Monica Eaton-Cardone We’re pleased to present our latest installment in our feature series – “FintekNews Celebrates #WomenInFintech“. This week, we’d like to introduce you to

Monica Eaton-Cardone, Co-Founder & COO of Chargebacks911, a chargeback management company with solutions to prevent chargebacks before they happen and fight chargebacks once they do.

NAME:

Monica Eaton-Cardone

TITLE:

Co-Founder & COO

COMPANY:

Chargebacks911

WEB ADDRESS:

https://chargebacks911.com/

What does your financial technology firm offer?

Chargebacks911 is a chargeback mitigation company. We combine proprietary technologies and strategies to address a multibillion-dollar problem in the eCommerce market, and help merchants eliminate risk and grow their revenue.

On the one hand, we provide a unique line of products that address the three key sources of eCommerce chargebacks: merchant error, criminal fraud, and friendly fraud. However, what really sets us apart from other service providers is that we understand the technology and the expertise are dependent on one another. You can’t deploy the tools if you don’t have the insight, and that holds true for fintech as a whole.

What was the personal motivation for you to launch your firm?

My motivation came from my own experiences as an eCommerce merchant. I faced an onslaught of unjustified chargebacks—a practice called “friendly fraud”—but no service provider offered any ideas for how to address the problem. I thought there

had

to be a way to fix this, so I made it my mission to find it.

I studied everything I could find about chargebacks and industry regulations, and managed to gradually bring my chargeback rate down. Then, I found that I wasn’t alone; countless merchants were having the same problem with chargebacks.

I had an opportunity to share what I’d learned and really make an impact on the industry. That led me to start Chargebacks911 as a consulting service, and it caught-on instantly, growing into a global technology firm in just a couple of years.

Do you think the trend will continue where we will see more women in leadership roles in fintechs (Yes/No) and why?

Yes; I think we’re heading in the right direction in terms of seeing more women in fintech leadership roles. If you look at the current representation in technology fields, women occupy a comparatively small share of jobs, especially in senior and executive roles. However, that’s starting to change as more young women get involved in STEM education and get interested in technology.

The key to ongoing progress is going to be starting at an early age. A major part of underrepresentation is that girls haven’t felt encouraged to pursue these opportunities, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We need to encourage girls and young women to both develop a passion for science and technology, and to start seeing themselves in leadership roles. That’s the only way we’ll really work toward achieving gender parity.

Monica Eaton-Cardone is an entrepreneur and business leader with expertise in technology, e-Commerce, risk relativity and payment-processing solutions. She is COO of Chargebacks911 and CIO of its parent company Global Risk Technologies.