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). 
 

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