Management Team

Kobus Paulsen

Founder and CEO

Kobus provides overall leadership and strategy for the UC Group. He led a management buyout of Brainware Europe and founded UC Group, successfully transitioning it into a multi-tiered ecommerce conglomerate. He previously served as senior executive at Mirror Group in London, where he led the TV, digital and interactive strategies.

Patrick Boylan

Executive Director

Patrick has more than 25 years of senior level experience in international financial services. Before his involvement with UC Group, he served as chief executive of card services and e-ventures at Natwest. He has also served as a member of the global board of MasterCard, chairman of MasterCard and EuroPay UK, chairman of ClearCommerce International and group general manager at HSBC Holdings, responsible for global banking services.

Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

Non-executive Director

David has been Member of Parliament for Sheffield Brightside since 1987. He served as Secretary of State for Education and Employment between 1997 and 2001; Home Secretary between 2001 and 2004; and Secretary of State for Work and Pension in 2005.

David continues to take a direct interest in cyber security – including as Honorary Chair of the ISSA-UK Advisory Board, to undertake work on welfare reform on an international basis, on internet security and data processing, and maintains his long-standing interest in education, skills and training. David is involved with a large number of local, national and international charities, and is a regular contributor to the British media.

Ian Hughes

Chief Technical Officer

Ian is responsible for all aspects of Secure Trading’s IT infrastructure and application development, support and maintenance, including information service delivery and security. With over 16 years of technical and IT management experience, Ian has held a wide variety of information technology roles within Secure Trading. He previously worked for British Aerospace developing flight simulator software as well as Racal Radar Defence Systems and Euro DPC.

Daniel Holden

Chief Financial Officer

Daniel is responsible for all financial and commercial aspects of the UC Group. He previously held senior positions at Deloitte and Capita, and was involved in a number of venture capital-backed companies.

Jens Bader

Chief Commercial Officer

Jens is responsible for the Company’s overall commercial strategy and oversees all sales and marketing activities. Before joining Secure Trading in 2014, Jens was chief commercial office of the paysafecard Group, and during has long career has held various roles in the financial services industry with major payment services providers such as Optimal Payments, Global Collect and First Data as well as payment start-ups.

Oliver Eckel

CEO of Cognosec

Oliver is responsible for business development and management of Secure Trading’s sister company, Cognosec. He has over 20 years’ experience in the IT security and regulatory compliance industry, and is an advisory board member of Agiliance. Oliver was formerly a board member of eCogra and head of audit, security and risk at BWin.

Mike Norton

Head of Secure Trading Financial Services

Mike leads the development of Secure Trading’s acquiring bank arm. He previously set up a new direct acquiring business in Europe for First Data, and held other senior positions at First Data, Euronet Worldwide and BNP Paribas.

Paul Gent

Marketing Director

A dedicated B2B marketer for more than 20 years, Paul is responsible for Secure Trading’s entire on and offline marketing strategy. Paul is hugely experienced in the gaming and payments industries, where he has spent the last eight years of his career, most recently holding senior marketing positions at Optimal Payments and First Data where he managed their international digital strategies.

Paul’s analytical approach and keen eye for detail are essential in ensuring that all Secure Trading marketing activity is cohesive across a variety of key vertical industries.

Michael Lane

Channel and Product Director

With 15 years of payments experience under his belt, having spent time at Barclays, The Hartford and more recently Skrill (as VP eCommerce) Michael is a highly valuable member of the Secure Trading management team. Today, as Secure Trading channel and product director, Michael works closely with merchants, payment service providers, and partners to provide market leading acquiring and gateway services.

David Backshall

Sales Director

Joining Secure Trading from Omnico Group in May 2014, David Backshall is responsible for Secure Trading’s sales strategy and execution worldwide. Also former head of sales at Sage Pay, where he played an integral part in the company’s commercial growth, David has a wealth of experience across Software, Fintech, Payments, Pre-paid, Merchant Services & e-commerce. David brings highly valuable sales and commercial payment knowledge to the Secure Trading team, as a specialist in building and re-structuring commercial teams to spearhead growth.