Pete Donat joined Needham & Company in 2018 to help bolster the firm’s Investment Banking capabilities in FinTech and Payments. Pete has had a 25-year career in the payment industry with a variety of senior roles at First Data, Visa and MasterCard. During that time, he worked on over 30 transactions, including several industry-transformative acquisitions, divestitures, investments and IPOs. He was SVP of New Ventures & Business Development at First Data with responsibility for managing the company’s most disruptive partnerships (such as ApplePay and PayPal) and dozens of investments, acquisitions and partnerships with early stage FinTech companies. Earlier at First Data, he was responsible for Network Innovation, eCommerce and FDC’s Durbin and Regulatory response teams. Prior to FDC, roles include Senior Leadership roles in Strategy, Finance, Product at both Visa and MasterCard. Outside of Needham & Company, Pete is a Senior Advisor at the Boston Consulting Group’s Financial Services practice, a Strategic Advisor at Earnest Research (a data and analytics firm successfully monetizing payment data), and an advisor/board member to several FinTech and security startups. Pete holds an MBA from Wharton, an M.A. in International Economics & US Foreign Policy from Johns Hopkins (SAIS), and an AB from Dartmouth College.