PCI Security Standards Council Building Board of Advisors

The Council views this input as critical to the ongoing enhancement of PCI SSC security standards. As a worldwide organization managing a global standard, the Council desires representation from EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific to reflect the global nature of card data security threats.

"We are excited to open the next chapter in the development of the PCI Security Standards Council and invite stakeholders from across the payment chain to step up and represent their industry in the drive to secure card payment data," said Seana Pitt, chair, PCI Security Standards Council. "We encourage all those involved in the payment process; merchants, processors, point-of-sale vendors, financial institutions and payment companies to become Participating Organizations and to consider taking on this elevated role."

To generate a broad range of input from across the stakeholder chain, 21 seats will be available on the PCI SSC Board of Advisors. Fourteen seats will be open for nomination by members of the existing PCI SSC Participating Organizations. To ensure a wider range of input, an additional seven seats will be appointed from the Participating Organization by the PCI SSC Executive Council to fill any gaps in representation and to help augment any under-represented stakeholder sector or geographic market.

In order to capture relevant feedback from all parties involved in the payment process, the council is encouraging diverse representation on the Board of Advisors, by both industry focus and geography. To ensure the desired breadth of industry focus, the 14 elected seats will be distributed in categories as follows:

• Financial institutions
• Merchants
• Processors
• Others (POS Vendors, etc)

Participating Organizations may nominate their own organization for election to a seat on the Board of Advisors, by emailing secretariat@pcisecuritystandards.org. before Mar. 19, 2007, with the following information:

• Name, title and contact information for the organization's proposed representative and alternate representative to the Board;
• A brief (100-150 word) description of the organization;
• Selection of one category in which the organization should be placed; and
• A statement of 250 words or less explaining why the entity deserves an advisory role.

Please direct any questions or concerns regarding the Board of Advisors nomination or election process to the PCI SSC Secretariat at secretariat@pcisecuritystandards.org.

About the PCI Security Standards Council

The mission of the PCI Security Standards Council is to enhance payment account security by fostering broad adoption of the PCI Data Security Standard.

The PCI Security Standards Council was formed by the major payment card brands American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International to provide a transparent forum in which all stakeholders can provide input into the ongoing development, enhancement and dissemination of the Data Security Standard. Merchants, banks, processors and point of sale vendors are encouraged to join as Participating Organizations. If you would like more information the PCI Security Standards Council or would like to become a Participating Organization please contact the PCI Security Standards Council at info@pcisecuritystandards.org.