VeriFone CEO values UB's 'training of mind'

Once we've created a market," explains Hatim Tyabji, M.S. '69, president, chairman and chief executive officer of VeriFone, Inc., "we do everything we can to dominate that market."

Tyabji's company, based in California's Bay Area, certainly does dominate its markets. Its main business is something everyone is familiar with-credit cards. Whenever your plastic is swiped, be it at a restaurant, shopping mall or gas station, VeriFone is probably responsible for the worldwide systems in place that verify your payment-a process called "transactions automation."

VeriFone has 75 percent of the market share in transactions automation solutions in the United States. Worldwide, it has a 65 percent market share. With offices in 30 countries, the company has more than 3,000 employees. "VeriFone solutions," says the 51-year-old Tyabji, "are used by every large financial institution in the world.

"We're the leader in the physical space, in the retail sector," he says. "But we're moving to be the leader of payment transactions in the virtual space as well." VeriFone recently inked a lucrative deal with Bill Gates' Microsoft for Internet commerce, allowing the software giant to use VeriFone technology in creating "virtual storefronts" on the Web.

"My master's in electrical engineering from UB grounded me in systems engineering," says Tyabji, who holds an M.B.A. in international finance from Syracuse University. "But more than that, you develop an ability to think logically and rationally. This training of the mind has stood me in very good stead over the years."