The International Factoring Association announced Jeffrey Ma will be the keynote speaker at its 20th Annual Factoring Conference to be held on April 9-12, 2014 at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.

As a member of the infamous MIT Blackjack Team, Ma created a method for counting cards —? using talent, creativity, math and teamwork to win millions in Las Vegas. Ma was the inspiration for the best-selling book Bringing Down the House and the hit movie, 21. He has since helped start four different companies including GolfSpan.com (sold to Demand Media), CircleLending (sold to Virgin) and Citizen Sports (sold to Yahoo). He has also become a sought-after speaker.

Ma talks about teamwork and innovative metrics in a way that will make you reevaluate how you assess talent, find undervalued assets and measure the true worth of your business.

Beyond his work in the start-up world, Ma has worked as a consultant to the San Francisco 49ers, the Portland Trail Blazers and a major apparel brand, helping them make better decisions using data analytics. His most recent book, The House Advantage: Playing the Odds to Win Big in Business was a business bestseller and draws on his unique experiences at the table and in the sports world, creating a truly accessible work about business analytics. At the blackjack table and in the world of pro sports, Ma entered very emotional “gut-feel” environments and achieved success by not only gathering the right data and analyzing it rationally, but also by having the courage to follow through on the sometimes
counterintuitive answers it provided. With stories drawn from sports and from Vegas, he will help listeners better visualize how a more rigorous approach to numbers will improve results in everything from sales to
HR to strategy.

Most recently, Ma founded a new company called tenXer. His vision is to revolutionize human capital management by using measurable metrics to power improved motivation systems.

This year’s conference will feature more than 60 speakers who will present valuable information and viewpoints, ranging from resolving problem situations to cross-border factoring. It is the largest global
conference dedicated to the banks and finance companies that offer factoring and receivables financing.

With over 750 attendees and more than 45 exhibitors expected, the 2014 Factoring Conference is expected to top last year’s attendance.