Ipsidy Announces Retirement of Philip Beck as Chairman of the Board And Appointment of Phillip Kumnick in Succession

Long Beach, NY, Nov. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ipsidy Inc. (www.ipsidy.com) [OTCQB:IDTY] a leading provider of secure, mobile biometric identity solutions, including Identity as a Service (IDaaS), announced today that Phillip L. Kumnick was appointed Chairman, in succession to Philip Beck upon his retirement from the Board.  

Mr. Kumnick joined the Board of Directors in November 2019, following a career of over 30 years as a senior executive in the payments industry.  In May 2020 he was appointed CEO and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Ipsidy. From 2010 to 2018 he was Senior Vice President Global Acquirer Processing at Visa, Inc., and was the executive in charge of leading and growing Visa’s acquirer processing services on a global basis.  Additionally, he lead the Visa partnership with the Indian government to integrate biometrics into the payments ecosystem as part of the nation’s Aadhaar initiative.  Over the course of his career Mr. Kumnick was also a key contributor to the design and implementation of many of the industry’s key security functions including the EMV, PCI, PAR, tokenization, and encryption standards, and helped develop the MasterCard CVC and AVS standards early in his career while working to combat counterfeit fraud.  

Mr. Beck became CEO and Chairman of the Board in January 2017 and led the Company through a number of significant changes and milestones in its development in his nearly 4 years at the helm.  These include the rebranding of the Company to Ipsidy and bringing it into compliance to enable its shares to be admitted to the OTCQB market as IDTY.  Mr. Beck’s vision and hiring of the core team enabled the development of the IDaaS Platform and the building of the Company’s suite of industry leading identity products, which we are now rolling out to customers.

“We thank Philip for his tireless efforts, leadership and strategic contributions that have positioned Ipsidy for future success,” said Phillip Kumnick, Ipsidy’s CEO and Chairman. “Philip built a strong management team and advanced the Company’s technology and product development.  When Philip first approached me to join the Board,  I was excited to do so as I saw the Company’s tremendous potential for delivering innovative identity solutions, which are so desperately needed in today’s digital world,” added Kumnick.  “I thank the Board for the trust they have placed in me to lead the Company as his successor.  We wish Philip well in all his future endeavors.”