Mr. Rianda's Biography

Paul A. Rianda has been an attorney for over 20 years. He has been in private practice his entire career except for his employment for three years at E-Commerce Exchange, an ISO that provided merchant accounts along with websites, payment gateways and related goods and services. At E-Commerce Exchange, Mr. Rianda served as Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel and Secretary. His duties included direct responsibility for supervising over 100 employees in all aspects of risk management, underwriting, business development, sales and customer service.  Mr. Rianda also participated in marketing E-Commerce Exchange to over 100 different leading Internet and Fortune 500 companies, which led to an equity investment by Summit Partners venture capital firm. The company later was marketing for a second time and was sold to iPayment, Inc. prior to that company’s initial public offering.

Mr. Rianda has continued to stay involved in the acquiring side of the credit card processing industry since he left E-Commerce Exchange.  He routinely drafts and reviews agent agreements, negotiates portfolio purchases, advises clients on trends in the bankcard industry and stays abreast of issues relating to sale agents, Independent Sales Organizations, cash advance companies, e-commerce and banks.  In addition, he has acted as an arbitrator and expert witness on bankcard related cases.  Mr. Rianda writes for ISO & Agent magazine, has written articles for Daily Funder a cash advance centric publication and previously had a column with Transaction World magazine in addition to his involvement in other aspects of the bankcard world.  Mr. Rianda has published over 100 articles in industry trade publications and been quoted in over 30 other articles.

Mr. Rianda also has a broad background in providing legal advice to businesses on their day-to-day legal needs including employment issues, entity formation, mergers and acquisitions, contract drafting and risk management.  In addition, Mr. Rianda is an experienced litigator having spent over 10 years litigating business disputes.  He has represented clients in numerous mediations, arbitrations and jury trials.