EWI Announces the Appointment of Three New Board Members. Credit Card Industry Veterans to Join Early Stage Venture Focused on Prepaid and Cash Payment Technologies.

EWI Holdings, Inc, a leading global provider of advanced payment processing services and technologies to the prepaid and cash payments sectors, announced today it has appointed three new members to its Board of Directors.

EWI Announces the Appointment of Three New Board Members. Credit Card Industry Veterans to Join Early Stage Venture Focused on Prepaid and Cash Payment Technologies.

SAN DIEGO, CA (PRWEB) August, 2003 -- EWI Holdings, Inc, a leading global provider of advanced payment processing services and technologies to the prepaid and cash payments sectors, announced today it has appointed three new members to its Board of Directors.

Michael Zucchini, Phil Taken, and Louis Ferrero will join founder Miles Paschini and Chief Executive Patrick K. Hazel on EWIs board to lead the company as it enters its high growth stage. The appointments signal the emergence of the Company as a payment-processing innovator, particularly in the prepaid, micro-payment, and cash payments sector.

Mr. Zucchini, 56, is currently the Chairman of the Board of Inovant, the worlds largest commercial processor of financial payment transactions. He is also a director of VISA USA and VISA International. Prior to his roles with Inovant and VISA, Mr. Zucchini served as Vice-Chairman of Fleet Boston Financial until his retirement from that position in 1999.

The credit card industry has been seeking a way to capture cash payments for well over a decade", said Mr. Zucchini, and EWI has solved the puzzle on how to digitize cash transactions in such a way as to make them available to the broader credit card world as an entirely new -- and very large -- business opportunity".

Mr. Taken, 42, currently serves as General Counsel for Tolleson Wealth Management, a wealth management and personal banking firm, and he is a consultant to various companies in transaction processing and financial services. He previously served as Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of Paymentech, the third largest transaction processor in the U.S., and as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of First USA, the third largest credit card company in the U.S.

EWI has brought a suite of proprietary and patented technologies to a vast market that was ripe for innovation", commented Mr. Taken. From the perspective of the payments industry, the Processing of prepaid and cash payments is an extremely promising area for global growth".

Mr. Ferrero is a long-time investor and advisor to early and mid-stage ventures. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Anacomp and the former Chairman of Conseco Global Investments. He currently is the managing partner of Tuscany Ventures.

EWI has accomplished what few early stage companies ever do, especially in this tough venture climate", noted Mr. Ferrero. The firm has achieved remarkable traction and respect among global industry leaders, a reflection of the Companys strong vision, leading technologies, and smart, focused management".

Miles Paschini, the founder and Chairman of EWI observed that the addition of the three new directors was a clear signal of both the companys progress and future direction. EWI is entering perhaps one of the most sought after payments markets in history at exactly the right time. Our new board members bring both the practical know-how and global perspective required by EWI to emerge as a leader in our sector."

About EWI

EWI is a leading global provider of advanced payment processing technologies to the prepaid and cash payments sectors. With EWIs patented systems, the delivery of prepaid services such as prepaid wireless, utilities, long distance, and wireless content can now be transacted and settled in real time, a vast improvement over prior manual processes. Based in San Diego, California, EWI is a privately held company. For more information, visit www.ewiprepaid.com.

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