WAKEFIELD, MA - The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) announced earlier this week the appointment of Jeremy King as European director for the PCI SSC, a move designed to increase the council's European presence and support cardholder data security across a broader landscape.

Based in the United Kingdom, King will focus his efforts in three areas:

• Raising awareness of PCI standards.
• Generating European participation in the SSC and its development of the standards.
• Engaging Europeans to understand their unique challenges and how the Council can best help secure payment card data.

"The European region is critical to the global adoption of the standards and the security of cardholder data," King said. "Europe has a variety of valuable and diverse experiences in payment card security. I??m thrilled to be joining the PCI team as EU Director, and look forward to working with the payments community here in Europe and alongside our global counterparts in our common goal to secure payment account data around the world."

King will gather feedback from the merchant and vendor community in Europe, pursue educational efforts and drive Council membership through his involvement in local and regional events and conferences.

"We are very excited to bring aboard someone with the level of knowledge and understanding of payment security and the European market that Jeremy has," said Bob Russo, general manager, PCI Security Standards Council. "I??m confident that his presence in this key region, combined with his experience and dedication, will only serve to strengthen our efforts in engaging more European stakeholders in support of payment security and the PCI Security Standards."