Ed Bachelder is the Director of Research at BlueFlame Consulting. Previously Ed was the Director of Research and Analytics at Dove Consulting where he contributed to more than 230 consumer and business research studies examining customer needs and market opportunities for commercial, financial and government clients. Ed has researched banking and payment topics ranging from ATM deployment economics to Check 21-based remote deposit capture, check cashing, ACH check conversion, check cashing, and transportation trends, consumer and business payment preferences, debit card growth, DDA account product design and distribution economics for EFT services, Lockbox Processing and Online Banking. Notably, Ed led the FDIC’s Survey of Banks’ Efforts to Serve the Unbanked and Underbanked. He led the 2001, 2004 and 2007 Electronic Payments Studies to measure the volume and value of electronic payments conducted in the United States on behalf of the Federal Reserve System. Ed led the Treasury Department’s landmark study on the growth and usage on Non-Bank Financial Institutions and has conducted two conjoint studies of unbanked individuals: most recently supporting the Southeast Michigan Study with Professor Barr and previously for the Treasury department to identify key attributes and delivery channels for the ETA program to facilitate electronic payments to unbanked federal check recipients. He has also assisted with Dove Consulting’s Bi-annual Consumer Payments Preference Study which has tracked the migration from paper to electronic payments in the United States over eight years. Ed has authored articles for AFP Exchange, American Banker, Bank Administration, Journal of Retail Banking, MSNBC, New York Times Training and Development, Today and the Treasury Department and has been quoted on payment issues by MSNBC and the New York Times. He has completed doctoral coursework at Boston University, has an MBA from Northeastern University with a concentration in Finance and Operations Research, and a BA in Economics from the University of Massachusetts.
Panelist Biography