June-July 2022 - 25

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HEATHER BAILEY
Co-chair, Labor and
Employment Service Group,
SmithAmundsen LLC
N
At SmithAmundsen, Heather Bailey is cochair
of the firm's Labor and Employment
Practice Group and the fourth woman
owner of the firm. She spearheaded
and serves on the firm's Committee for
Diversity and Inclusion, helping to recruit, retain and
mentor attorneys and staff of all backgrounds. For more
than 21 years, Bailey has concentrated her practice
in employment and labor counseling and litigation.
Through her practice, she's become a leader in the
vending industry and a go-to advisor for employers/
operators. Her counseling on day-to-day operations has
helped those in the vending industry gain success and
avoid legal pitfalls. She has served as an employment
and labor Knowledge Source Partner of NAMA since
2003, offering operators complimentary guidance and
speaking at various NAMA Shows, Fly-Ins and state
council meetings throughout the years. Bailey is also
involved in community events and organizations. For
the last 15 years, she has participated in the annual
Chicago Polar Plunge to raise money and awareness for
the Special Olympics. She also serves on the Advisory
Council of the Illinois Restaurant Association, is a past
president of the Professional Women's Club of Chicago,
and is an EC member of ProVisors, where she is now the
diversity, equity and inclusion liaison and host for the
Women's Affinity Group.
Heather
Bailey
MELISSA BROWN
Founder/Owner, Well-Bean
Coffee Roasters
Melissa Brown is a self-made
entrepreneur, receiving her inspiration
to become a roaster while visiting coffee
farms in Nicaragua on a ministry trip.
Beginning with only a passion and a few
setbacks, she evolved from a campusbased
coffee cart to a full-fledged, high-quality roaster
and OCS, vending, micro market and pantry operator.
After selling her route business, Brown continued to build
her roasting business while making time to contribute to
industry educational sessions as a charismatic presenter
and panelist at NAMA events. She is always eager to help
operators, suppliers and brokers, providing valuable input.
Melissa
Brown
PATTY CLOSSER
CEO, Translucent LLC
After years in mid-level management
positions at some of the largest
companies, Patty Closser decided to start
Translucent. The vision for the company
was to help operators be successful in
markets and technology and learn how
to take their operations to the next level.
As Closser always says, " It's all about the operators! " She
is deserving of this award as a most influential leader in
our industry.
Patty
Closser
LINDSAY EASTER
Operations Manager, Gimme
Lindsay Easter has been awarded
one of the Most Influential Women
in Convenience Services because of
her ability to put herself in the shoes of
operators. Empathy is one of Gimme's
core values, and it is where Easter
excels as a customer success/service
employee. Even though she is new to the industry,
Easter is experienced and talented in her ability to talk
to anyone, and customers feel heard when working with
her. She also loves this industry and is passionate about
bringing new technology to improve this space. She goes
above and beyond to understand convenience service
operators from every role within the organization, from
owners to route drivers to service techs and sales. An
example of this is getting up at 3 a.m. to answer support
calls, or one step further, in riding along with a route
driver at 3 a.m. during product deployments. Plus, she's
a coffee lover, so she's always excited to be a product
tester for the operators who make their own brand of
craft coffee.
Lindsay
Easter
CARLY FURMAN
CEO, Nayax LLC
Carly Furman has been an integral part
of Nayax since she joined the company
in 2014 as chief financial officer of
Nayax's subsidiary companies at its R&D
headquarters in Israel. Due to her hard
work, in 2016, Furman was asked to
relocate to Hunt Valley, Maryland, where
she established Nayax's North American office, serving
as CEO since then. Furman has been responsible
for growing Nayax's North American customer base
to almost 11,000 unattended business operators,
making the North American branch the largest Nayax
subsidiary. She has also had a global reach, being
heavily involved in taking Nayax public, as the company
made its debut on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in
2021. She has worked hard to ensure that North
American merchants and consumers have access
to the latest payment technologies, such as APMs
when using Nayax's solution. She has pushed for EMV
(Europay, Mastercard, Visa) compliance, recognizing
its importance and educating the market on this topic.
Furman has a B.A. in economics with an emphasis on
accounting from the University of California, Santa
Barbara (UCSB), and is a registered CPA.
Carly
Furman
June/July 2022 * VendingMarketWatch.com 25
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http://www.VendingMarketWatch.com
June-July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June-July 2022
