22ND annual conference
July 24-25, 2024
The 22nd annual conference #MWAA2024 will be held at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile.
This two day conference will be filled with educational and networking opportunities, dynamic speakers and an exhibit hall, featuring the latest payments and value added products and services.4
The Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile is located at:
Main Entrance:
540 Michigan Ave.
Chicago, Il. 60611
Driveway Entrance:
541 North Rush Street
Chicago, Il. 60611
Who's Exhibiting
MWAA 2024 Registration
MWAA 2024 Registration
2024 MWAA Passport Challenge
TO DOWNLOAD THE MWAA MOBILE APP, GO TO:
https://midwestacquirers.org/next-event/download-mobile-app/ and scan the QR code.
The App will also be available on both the Apple App and Google Play stores.
Get it On Google Play
Coming Soon!
Download on the Apple App Store
Coming Soon!
Login to the MWAA App:
1. Click Menu (upper Left)
2. Click on Passport Challenge
3. Click on Challenges to review all the events, sessions and Sponsors to obtain points from.
4. Click on individual Challenge to input the 4-digit passcode received from exhibitor, session or event.
YES! You can participate via a web browser using a PC or Mac.
A URL link will be provided soon!
The Passport Game requires attendance at Events, Speaker Sessions and visiting Sponsors Booths.
Click on each Session, Event or Sponsor Booth and then enter the 4-digit code (Ex. 1234) that can be found at the end of a session or from a Sponsor’s Booth representative.
Actually, it’s very simple! Accumulate a minimum of 2,500 points in any combination and your name will be entered in the drawing that will take place at 6:45PM on Thursday, July 20th. Location TBD.
IMPORTANT: Must be PRESENT to WIN!!!
MWAA Passport® will be giving away over $10,000 in gift cards and prizes.
More detailed information to follow.
Play for your chance to win.
MUST BE PRESENT AT DRAWING TO WIN
MWAA FAQ’s for 2024
NOTICE: Please click here for the MWAA Policies and Rules.
Social Media Policy is available here.
Attendee Rules
Attendees are individuals who register to attend the MWAA conference to learn more about the industry, discuss industry developments with colleagues and make contacts with other members of the industry. Attendees may not solicit business, sell products or services or recruit agents or resellers.
If an individual has been a vendor/exhibitor at a previous MWAA conference, they will not qualify to register as an Attendee and will be contacted by a Board Member to re-register as a vendor/exhibitor.
Exhibitor Information
Exhibitors may set up Wednesday, July 19, 2023 from 8:30 AM CDT to 1:00 PM CDT. The Exhibit Hall opens at 5:00 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 19th, 2023.
Exhibitor package(s) arrival are permitted to arrive on July 14th, 2023.
**PLEASE NOTE: Exhibitor packages arriving prior to July 14th will incur a storage fee, charged by the hotel.
Electricity is provided. Telephone, wired IP connections or special AV must be ordered in advance. Please contact registration@midwestacquirers.org for specifics (these services incur additional charges). Wi-Fi will be available, courtesy of a Sponsor.
Exhibitor teardown will be Thursday, July 20th, 2023 at 6:30 PM CDT. All shipping labels must be filled out and placed on any item that you want the hotel to ship back for you. Forms will be provided prior to the end of the Conference to arrange for pick-up of your booth and/or boxes.
Rules Regarding Unsanctioned, 3rd Party Events:
MWAA appreciates your participation and promotion of our conference. To further support our efforts, it is expressly prohibited to schedule, hold, or sponsor meetings, gatherings, parties, or events, whether offsite or onsite, during any scheduled or sanctioned MWAA events, sessions, or exhibit hall times identified on the published MWAA agenda.
Violation of the policy can result in consequences, up to and including being excluded from future MWAA participation.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
General questions from Exhibitors
Booth costs varies on positioning and other factors. Please click here to check the Registration Page and scroll to the middle of the page for current pricing and availability.
Instructions on shipping to/from this event can be found by clicking and downloading this Shipping Form.
Package Arrival Date:
The venue will NOT accept packages earlier than July 14, 2022.
When possible, please always keep your tracking numbers with you, so it is easier to locate your boxes onsite.
Prior to entering the exhibit hall for setup, exhibitors must check-in with the FedEx representative at the Exhibit Hall entrance and must make payment for handling of your shipped materials. When you arrive at your assigned booth or table after the Exhibit Hall opens to Exhibitors, your display and boxes will be at your assigned space.
MWAA Sponsors will receive an attendee list prior to the conference as a part of their benefits package. This attendee list is scheduled to be sent to Sponsors approximately two (2) weeks prior to the conference. Exhibitors who are not Sponsors do not receive the pre-show attendee list. All Exhibitors will receive an attendee list approximately two (2) weeks after the Conference.
- When you registered, you received a system-generated e-mail with your login name and password. Login at the top, underneath “already registered”. Please insert the login name and password you received in that system-generated e-mail. You will then be taken to your record. As you scroll down the page, you will see the section entitled “Attendees” and under that you will see a box “Add Registrant(s)”. If you click on that box, you will be able to add another attendee. Or, if you are changing an attendee already in the system, then click the “Edit” box next to their e-mail address and you can make the change in that record.
- If you need to add or change any Options such as adding electricity or internet to your record, please follow the above steps. You will see (under the Attendees section) another section entitled “Options/Additional Services” and in that section, you will see a box “Add Option(s)”. Click on that box and follow the steps.
