Online Women's Mentoring Program Appoints New Advisory Board Member

SEATTLE - Sept. 11, 2014 - PRLog -- Collective Changes, a non-profit that offers online business mentoring to women entrepreneurs in emerging countries, announced that Deborah Arnold was appointed to the company’s board of advisors. Her term will last through January 1, 2017.

In 2006, Arnold started her own Sacramento-based consulting firm that offers strategic planning and marketing consulting to leading organizations.

Previously, she served as vice president for global consumer strategies at Visa International for 11 years. During her tenure, she headed the global smart card migration effort and developed a new payment product, Visa Horizon, for emerging markets and developed programming for financial literacy. She was also integrally involved in the business aspects of new technologies and forms of payment, working with banks and merchant partners globally. While at Visa, she was a founding member of the NFC Forum where she later served as director for three years for the 190+ global member organization developing Near Field Communication.

Prior to joining Visa, she worked in the telecommunications and financial services industries where she led strategic initiatives that provided long-term growth benefits to organizations.

"Deborah has extraordinary business expertise and industry knowledge in both telecommunications and financial services which are incredibly important for our women in emerging markets,” said Gail Romero, CEO and co-founder of Collective Changes. "We are grateful to have her join our board and have already benefited from her knowledge and connections. Her expertise will help us create a strong technology and financial services base for women entrepreneurs around the world." Deborah will join a very select group of industry leaders, thought leaders, marketers, data scientists, and e-learning experts to facilitate the growth of businesses and jobs in emerging markets with the ability to navigate and manage data derived from their growth and development.

“I am delighted to join the Collective Changes board of advisors and work with this dedicated team that is shaping the future for women,” Arnold said. “I look forward to sharing my experiences and contributing to the growth and global recognition of this organization that will surely make significant impact in the coming decade to social, political and economic stability throughout emerging markets.”

Arnold currently serves on the board of USA Technologies, a leader in the field of secure unattended cashless transaction for point-of-sale, networked services, and energy conservation solutions. She served on the advisory board for the Grameen Technology Center and was also an advisor to two United Nations boards focused on microfinance and the board of Women in Technology International among other global community leadership roles.

She received a bachelor of arts degree from Duke University and a certification from Universite de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland.