Elisa Tavilla

Director, Debit Payments

Elisa is the Director of Debit Advisory Services. She leads analysis and advises clients on innovation, strategy, and competitive insights related to global consumer debit payments. This includes real-time payments, person-to-person (P2P) solutions, loyalty rewards, pay by bank, digital commerce, mobile wallets, bill pay, earned wage access, ACH, and other pay now products. 

Prior to Javelin, Elisa held a variety of roles at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, most recently as a Senior Industry Readiness Specialist for the FedNow Service, preparing diverse payments ecosystem participants for the new instant payment system. She also contributed to the FedNow product strategy for the retail/merchant segment. Elisa also led research on global digital financial services, covering retail, ecommerce, transit, mobile and contactless payments, loyalty, consumer insights, and financial inclusion. Before joining the Boston Fed, Elisa held analyst roles with eMarketer, Mercator Advisory Group, and the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of International Affairs. Earlier, she was a Fulbright Teaching Scholar in Lyon, France.

Elisa earned a B.A. in political science and foreign language studies with honors from Adelphi University and a M.A. in international relations and economics from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. She is fluent in Thai and French, and proficient in Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin). 
 

Latest Insights

August, 2024
Impact Note
U.S. Real-time Payments: Full Speed Ahead After Year 1 of FedNow

One year after the introduction of the FedNow instant payment service, participation by financial institutions is soaring and transaction volumes and values are up across the faste...

June, 2024
Impact Note
Instant Card-Based Payments: Meeting Customer Needs Immediately and Everywhere

Consumers and businesses increasingly expect faster and real-time payment options. They prefer to use convenient, flexible, dependable, and secure payment methods that are availabl...

May, 2024
Javelin Report
Eco-Focused Payment Cards: It Pays to Be Green

As financial institutions and card issuers increasingly embrace sustainable practices with their card programs, they’re also finding a way to engage their customers with innovative...

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