- If you need any assistance in making any changes, please send an email to: registration@midwestacquirers.org
Visit the Hotel and Travel Arrangements page. If you do not find the information you need, please contact us at info@midwestacquirers.com
The MWAA Board will provide refunds to any individual or company (not Premium Sponsors) that has registered for the MWAA 2023 Conference, paid and submitted a request for refund, provided the request for refund was received prior to close of business at 5pm Central, Wednesday, May 31, 2023. The MWAA does not refund sponsorship payments to Premium Sponsors, which includes, Platinum, Golden Wheat and Harvest Moon Sponsors levels. Requests for refunds must be sent via email to Mark Hayward, MWAA Treasurer at mark.hayward@midwestacquirers.org
MWAA staff reviews all registrations. The MWAA Board and Officers reserve the right to change or cancel the registration of any individual or company at its sole discretion to enforce the rules and policies of the MWAA.
Yes, there is wireless internet available for exhibitors as is electricity. Telephone, wired IP connections, or special AV must be ordered in advance.
Please contact info@midwestacquirers.org for specifics. Wi-Fi will be available, courtesy of a Sponsor.
We do not provide chairs as representatives stand in front of their display spaces. General Sponsors, Upgraded Exhibitors, Select Exhibitors and Basic Exhibitor displays are all table-top displays that back up to a wall or other table. There is no room in front of the table for chairs.
Only MWAA 2023 Sponsors will be provided the pre-conference attendee list. The pre-conference attendee list will be sent to MWAA 2023 Sponsors approximately two (2) weeks prior to the start of the Conference. The post-conference attendee list is provided to all Sponsors and Exhibitors and will be emailed to the Sponsors and Exhibitors approximately two (2) weeks after the Conference.
Being a trade organization in the card payment business, we promote card usage wherever we can. So, we ask that all organizations and individuals pay by credit or debit card. However, we do recognize that some companies for reasons of financial control must pay by check or wire transfer. If this is the case with your company, please do this: go to the “EXHIBIT HALL LAYOUT” and choose three exhibit spaces from the available spaces shown on the map. Then mail your preferences along with a check for the registration fee for your top choice of exhibit space to us at:
Midwest Acquirers Association
130 Corridor Road
Suite 466
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32004
Please include the contact name and email address of your person in charge of handling your registration. Please note that this is a slow process, and all your preferences may be sold out by the time we receive your payment. Also, please note that payment by means other than credit card is not eligible for any promotions or discounts, etc.
We cannot guarantee that you will get your preferred choice of spaces, as online registration is first come, first served. We will make every effort to accommodate your preferences and will email you back with details.
The 2023 MWAA Industry Achievement Award Recipient
James ‘Jim’ Oberman CEO, Payroc

Jim joined Payroc in 2015, initially serving as Payroc’s Managing Director, focused on strategic initiatives and acquisitions. In 2017, Jim was appointed the CEO of Payroc.
Prior to Payroc, from 2000 through 2015, Jim served in a number of executive roles in the payments industry, including National Processing Company (NPC-formerly Retriever Payment Systems). In 2010, FIS Worldpay, fka Vantiv, purchased NPC and Vantiv appointed Jim as the Managing Director of Vantiv’s NPC ISO business. Late in 2013 Vantiv appointed Jim to serve as Vantiv’s enterprise-wide Chief Merchant Risk Officer. NPC was Vantiv’s nationwide ISO merchant distribution business serving over 220,000 small-to-medium-sized merchants.
During Jim’s tenure with NPC and Vantiv, he also drove the development of and relationship with several key NPC ISOs, as well as oversight and management of specific specialty initiatives. These initiatives include the invention of market differentiating boarding, CRM and risk management systems, the acquisition of merchant portfolios, the oversight of the company’s POS equipment leasing and check processing divisions, and acquisition and oversight of NPC’s POS terminal deployment and service business unit. Jim has served on a number of payments association and card brand advisory committees and boards which included serving on the Electronic Transaction Association (ETA) Government Relations and Risk Committees and ETA’s Strategic Leadership Forum.
Jim currently resides in the Chicagoland area, has been married for 44 years, has 4 children and 9 grandchildren. For over 35 years Jim has been a board member of Calvary Academy Christian School in South Holland, Illinois, and Restoration Ministries in Harvey, Illinois, and serves on the Board of Elders of Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park, Illinois.
Past Recipients
2022
Kate Gillespie
The Green Sheet
2021
Juan Ortiz
Juan Ortiz Inspires Inc (JOI)
2019
O.B. Rawls IV
Paysafe Group
2018
Holly Targan
Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss
2017
Jim McCormick
Founder of the Midwest
Acquirers Association
John McCormick
Founder of the Southeast
Acquirers Association
Jaques Breton
Founder of the Northeast
Acquirers Association
Sherry Friedrichsen
Founder of the Western States
Acquirers Association
2016
Deana Rich
Rich Consulting
2015
Gerry Wagner
Discover Financial Services
2014
Bob Jenisch
Digital Transactions
2013
Biff Matthews
Owner of CardWare
International
2012
Mark Dunn
Field Guide Enterprises and
Treasurer of the MWAA
2011
Dan Neistadt
Electronic Merchant
Systems
2010
Linda Perry
ISTS Worldwide
2009
Donna Embry
Payment Alliance International
2008
Kim Fitzsimmons
First Data Corp
2007
Mike Ponder
Integrity Payment Systems
2006
Dick Draper
PeriPheron Technologies
2005
John Rante
President of Online Data Corp
2004
Paul Green
The Greensheet
2003
Robert O. Carr
Heartland Payment Systems
The inaugural MWAA
Industry Achievement Award