As President of TSG, Mike leads the day to day operations of the firm, including sales, marketing, operations, and strategy. In addition, he helms the company’s multiple product lines, including Consulting, Market Intelligence, and its analytics tools, AIM, and GEM.
Prior to being President, as Partner, Mike focused on product development. This included the creation of several industry-first products. In 2010, TSG built one of the foremost analytical tools in the payments industry called Acquiring Industry Metrics (AIM). AIM is now populated with $1 Trillion in financial data from nearly half of all card accepting merchants in the U.S. market. In 2016, Mike spearheaded TSG’s launch of its Gateway Enterprise Metrics (GEM) product, which measures the performance of credit and debit card transactions. The tool is now used by the companies that account for over 60% of all eCommerce transactions in the U.S.
Mike came to TSG in its founding year of 2006, along with his father Kurt, and Co-Founder Jamie Savant. Kurt and Jamie, along with the myriad of experienced payments professionals Mike has had the pleasure of working with over the years, have served and continue to serve as invaluable mentors to Mike on the ever-evolving payments ecosystem. Their guidance, along with the following quote have both played pivotal roles in his career: “what would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?”
In 2014, Mike was awarded the Electronic Transactions Association’s (ETA) Member of the Year; at 33 years old he was the youngest recipient in its history. In 2018, he was named to the global payment industry’s inaugural Forty Under 40 by the ETA. Mike attended DePaul University in Chicago and graduated With Distinction with a BS in Marketing & Management from Bellevue University. He graduated from Skutt Catholic High School in 2000, where he is now a member of its Board of Directors. Mike resides in Omaha with his wife Dr. Michelle (Meyer) Strawhecker and their small children Mila and Mikey.
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