Leadership Team

Jacob Katsman has co-founded GTC in 2002 with Nick Pachnev and currently serves as Chairman of the Board. Jacob is also the co-founder of the Trade Services Update journal, www.tradeservicesupdate.com, covering practical aspects of payment instruments in international trade. Prior to GTC, Jacob was the Director of Finance at Midland Metals, and managed trading companies in Asia, Canada, and Europe with B&B Trading International Corp. Jacob is a recognized expert on international trade, and his book, How to Make Money Without Money: The Art of Transferable Letters of Credit and Assignments of Proceeds is regarded as a standard guide to the practical use of letters of credit in trade finance.

Nick Pachnev co-founded GTC with Jacob Katsman and currently serves as its interim Chief Executive Officer.  Nick is responsible for operations, support, long-term corporate expansion and roll-out of new products and services. Nick is also the co-founder of the Trade Services Update journal, www.tradeservicesupdate.com, covering practical aspects of payment instruments in international trade. Nick studied Robotics Engineering at the Moscow Technical University and has a Business Administration degree from York University in Toronto.

Victoria Luchian has been with GTC since 2007 and currently serves as its Senior VP, Development. Victoria is responsible for application development and drives the full stack platform development/operations. She works closely with internal and external resources to ensure successful customer deployment. Prior to GTC, Victoria worked for Pentalog IT Service Provider with international teams in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Alexei Vlassov has been with GTC since 2008 and currently serves as its VP Software Development. Alexei is responsible for the development and application of the technology solutions of GTC products and drives diverse customer project implementations from inception to successful deployment. Alexei holds an Honours Bachelor Degree in Computer Science from York University.

David Jack has been with GTC since 2002 and currently serves as VP, Infrastructure & Information Security. David is responsible for the design, management, and support of the company’s IT Infrastructure and Information Security. David previously served as Vice President of CCEWeb Corp., where he also ran the e-commerce business of the L/C Monitor (www.tradeservicesupdate.com) and International Trade & Banking Institute. David holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Brock University in Ontario, Canada.

Arbab Khan has been with GTC since 2005 and currently serves as Head of Quality Assurance. Arbab is responsible for quality assurance of @GlobalTrade products and services. Prior to GTC, he was a Business Analyst with Financial Network Services Sydney Australia (currently TATA Consultancy Services). He also occupied key IT positions with Standard Chartered Bank and Australia New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Arbab holds Master Degree in Computer Sciences.

Stephen Andersen has been with GTC since 2008 and currently serves as Director of Professional Services. Stephen is responsible for the Professional Services and Client Support departments within the company. The Professional services department has offices in North America, Europe and Asia and is responsible for new client implementations and overall product management. Stephen has experience in both software development and Trade Finance in his past. He holds a Computer Science degree from University of Toronto and has worked for various software companies. Stephen worked for RBC in the Trade Finance department prior to joining GTC.

Angus Wong has been with GTC since 2017 and currently serves as Managing Director, China. Angus is responsible for business development, sales and client support in the China region. He has been a Certified Documentary Credit Specialist since 2002, and previously served as the Head of Documentary Credits in Midland Resources Holding Ltd., and the Deputy General Manager and Director of Midland Resources (China) Ltd., Shanghai. Angus holds a bachelor degree in Business Management and Finance with honours from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Olga Schwarzkopf has been with GTC since 2010 and currently serves as Head of Business Development. Olga currently leads the Sales and Marketing teams, in addition to building and maintaining global partnerships. Prior to joining GTC, Olga was working as a Project Manager for Senior Expert Service in Bonn, Germany. Olga earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from University of Hagen (Germany) and an IT Support Diploma from Deutsche Angestellten Academy in Siegburg, Germany.

Cyril Verbrugghe has been with GTC since 2017 and currently serves as Head of Sales & Client Support, EMEA. He previously worked as a Senior Consultant at Aneo and MC2I, and managed projects at Safran, BPCE International, AXA, Aviva Assurances and BNP Paribas Security Services, Banque De France, Caisse des Dépots et des Consignations. He obtained his MBA (with honours) from Paris Dauphine University. Prior to this, he obtained two bachelor’s degrees consecutively from Montpellier Business School, France (with honours) and La Trobe University, Australia.