MIAMI -- Lyle Elias kicked off "ATMs in the Americas," the ATM Industry Association's conference here this week, by introducing his successor as president, only the second person to hold the office in the group's five-year history.

With his trademark humor, Elias, executive director of stored value card processor Value Payment Network, said that ATMIA's executive board had "staged a coup d'etat."

ATMIA International Director Mike Lee lauded the new president, Tom Harper, as "a strong visionary." Indeed, as one of the original founders of ATMIA, Harper's vision helped launch the association, which bills itself as the ATM industry's sole international trade body.

The association now has three chapters -- ATMIA Europe, ATMIA Australasia and ATMIA Africa -- in addition to the original United States chapter. According to Lana Harmelink, its director of operations, ATMIA expects to launch two more chapters in Latin America and Canada by year's end.

"After that, outer space," joked Lee.

Looking at the next level

In a more serious vein, Lee noted that the association was at a turning point in terms of future growth. Like the ATM industry itself, it will require "more structure" to successfully expand, he said.

"We have five staff members and eight people on the board," he said. "With a small team like that, we need people with powerful ideas, like Tom, to help us move forward."

Ellen Stebbins, the vice president of ATM acquisitions for First American Payment Systems who was elected to her fourth term as secretary of ATMIA's executive board, said, "It's time for us to enlarge our scope, and I think Tom can help us do it."

In addition to Harper and Stebbins, also elected to serve on the board were Mark Coons, president and chief executive of insurance provider American Special Risk, as vice president, and Mike Clinard, chief operating officer of Cardtronics, as treasurer.

Elias will assume a new role as chairman, presiding over board meetings and conferences. He will also represent ATMIA at other industry meetings and events.

Tom Harper

Harper, president of NetWorld Alliance, the Louisville, Ky.-based owner of ATMmarketplace and four other Web sites, called his election "an extreme honor."

He said ATMIA must generate more revenue for its expansion plans as well as programs like Operation Sword and Shield, the recently launched anti-fraud offensive, which he called the group's "most ambitious initiative yet." (See related story ATMIA launches new effort to boost ATM security)

Another key goal for ATMIA, he said, is adding new member benefits and expanding existing ones like the insurance program offered through American Special Risk. Among the benefits being considered are research studies of mutual interest to members. The studies would be paid for and commissioned by ATMIA and would yield data that all could share, Harmelink said.

Elias said he believes it's time for the association to become known for "more than just putting on great conferences."

Conferences will still be a main focus for ATMIA, which has another show in the U.S. and two in Europe on tap later this year. Two new events, in Africa and Australasia, are set for 2004.

Dennis Lynch, president and chief executive of NYCE and the conference's keynote speaker, said that it was "incredibly important for organizations like ATMIA to bring people together at conferences like this."