MICHAEL ABBOTT

CEO
Isis

Wednesday, May 1
9:00am – 10:15am
Great Hall A

As CEO, Michael Abbott leads Isis efforts to convene all necessary stakeholders and enable mobile commerce on a national scale, significantly modernizing the shopping experience and changing the way consumers pay and save.

Before joining Isis, Abbott spent nearly a decade with GE Capital. As CMO of the retail consumer finance division, he led strategy, marketing and product development for a host of world-class retail partners. Abbott helped transform GE Capital’s private label cards division into a multi-product business driving billions in retail sales.

Prior to this, he launched a series of successful new card products as FleetBoston’s executive vice president of marketing for credit card services. Abbott was also a partner at Mitchell Madison Group, where he built the firm’s telecommunications practice and optimized mobile networks for major domestic and international financial services firms. Additionally, he analyzed electronic warfare intelligence data at Syracuse Research Corporation and conducted primary research for IBM Research’s super-computer and communications group.

Abbott is a graduate of Stony Brook University, where he studied electrical engineering and mathematics. He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering and an M.B.A. in finance and accounting from Columbia University.

DAVID W. NELMS

Chairman & CEO
Discover Financial Services

Wednesday, May 1
1:30pm – 2:30pm
Great Hall A

David W. Nelms is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Discover Financial Services.  He is responsible for all Discover® branded financial services, including credit cards and banking products, including Discover Student Loans and Discover Home Loans; the Discover Network, a comprehensive payments network that supports multiple card products, issuers and processors; PULSE, one of the nation’s leading PIN debit networks; and Diners Club International, a global payments network.  He is also Chairman of Discover Bank, the issuing bank for the Discover card brands.

Before his appointment at Discover in September 1998, Mr. Nelms served as a Vice Chairman of MBNA America Bank.  Prior to that, he held management positions at Progressive Insurance, General Electric Company and in the consulting industry.

Mr. Nelms holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.  In addition to his responsibilities with Discover, he is Director and past Chairman of The Executives’ Club of Chicago, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s representative on the Federal Advisory Council of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Mr. Nelms also serves on the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Chicago and on the International Board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and is a member of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.