Team
Scott Reaser
Partner
Mr. Reaser’s expertise is in helping leading financial institutions, card issuers, new entrants, and others in evaluating, structuring, and negotiating card brand, EFT network, card processing, ATM driving, portfolio servicing, and other relationships in the card payments industry. Mr. Reaser also has extensive experience assisting leading financial institutions, industry service providers, and others with strategic initiatives in the debit card industry.
Prior to McGovern Smith Advisors, Mr. Reaser was a Principal at First Annapolis Consulting where he spent over 15 years advising the firm’s credit card issuing and deposit access clients on strategic growth, vendor selection, contract negotiation, process optimization, and other matters. Until recently, he managed for over 8 years the firm’s strategic sourcing practice and established himself as the advisor of choice among the largest financial institutions in the U.S. and Canada. Mr. Reaser has extensive experience evaluating, structuring, and negotiating payments relationships across all industry segments, including consumer credit, commercial credit, private label, signature debit, pre-paid debit, EFT network (ATM & PIN-POS), and other segments.
Mr. Reaser also supported the firm’s deposit access clients throughout his tenure at First Annapolis. Key project work included client strategic assessments and vendor selection related to the Durbin amendment, supporting numerous leading EFT networks, group service providers, and others in developing their respective debit industry growth strategies, performing due diligence on client acquisition targets, and managing several mergers and acquisition sales processes, including First Data’s ownership interest in NYCE as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s mandated divestiture.
Mr. Reaser was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy, he graduated from the distinguished Naval Nuclear Power program and was certified Chief Engineer (Nuclear Power) by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Mr. Reaser graduated from Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) in 1998 with an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing. He also holds a B.S. (Honors) in Electrical Engineering from Boston University.
Scott Reaser [email protected]
Scott Reaser
Partner
Jeff Tassey
Partner
Jeffrey A. Tassey manages the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC), which includes credit unions, community banks, and payment card networks that move electronic payments quickly and securely between millions of merchants and millions of consumers across the globe. EPC powers Community Merchants USA (CMUSA)—a one-stop resource to help small business owners use electronic payments to help start, manage and grow a business.
Mr. Tassey formed the government relations firm of Tassey & Associates in 2004, which specializes in issue, coalition and legislative risk management involving complex, unpopular issues, with a concentration on financial services, bankruptcy and legal reform issues.
Mr. Tassey also led the Coalition for Responsible Bankruptcy Laws during the nine year battle to obtain bankruptcy reform, culminating in the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse and Prevention Act of 2005. In 2003, he founded and managed the Partnership to Protect Consumer Credit, which obtained passage of the FACT Act in 2003, renewing the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Prior to the establishment of Tassey & Associates, Mr. Tassey served as a partner at Williams & Jensen where he led the firm’s Practice Group for Financial and Judicial Reform Issues. Previously, Mr. Tassey held the position of Executive Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs for the American Financial Services Association.
Mr. Tassey spent nine years as a senior Congressional staffer, serving as Counsel to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer and Monetary Affairs of House Committee on Government Operations, and as Banking Counsel to the Honorable Doug Barnard, Jr. Leading up to his Congressional career, Mr. Tassey received a Public Affairs Fellowship from the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, was a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and completed his fellowship at the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress.
In January, 2001, Mr. Tassey was named to the Bush Administration transition team to provide advice to the Treasury Department on financial issues and appointments. In 2004, the Hill newspaper named him as one of the top financial services lobbyists.
Mr. Tassey received a BA in History from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio and a JD from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He was awarded a Public Affairs Fellowship at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Jeff Tassey [email protected]
Jeff Tassey
Partner