The height of confirmation that one is doing something of meaning for a community (to me at least) is when others want to voluntarily join in to help make it even better. This small contribution to the voice of the currency community has been so confirmed – a second time! First it needs to be said that we are proud to acknowledge (even though we really can’t) the contributions made by our first additional teammate. Although this person can not be identified we can say that he works for a central bank somewhere in the world. This individual, who for some months now has been building a revolving “headline & link” library of real-life stories about currency, has a real passion for the less well known and sometimes disturbing (in an entertaining way!) realities of a cash world. He has and continues to be an important and valuable part of the culture that Counting On Currency is trying to nurture.

That culture that is the essence of the value we are trying to deliver to you, the reader, is again evolving with the addition of a third perspective. Those of us who contribute to Counting On Currency are pleased to announce that Ms. Nicole Sturgill of The Tower Group will begin to post her musings and ideas in the larger spectrum of currency. Starting this month Nicole will be contributing various dialogues from her “new stump”, as her muse allows. I hope that you will agree with me that we are lucky, pleased and honored to have her join the team!

Nicole Sturgill is a Research Director in the Delivery Channels service at TowerGroup, with responsibility for research on trends and developments in ATMs, self-service kiosks, online banking, and cash vaults. Nicole’s areas of expertise, developed over 14 years in the financial services industry, include ATM strategy and processing, cash supply chain management, operational analysis, best practices, vendor management, and regulatory compliance.

Prior to joining TowerGroup, Nicole served as manager of banking strategies at Transoft International. She worked with banks in both EMEA and North America, consulting on ATM deployment strategy and performing operational analyses, specializing in cash supply chain strategy and implementation at client banks. Previously, she worked at Fifth Third Bank for almost 10 years, holding several positions in Commercial Banking and Operations. Her most recent role there was as assistant vice president managing ATM operations, Regulation E compliance, and debit card operations.

Nicole has been quoted in industry periodicals and has appeared in such publications as American Banker, ATM & Debit News, and Bank Systems and Technology. She has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences and has recently authored an article on currency management for BAI Banking Strategies.

Nicole holds a BA in psychology and sociology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

I had the pleasure of working with and learning from Nicole during my early days with Transoft and have enjoyed continued communication with her since her transition to TowerGroup. I know that her time is in great demand and so I want to stress that her postings will be based on her own allocation of “free time” (whatever that is!) and her inventory of thought provoking ideas for posts. I for one will be looking forward to reading them!

Welcome Nicole!