach to transaction processing for healthcare providers, public entities, online and other non-traditional merchants, as well as brick and mortar retailers. Founded in 1995, TRANSFIRST is a market leader in strategic mergers and acquisitions, which has allowed the company to gain significant market share and world-class expertise in growing and profitable industry segments. Built on a platform of personal service, customer commitment and flexible pricing, TRANSFIRST is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has operations facilities in Louisville, Colo., Omaha, Neb., Kansas City, Kan., Newport Beach, Calif., and Milwaukee, Wis. Company wide, TRANSFIRST currently processes approximately $25 billion in annual sales volume for more than 160,000 merchants and more than 965 financial institutions. TRANSFIRST can be reached at 1-800-745-2659 or at www.TRANSFIRST.com.