About Us

John James McDonnell Jr., the son of Irish immigrants, was born in Mineola, N.Y., on Oct. 31, 1937, and grew up in Queens. He studied electrical engineering, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1959 from Manhattan College and a master’s degree in 1961 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

After two years of Air Force service — during which he trained as a pilot and designed satellite systems for the National Security Agency — he started a company selling technology peripherals and ran an executive airline service.

In 1976, he was named director of technology and telecommunications for the National Commission on Electronic Fund Transfers, a now-defunct federal body to keep Congress up to speed on developments in the industry.

He then spent seven years as a vice president of BT Tymnet, a public data network that he helped lead into financial services, and later became head of communications for the Electronic Industries Association, making him a leading lobbyist for the telecom-hardware industry.

Citicorp tapped him in 1987 to oversee its Digital Radio Network project that used a form of radio transmission for credit card verification. He told American Banker that it was successful on a technology level but “a marketing disaster. The banks just weren’t ready to embrace radio.”

In the following year, he started TNS, capitalizing on newer, high-speed technologies used by phone companies.  By 1990 TNS grew to include banks, Wall Street firms and telephone companies.

Not long after, his son Kevin began working in the bankcard industry.  Kevin, an avid golfer like his father, took his expertise to the world of golf.  Working together for Club Prophet for some years, Kevin and his eldest son Jackson, who had recently graduated from Auburn University, created Claymore Payments Consulting.

Founded as a father-son duo with a combined 30 years of experience in the business, Claymore Payments seeks to act as a shepherd to merchants in the world of bank card processing. Founded with the simple vision that the ability to accept bank cards should not be another hurdle for the merchant.  The name “Claymore” comes from the ancient Scottish broadsword, paying homage to our Celtic origins and the late great John James McDonnell Jr, known to his family as “PopPop”.