The Federal Reserve recently named Dave Sapenaro as payments strategy director, succeeding Gordon Werkema, who is retiring.
Sapenaro is the first vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis – a position he will continue to hold while serving as payments strategy director.
In his new role, Sapenaro is responsible for leading payment system improvement initiatives described in the Fed’s “Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System” paper published in January 2015. Specifically, Sapenaro will lead the Federal Reserve’s strategies related to faster payments, payments security, and stakeholder engagement. He will collaborate with the Federal Reserve’s current financial services business leaders to execute the full complement of strategies outlined in the 2015 paper.
“Three years ago, Dave led the development of the strategies paper and our initial plans for pursuing the desired outcomes for payment system improvement,” Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President and Chief Executive Officer Esther George said. “Dave’s leadership experience in many facets of our payments responsibilities and his commitment to the work are exceptional, and I am delighted to have him lead the next phase of our improvement efforts,” added George, who sponsors the Fed’s payments improvement initiative.
Sapenaro has been with the Federal Reserve for 32 years, including 10 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, where he has held a variety of leadership positions in payment operations, including the bank’s automated clearing house and funds transfer operations.
From there, Sapenaro joined the St. Louis Fed, where he spent eight years leading various initiatives in support of U.S. Treasury operations prior to assuming his current role as first vice president in January 2006. Sapenaro holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
“I’m honored to carry these efforts forward and excited to work closely with the many Federal Reserve and industry leaders who have generated very significant momentum toward achieving the desired outcomes,” Sapenaro said. “The Federal Reserve remains committed to collaborating with stakeholders on improvements that deliver safe, ubiquitous, faster payments to American consumers and businesses.”