The Merchant Customer Exchange board of managers announced they have named Dekkers L. Davidson CEO of the company, according to a release.

Davidson, most recently managing director at Barclaycard U.S., has been a leader in the financial services and mobile industries for more than 25 years, the announcement said. At Barclaycard, he launched the first cloud-based mobile commerce wallet in the U.S. specifically designed to be merchant friendly, creating deals and partnerships with more than 50 retailers, along with card issuers, processors and technology partners, according to the announcement.

Davidson joins MCX at a time when the organization is rapidly progressing toward bringing its mobile payments solution to market. In recent weeks, the group has announced partnerships with Gemalto and FIS, and it has bolstered its roster of retail brands with the recent addition of Circle K, Phillips 66 and Southwest Airlines. MCX merchants now represent more than 20 of the National Retail Federation's Top 100 merchants. Collectively, the group's members operate nearly 90,000 stores and process more than $1 trillion in payments each year, the company said.

"The strength of the customer experience, the breadth of acceptance, and the quality and security of technology the MCX solution will offer provides MCX with a historic opportunity to improve the shopping and paying experience for customers," Davidson said in the announcement. "I'm excited and honored to have the opportunity to lead this initiative for such a prestigious group of merchants. Great things are ahead."

Previously, Davidson led management consultancy Oliver Wyman's U.S. mobile practice, and he managed investing activity in the mobile sector for Fidelity Ventures. Davidson also held CEO roles at c3, a multicarrier online mobile retailer of mobile devices and services, and Cetacean Networks, a data-networking startup backed by leading venture-capital firms Charles River and Prism Ventures. During the mid to late 1990s, he led Sprint PCS' startup mobile operation in the New England area, and was regional president of Rogers Cantel, helping drive the turnaround of Canada's largest mobile operator.

"It was imperative for MCX to select a CEO who has a strong passion for the customer, who understands the emerging mobile payments industry, and who also aligns with the key objectives of MCX. In Dekkers, we have found someone uniquely qualified for this role," the board said in the release.

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