Walter Conway e-commerce PCI-DSS

Walt Conway is an e-commerce and PCI DSS consultant applying 35-years of electronic payments and technology management experience to helping education institutions plan, implement, and manage their credit card and e-commerce programs.

Walt spent over 10 years with Visa, and then two years as president of an Internet-based payment processor. Walt co-edits the Treasury Institute's PCI blog and contributes to other PCI blogs and online forums. He was chosen by NACUBO to represent Higher Education at the PCI Security Standards Council. He is a frequent speaker on PCI DSS, security, and e-commerce topics at NACUBO, EDUCAUSE, Commonfund, Treasury Institute, and other professional conferences and webinars. Walt is a Certified Payment-card Industry Security Manager (CPISM) and serves on the Advisory Board of the Society of Payment Security Professionals.

Walt co-authored "Why Banks View Campuses as High Risk Merchants", an analysis of Higher Education computer security breaches, and "5 Strategies to Achieve PCI Compliance" (both published by the Association of Financial Professionals) and "Straight Talk about Data Security" (in NACUBO's Business Officer). Links to these and other articles are below.

In 2002 he left the business world to serve education in another way, as a high school mathematics teacher. Having gotten that out of his system, Walt now consults with colleges and universities (and their payment gateways and service providers) to plan, implement, and manage their credit card and e-commerce systems, particularly achieving PCI DSS compliance. Walt and his wife live in San Francisco.

Some recent publications can be downloaded below.

If you accept payment cards on campus, you need to comply with a standard designed for safe handling of sensitive consumer information. Indiana University's compliance plans offer some guidance.

Five Strategies to Achieve PCI Compliance
Dennis Ready, CTP managing director, treasury operations, Indiana University and Walt Conway, Walter Conway Associates, LLC
The higher education environment provides a microcosm of payment card realities. These “best practices” can work in many industries. Dennis and I have received more attention from this article than anything else we've done together.

Cards at School: Why Banks View Campuses as High Risk Customers
Dennis W. Reedy, CTP, Managing Director, Treasury Operations, Indiana University
Walter Conway, Walter Conway Associates, LLC
Accepting credit and debit cards is a fact of life at campuses nationwide. Hand-in-hand with card acceptance comes the responsibility to safeguard and protect all transaction and consumer data. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was created to help ensure the safe handling of sensitive consumer payment information