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Rawan Shawar named a ‘Rising Star’ by WIP In February, Rawan Shawar, a Senior Software Engineer based in Florida, U.S.A., received the ‘Rising Star’ award at the U.S. Women in Payments (WIP) Symposium in Washington, D.C. Rawan was selected for the award, which was one of six different U.S. WIP awards presented at the event, in recognition of her technical excellence, leadership capabilities, mentorship and advocacy efforts. “It is humbling and inspiring to be recognized at the U.S. Women in Payments Awards alongside women who innovate, educate and have contributed so much to the industry,” said Rawan. Since joining ACI, Rawan has held numerous roles in the Product Development organization, and she currently leads a team of engineers responsible for ACI’s UP Retail Payments solution. Additionally, Rawan is actively involved in ACI’s Women’s Initiative program and is a mentor for Money20/20’s ‘Rise Up’ academy.
ACI Omaha introduces students to the world of payments ACI Omaha recently hosted six students from the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Information Technology department for a one-day event to showcase ACI’s solution offerings and the company’s role in the global payments industry. All six students were members of UNO’s Association for Computing Machinery-Women (ACM-W) chapter and had previously volunteered at one of ACI Omaha’s Coding for Girls camps. During their day on site, the students were guided on a tour of ACI’s Omaha facilities before participating in seven engaging, informative sessions led by Product Development, Human Resources and Marketing leaders. “The goal of the day was to introduce these young minds to the world of payments technology, our company and the solutions we provide our customers,” explained Sampy Gajre, Senior Global Talent Acquisition Partner. “We covered ACI’s history, our strategy and the engineering of our products as well as internship and job opportunities available at ACI.”
ACI Singapore celebrates Lunar New Year More than 50 members of the ACI Singapore team recently gathered for a luncheon to celebrate the Lunar New Year, which began on January 25. The celebratory luncheon was coordinated by the ACI Singapore Recreational Club and it was held at the Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant across the street from ACI’s Singapore office site. It provided ACIers in attendance with a great atmosphere to kick off the Year of the Rat while networking with colleagues from across departments and locations. One activity many look forward to during Lunar New Year celebrations is a good toss of yusheng (a type of raw fish salad) for good fortune. The ritual involves mixing and tossing various ingredients and saying hopeful and encouraging phrases before eating it. “It was great for the team to come together and toss to a prosperous year ahead,” said Yvonne Lai, Marketing Director, Growth Markets. “The celebration brought our ACI Singapore team closer together as 1ACI and it felt like one big family gathering!”
ACI Cape Town donates laptops to local charities ACI’s Cape Town, South Africa team recently continued their ongoing partnership with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by donating 14 refreshed laptops rather than disposing them. The site team currently rotates their laptop donation program with various NGOs, which do not receive any funding from the South African government and therefore rely on donations, on a quarterly basis. The NGOs that received laptops as part of the site’s most recent donations included the South African Education and Environment Project and the Fisantekraal Centre for Development. “These NGOs do phenomenal work in and around Cape Town and are truly doing their part to make South Africa a better country," explained Christo Espach, Cape Town Local Site Leader and Software Engineering Manager. “We’re so happy to aid in their efforts to help those less fortunate, and we feel very lucky to be a part of their service to our area.”
ACIers participate in Timisoara City Marathon Thirteen enthusiastic ACIers from ACI’s Timisoara, Romania, site recently joined more than 1,000 runners to race in the 3rd annual Timisoara City Marathon. The all-ages marathon is the most popular running event in Timisoara, and participants can choose to race in one of five courses spread across the city’s streets and beautiful parks. Of cultural significance, the race celebrates the entrance of Prince Eugene of Savoy in the city of Timisoara, on the “Forforosa” gate, after defeating the Ottoman army, on October 18, 1716. “It was a perfect day for running,” said Diana Nicula, Human Resources Consultant, of event. “It was also great being together and having fun, which made us ‘go the extra mile.’”
ACI Omaha raises $10,000 in ‘Flamingo’ fundraiser For the fifth consecutive year, ACI Omaha hosted a two-week breast cancer awareness campaign that promoted annual mammogram screenings and raised donations for the Susan G. Komen Great Plains breast cancer foundation’s More Than Pink Walk fundraiser. To contribute to the fundraiser, local ACIers organized an on-site “Flamingo Race” contest between the site’s leaders, who utilized their ACI colleague networks to collect donations between October 7 and October 18. Hundreds of ACIers from across the world donated money in the name of the individual site leaders, who then received one paper flamingo for every $5 USD donated. At the end of the drive,1,600 paper flamingos decorated offices across the site and 1ACI raised more than $10,000 through the contest.
Clearwater ACIers partner with Habitat for Humanity. Last month, 10 members of the ACI Clearwater (Florida) site team participated in a Habitat for Humanity build event in nearby St. Petersburg, Florida. ACI Worldwide has a long history partnering with local Habitat chapters, which bring together community volunteers to build homes for disadvantaged families in their areas. During the Clearwater team’s day-long volunteer effort, ACIers helped construct a new home and performed painting, caulking, trimming, shelving and shutter installation tasks. “Our most recent Habitat for Humanity event was a success, even though some of us (and I won’t name names) had more caulking on themselves than on the trim at the end of the day,” said Matt Powell, Customer Success Manager, of the build event. “The Clearwater office looks forward to these events as a chance to take a break from work and unite to do something good in the community.”
ACI Russia hosts hackathon for 80 university students Since 2015, ACI Russia has organized an annual hackathon, or coding challenge, for local university students in Kazan and Yoshkar-Ola. The 2019 edition took place on Sunday, November 17, with 80 Computer Science students participating in simultaneous events at the two ACI sites. During the 12-hour competition, the students had to write code as part of a video game in which they built virtual ships to collect as many minerals from the bottom of the game’s sea as possible. After the hackathon, all participants were invited to tour ACI’s Russian offices, treated to delicious pizza and provided an opportunity to further discuss the winning hackathon concepts. The event winners were also rewarded with gift certificate prizes. “The participants said they liked the platform and game itself, the venue and food,” said Anna. “And most of all, they greatly appreciated the kind attention of ACIers who supported the event.”
ACI Omaha hosts eighth Coding for Girls Camp On October 12, ACI Omaha hosted its eighth successful Coding for Girls Camp in the last four years. The free, one-day event built on the momentum of previous Coding for Girls events in Omaha and helped further ACI’s continued goal of introducing girls to the world of technology. During the event, ACI Software Engineer Anuhya Bheemireddy led 36 middle and high school-aged campers through tutorials and basic coding exercises. The campers asked challenging questions and picked up coding concepts quickly while working out solutions for themselves.
ACI enjoys great showing at Sibos 2019 In September, 25 ACIers from around the world represented ACI at Sibos 2019, the world’s premier annual financial services conference and expo, which was held at London’s ExCel international convention center. At the event, a united 1ACI front advanced key conversations during more than 200 scheduled meetings with 225 contacts from 140 organizations. The total number of scheduled meetings represented a 40% increase compared to Sibos 2018 in Sydney, with 70 percent of ACI’s meetings focused on Real-Time Payments conversations.
