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Lazaros Kalemis
Lazaros Kalemis posing in front of Alpha Card Services in March 2012
Lazaros Kalemis posing in front of Alpha Card Services in April 2012
Born(1972-11-15)November 15, 1972
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materLa Salle University
Occupation(s)Founder and CEO,Alpha Card Services
Years active2000 to present

Lazaros Kalemis is an American businessman and payments industry visionary. He is best known as the founder and chief executive officer of Alpha Card Services, a payment processing company based out of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. In May 2012, Lazaros was awarded the Philadelphia 40 under 40 award.[1] On July 11, 2012, the company announced that Kalemis was a finalist for the SmartCEO Circle of Excellence award under the Distinguished Leadership category [2].


Kalemis was one of five Philadelphia region CEO's inducted into the Philadelphia 100: 2011 CEO Hall of Fame. Additionally, Alpha Card Services as a company was inducted into the Philadelphia 100: 2011 Company Hall of Fame. Both honors were bestowed to the company due to the 5 consecutive years of Alpha Card Services being awarded the esteemed Philadelphia 100 ranking. The Philadelphia 100 award was created to honor and identify the fastest growing companies in the Philadelphia region every year since 2007.[3]

Early Years[edit]

Born in 1972, in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kalemis is the son of Greek immigrants who arrived in America in 1970. At an early age, Kalemis worked for the family business, a thriving pizzeria called New Boston Pizza of Philadelphia.

Kalemis started his first business, Kaleo Publications, at the age of 19 while pursuing a marketing degree from La Salle University. Kaleo Publications was a global business directory publisher. Kalemis sold Kaleo Publications to a partner in 1997 when he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at age 24. [4].

In 1997, Kalemis graduated from La Salle University with a degree in Marketing.

According to reports[5][6], the idea to form Alpha Card Services was born during during a layover Kalemis had at Rome's Fiumicino airport in 2000. Kalemis had read a Philadelphia Inquirer article about how the use of credit cards had grown by a yearly average of 15% since 1972, regardless of how the economy fared. Kalemis saw that growth as a new business opportunity and in October 2000 started Alpha Card Services with the help of a business partner.

Alpha Card Services[edit]

Under Kalemis, Alpha Card Services has become the 60th largest merchant acquirer in the United States [7] and the 143rd largest acquirer in the world[8] as ranked by the Nilson Report. Alpha Card Services provides merchant services and ancillary services, such as Payroll, Point-of-Sale Systems, Gift and Reward Cards, ATM Services and Merchant Cash Advance to over 15,000 U.S. locations and processes in excess of $2 billion in credit card volume annually.

Alpha Card Services was named one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States for five consecutive years (2007,[9] 2008,[10] 2009,[11], 2010, [12] 2011, [13]) by Inc. Magazine 500 I 5000 and was ranked by Philadelphia Business Journal’s Top 100 consecutively since 2007 [14] (2007,[15] 2008,[16] 2009,[17], 2010, [18] 2011, [19])

In addition to owning and operating Alpha Card Services, Kalemis controls Pinnacle Merchant Advance, Alpha POS Services and Alpha Payroll Services, divisions of Alpha Card Services. Pinnacle Merchant Advance focuses on merchant cash advances, Alpha POS Services provides point-of-sale (POS) systems to merchants in the hospitality, retail, salon and supermarket industries, and Alpha Payroll Services provides payroll services to small and medium size businesses.

Philanthropy[edit]

Kalemis has formed a charitable initiative called Alpha Card Cares[20]. According to the company the purpose of the Alpha Card Cares initiative is "to mobilize the collective financial and organizational efforts of Alpha Card employees, management, customers and vendors, to support a variety of causes and organizations."

Lazaros and Alpha Card Cares have been involved in a number charity and volunteer events, including the Kids & Hope Foundation[21], Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure[22], Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bucks County[23], The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night Walk [24] and the Walk to Defeat ALS, Greater Philadelphia Chapter[25].

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Lazaros Kalemis - Philadelphia Business Journal". Bizjournals.com. 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  2. ^ http://www.alphacardservices.com/pressRelease/smartceo_071012.pdf
  3. ^ http://www.greensheet.com/newswire.php?newswire_id=24541
  4. ^ http://www.electran.org/trends/2011/Dec/TT%20Dec%202011.pdf
  5. ^ http://www.electran.org/trends/2011/Dec/TT%20Dec%202011.pdf
  6. ^ "Lazaros Kalemis: Alpha Card Services". M.O. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  7. ^ http://www.alphacardservices.com/send/990.pdf
  8. ^ http://www.alphacardservices.com/send/982.pdf
  9. ^ http://whartonsbdc.wharton.upenn.edu/philadelphia100/philadelphia100_2007.pdf
  10. ^ http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2008/200//
  11. ^ http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2009/400//
  12. ^ http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2010/1300//
  13. ^ http://www.inc.com/inc5000/profile/alpha-card-services
  14. ^ "Philadelphia 100". Philadelphia 100. 2012-06-15. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  15. ^ http://whartonsbdc.wharton.upenn.edu/philadelphia100/philadelphia100_2007.pdf
  16. ^ http://whartonsbdc.wharton.upenn.edu/philadelphia100/philadelphia100_2008.pdf
  17. ^ http://whartonsbdc.wharton.upenn.edu/philadelphia100/philadelphia100_2009.pdf
  18. ^ http://whartonsbdc.wharton.upenn.edu/philadelphia100/philadelphia100_2010.pdf
  19. ^ http://www.philadelphia100.com/
  20. ^ "Alpha Card Cares". Alpha Card Services. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  21. ^ "Kids-N-Hope Foundation". Kidsnhope.org. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  22. ^ "Susan G. Komen for the Cure". Ww5.komen.org. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  23. ^ "Welcome to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bucks County - Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bucks County". Bbbsbc.org. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  24. ^ "Light The Night Walk: Taking Steps to Cure Cancer". Lightthenight.org. Retrieved 2012-08-10.
  25. ^ "Event Central 2011 - Home". Kintera.org. Retrieved 2012-08-10.

External links[edit]

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