X9 Announces New Executive Director

ANNAPOLIS, MD, Oct. 28, 2014 – Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. today announced the appointment of Harden (Steve) Stevens to the post of executive director of ASC X9 Inc. The appointment takes effect on November 1, 2014.

Mr. Stevens has served on the ASC X9 Board for sixteen years including eight years on the executive committee, eight years as the chair of the policy committee, and two years as the chair of the X9A subcommittee. During his tenure on the board, ASC X9 successfully transitioned from an organization under the American Bankers Association to an independent non-profit standards association.

Mr. Stevens joined NCR Corporation in 1980 as an electrical engineer in their Office System’s Division developing a number of single board computers with on board encryption and network products. He later held a lead role in the development of the NCR Tower computer product. He was a senior research engineer and lab manager for NCR’s Technology Research Center where he managed the substrates used by NCR specializing in analog simulators used to model components. He also holds five patents. As a member of NCR’s Corporate Technology Division he managed internal engineering standards streamlining the product development process. Stevens was admitted into the federal patent bar in 2003 and practiced patent law for ten years specializing in computers, point of sale terminals and automatic teller machines. He also established and ran his own patent services firm for three years.

Mr. Roy DeCicco, chair of the ASC X9 Board, made the announcement to the X9 board of directors. Mr. DeCicco said, “The appointment is the culmination of a six month search and the careful consideration of a number of outstanding candidates. Steve’s background in the retail and ATM industries plus his sixteen years of experience with ASC X9 in a number of different capacities made him stand out as the best candidate. Our executive committee unanimously agreed that he is the best fit and we are delighted that he will be taking this role.”

Mr. Stevens said, “The financial services industry is experiencing rapid change in a number of areas and ASC X9 is well positioned to provide the open consensus standards necessary to facilitate the growth in these areas. I’m looking forward to working with the members of ASC X9 to expand our reach both domestically and internationally.”

About ASC X9 Inc.
Accredited Standards Committee X9 Inc. is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to establish open consensus standards for the United States financial services industry. ASC X9 also holds the Secretariat for the ISO technical committee 68 (TC68) which develops international standards for the financial services industry. ASC X9 casts the vote for the United States on TC68. ASC X9 Inc. is headquartered in Annapolis, MD. X9 was established in 1984 by the American Bankers Association and accredited by ANSI to create and maintain open consensus standards for the financial services industry. X9 has over one hundred member companies and government agencies. The web site for X9 is www.x9.org.