nexo standards Annual Conference 2026

Janusz Diemko is a seasoned payments executive and fintech innovator with over 28 years of experience scaling businesses across the EMEA region. Throughout his career, he has held prominent C-level roles, including CEO of Euronet Poland,CEO First Data Poland (POLCARD) and CEO of CRE Polskie ePłatności S.A.. As a visionary entrepreneur, he also founded Xelo Pay, a PSD2-based open banking solution.

A highly respected voice in the European payments landscape, Janusz has previously served as a judge for the MPE Awards and Fintech Futures Banktech / PayTech./ Open Bank Expo. He is a frequent speaker and panel moderator at major industry events, including MoneyLIVE 2025, MPE, and Open Banking Expo. His regulatory expertise includes serving as Chairman of the Acquirers Committee at the Association of Polish Banks and as a member of the Payment System Council at the National Bank of Poland.

He is an active angel investor, mentor and consultant. Born in England, he holds a degree from University College London , is a UK Chartered Accountant (ACA), and recently completed a Post Graduate Course in M&A at Columbia Business School.

An IT entrepreneur since the age of 17, Alain Guitard specialises in designing management systems and sales solutions. A systems architect, he has been developing cloud systems (Solutions ASO®) since 2003. In 2014, he developed MenuPlus®, a smartphone-based ordering system first deployed within the Jumeirah hotel group. His career reflects a commitment to innovation that meets practical, real-world needs. Today, he heads two software development companies, SDP and Colossale, and contributes to work on data ethics, standardisation and payment solutions.

Catherine Boundjia is CEO and Senior Advisor, Payments at Strateg6, a consulting firm specializing in payments and digital financial services. With more than 15 years of experience across Europe and Canada, she supports financial institutions, service providers and corporates on payment strategy, transformation and regulation. Her expertise spans ISO 20022, EMV, payment acceptance, instant payments and cross-border payments. Catherine holds an engineering degree in electronic payments from ENSICAEN, a Certificate in Business Analysis from the University of Toronto and a Certificate in Strategic Leadership from HEC Paris.

Philipp Lipinski is leading Card Payment at Schwarz Digits, where he has been shaping retail payment strategies for the past six years. Together with his team, he is responsible for managing and evolving the international payment landscape for the Schwarz Group — one of Europe’s leading retail groups, operating major retail brands such as Lidl and Kaufland across international markets. With extensive expertise in enterprise payment infrastructure, scalable transaction processing, and European standardization, he leads strategic initiatives to deliver secure, efficient, and innovative payment solutions for millions of daily customers. 

Michał Polasik is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland, and director of the Centre for Digital Economy and Finance NCU. He is the author of over a hundred academic publications on retail payments and digital finance that are widely cited. In addition, he has presented the results of his research during the most prestigious international conferences on the payment system, organized by the European Central Bank, the European Parliament, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Finland, the Deutsche Bundesbank, and the Narodowy Bank Polski.
He has led several large research projects, e.g., the pan-European study ‘PayTech Impact.EU’ (http://paytech.umk.pl) financed by the National Science Centre Poland, and many other research & development projects in the field of payment innovations, payment systems, e-commerce, and cryptocurrencies.
Within his studies, he cooperated with the European Banking Federation, the European Payment Institutions Federation, the Polish Bank Association, the National Bank of Poland, KIR, equensWorldline SE, and other financial institutions and market stakeholders. He was implementing the PSD2 evaluation project for the European Commission – DG FISMA under the ‘Study on the application and impact of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on Payment Services (PSD2)’, together with the VVA Group, the Center for European Policy Studies, and the NCU.

Clément Durando has been working on the digital euro project for the past two years, contributing to the design and specifications of its front-end product features. His work covers a broad range of topics, including proximity and remote payments, identification and authentication. As a member of the Online Use Case Team within the Product Division, he is responsible with his team for the front-end standards, formats, and specifications of the digital euro, as well as their detailed implementation within the digital euro rulebook.

Prior to joining the ECB, Clément worked at BGL BNP Paribas within the Core Banking division. He was in charge of the bank's applications supporting SWIFT interbank exchanges for payments, liquidity and security activities.

Clément holds a master’s degree in IT engineering from Télécom SudParis in France.

As Country Manager for Poland, I am responsible for shaping and executing our strategy, driving market growth, and managing key relationships with financial institutions, acquirers, and banks.

I am a senior commercial leader with over 25 years of business experience across the telecom, FMCG, and fintech sectors, specializing in Key Account Management and business development. Throughout my career, I have focused on leading cross-functional teams across sales, product, and marketing through collaborative, practical leadership.

In business, I prioritize authentic partnership built on trust, reciprocity, and open communication. My approach centers on clear accountability for my team’s decisions, believing that effective management is about supporting people and respecting diverse perspectives.

Michal Kirszenstein is an experienced payments and partnerships leader at Elavon, where he currently serves as Sales Manager leading Partnership team in EU. Throughout his career, he has worked across European markets, developing strategic partnerships, new sales channels and integrated payment solutions spanning fintech, e-commerce, POS and self-service environments.

With a strong focus on connecting technology with commercial opportunities, Michal works closely with partners to bring new payment propositions to market and scale them across geographies. He is particularly passionate about partnership ecosystems and the evolving role of technology in creating simpler, more integrated commerce experiences.

François Voyron is a seasoned executive with extensive international experience in payments, fintech, banking technology and digital commerce.

As COO EMEA at Castles Technology, he leads regional operations and drives growth across the EMEA payments market.

Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at major payment providers and in the card industry at Thales (formerly Gemalto and Schlumberger), where he built and scaled businesses across mature and emerging markets.

His expertise covers POS technology, fintech partnerships, digital transformation, P&L management and business development, with a strong track record of working alongside banks, acquirers, PSPs, fintechs, retailers and technology partners.

Lennart Helleberg is a global payments expert and Payment Architect at H&M Group. He leads the architecture of payment capabilities across H&M's worldwide store and digital channels. Over a career spanning more than two decades, he has held positions with acquirers, payment service providers, and ECR vendors, building deep expertise across the entire payments value chain. Combining business insight with technical leadership, Lennart focuses on enabling innovative, secure, robust and scalable payment solutions that support the evolving needs of global retailer.

Michał Szymański is a payments industry expert with extensive experience in business development and strategy across the Polish and international payments markets.

For more than 10 years, he served as Vice President of the Management Board at Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa (KIR), where he was responsible, among other areas, for payment and settlement systems. He also gained consulting experience at leading firms including Accenture and PwC.

At BLIK, Michał is responsible for international expansion and serves as a Member of the Management Board of BLIK SK, focusing on bringing the payment system to new European markets.

Financial services executive with nearly 20 years of international experience across technology, product development, project delivery, sales, and business transformation. Currently CIO and Management Board Member at Fiserv Poland, with previous experience at Global Payments, Elavon, American Express, Citi and others. Proven leadership experience across diverse geographies, teams, departments, and functions, combined with a strong track record of contributing to business growth and transformation in complex, international environments.