Our leadership team

Edmond Eger III

Chief Executive Officer

Ed joined Rewards Network as chief executive officer and member of the board of directors in 2017, having previously served as chief executive officer of OANDA Corporation, a recognized global leader in forex trading, forex information and insights, and corporate solutions for cross-border payments. In his role at Rewards Network, Ed draws on his extensive experience in e-commerce, financial technology, leadership management, global branding, and risk management.

Ed previously worked at PayPal as senior vice president and general manager for the Americas. In this role, he was responsible for establishing PayPal as the preferred online payment method for consumers and merchants for PayPal’s largest business unit, which covered North and South America. Ed’s prior experiences include business management positions within Citigroup, Standard Chartered Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, and McKinsey & Company.

A native of San Francisco, Ed is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Claremont McKenna College, where he graduated magna cum laude in economics and mathematics. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the board of Manhattan Associates, a provider of market leading technologies for supply chain and omni-channel commerce; he served on the board of Digital River, an e-commerce platform provider, until it was sold in 2015. He has been active on several nonprofit boards, including City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley.

Steve Fusco

President

Steve joined Rewards Network as President in 2018, overseeing the Sales and Partnerships functions and serving in a general leadership position in support of the CEO, Senior Leadership Team and organization at large.

As a growth leader, Steve brings a strong background and deep experience in the fields of e-commerce, finance, banking, and technology, translating into the successful businesses he built at PayPal and before that, Citigroup. At PayPal, Steve served in a number of roles of increasing responsibility. Most recently, Steve served as Vice President and General Manager of Global Distribution in which he led a global team responsible for partnership with technology platforms and marketplaces. Prior to PayPal, Steve served in a variety of executive roles at Citigroup, in both the Credit Card and Retail Banking businesses.

A native of New York and graduate of Duke University and UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, Steve spent his early career in the Marine Corps and remains active in veteran’s causes. In 2014, he was recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of Silicon Valley’s “40 under 40.”

Steve currently resides in Northern California with his wife and three children.

Liz Czaja

Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and New Ventures

Liz Czaja is vice president, chief strategy officer, responsible for aligning Rewards Network’s corporate strategy with business objectives, leading priority initiatives, and enhancing overall communication efforts.

Liz comes to Rewards Network with over 20 years of experience working in the technology sector at companies of all sizes as well as in private equity and consulting. She has deep and long-running experience in two-sided B2B networks as well as in enterprise software at industry leaders such as PeopleSoft, Ariba, and PayPal. The majority of her career has been spent in leadership roles across strategy and corporate development where she has excelled at solving complex cross-functional business challenges.

A California native, Liz graduated magna cum laude from U.C. Davis with a Bachelor of Science in managerial economics and a minor in French. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She has held many roles within the local school communities and was on the board of a regenerative local farm. Liz recently relocated to Denver with her husband and two boys.

Dave Janek

Chief Financial Officer

Dave Janek is the chief financial officer of Rewards Network, responsible for all finance, accounting, planning, and analysis, as well as managing risk and overseeing the company’s merchant cash advance portfolio.

Dave brings 35 years of professional experience in accounting, finance, and general management to the Rewards Network team. Following his start in public accounting at Deloitte, Dave led many finance and accounting organizations at companies like Woodhead Industries, Broadwind Energy, and Federal Signal. He has also served as president of several businesses, driving growth and operating improvements. Dave was most recently CFO of VaaS International Holdings, where he facilitated a successful sale of the company to a strategic buyer.

Dave is a certified public accountant, has a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Illinois, and earned his MBA from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Jeanne Steinback

Chief Technology Officer

Jeanne Steinback is chief technology officer at Rewards Network and was instrumental in converting the company’s software development process to Agile in 2014.

With 17 years of experience building and managing lean, highly efficient software development teams, Jeanne’s focus is on constant improvement and speed to market through process engineering and automation. During her six-year tenure at Redbox, Jeanne managed her development teams through the apex of Redbox’s very rapid growth and changes in ownership, and served on the senior leadership team. Prior to that, Jeanne worked at Nightingale-Conant Publishing for eight years.

Jeanne employs a collaborative, team-centric management style with an entrepreneurial mind set, forming new Agile teams and converting existing teams to more efficient methodologies including Continuous Delivery, Agile (Kanban, Scrum, XP), and Lean processes.

James Roedding

Chief Product & Marketing Officer

James Roedding is the Chief Product & Marketing Officer, responsible for innovating to improve the experience of Rewards Network’s restaurants and members while helping restaurants grow their business. Data is core to driving this success and is also part of James’ organization.

Prior to joining Rewards Network, James was chief operating officer and head of product for Gardenia Technologies, a B2B fintech company that uses machine learning to provide innovative trade finance and analytics solutions. Before Gardenia, James worked at McKinsey & Company.

James is a global thinker and citizen of the world, having lived in seven countries on four continents over the last six years. James has an MBA from INSEAD (Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires) and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Toccoa Falls College in Georgia.

Robert Kauffman

Head of Legal and Corporate Secretary

Robert Kauffman is head of legal and corporate secretary at Rewards Network, having served previously as the company’s assistant general counsel and interim director of information security. Since he joined Rewards Network in January 2019, Robert has been recognized as a cross-functional leader, trusted counsel, and culture change agent. Viewing himself as an essential partner to the various internal functional groups within the organization, he believes strongly that open communication with a legal advisor is an essential component to a successful venture: a legal department that is the “Department of NO” has fundamentally misunderstood its purpose within an organization.

A graduate of Tulane Law School and the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, Robert’s legal and business career prior to joining Rewards Network focused on counseling and supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses – from formation to acquisition and everything in between. A former lecturer and mentor for the Urban League of Rochester, NY, and various area incubators and development programs, Robert is excited to continue his focus on entrepreneurship and technology as an 1871 Chicago mentor and information privacy instructor. A D&I advocate who is passionate about creating an engaging corporate culture, Robert is the proud executive sponsor of the RN Pride Alliance.