Henry Ijams, Managing Partner
PayStream Advisors was founded by Henry Ijams, a former financial services industry consultant with 16 years of experience, to bring specific knowledge capital to payments, treasury, and the application of emerging technology.
Mr. Ijams is a seasoned executive in commercial banking and financial services systems development. Mr. Ijams was co-founder of Payments Exchange, Inc., an electronic payments firm focused on building a suite of payment solutions for Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce. He was CEO of the company and oversaw all aspects of the firm’s growth, including its merger with VCHEQ in January 2001.
Prior to founding Payments Exchange, Mr. Ijams was a leader in Ernst & Young’s Financial Services Management Consulting practice. His consulting experiences included developing e-commerce strategies, managing implementation teams, and developing proprietary e-commerce applications. His clients included most of the largest financial institutions in North America including Bank of America, Chase Manhattan, American Express, Bank of Montreal, and Wachovia.
Mr. Ijams has developed a leadership position in the electronic payments industry through his research publications and is a frequent speaker on issues in the payments arena. Prior to consulting, he was a Senior Relationship Manager for both Citibank and Manufacturers Hanover Trust in New York. He holds an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler School at the Univ. of North Carolina.
William C. Kitchen, Director
Mr. Kitchen started his career in banking during ’79 with State Savings Company. He then joined CheckFree Corporation as one of its original members in ’82 and during his 15 year tenure provided a key contribution in growing CheckFree from a start-up venture to an industry leader in electronic commerce. He was responsible for bringing CheckFree’s first consumer software products to market, and for the initial integration of electronic bill payment services with products such as Quicken, Managing Your Money, and Microsoft Money
As Vice-President of Corporate Business Development he created partnerships and products with Fortune 500 financial services organizations in support of CheckFree’s Home Financial Center concept, developing early ties between banking, bill payment, and brokerage services. Then in ’95 he turned his full attention toward developing the nation’s first fully integrated bill presentment and payment product. He began piloting CheckFree E-Bill in the Fall of ’95 with regional bell operating companies and then went on to manage all aspects of the E-Bill market release. His team was awarded finalist honors for the product by the Smithsonian ComputerWorld organization and is named in the E-Bill patents later submitted by CheckFree.
Joining Banc One Corporation during ’97 as the Vice-President of Business Development for Interactive Delivery Services, he forged co-marketing relationships with several personal financial services organizations. While there he devoted much of his skills to developing partnerships, products, and pilot programs with many of the leading organizations in the Bill Presentment industry.
In 1998 Mr. Kitchen founded e.com consulting partners in order to serve the needs of banks, billers, software and service providers, venture capital firms, and start-up companies in the emerging arena of electronic commerce. He has since worked with a wide variety of such organizations and is a frequently featured speaker at industry conferences and workshops.
Mr. Kitchen holds a BA in Marketing from Miami of Ohio, and an MBA from the University of Dayton.
