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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1


CERTIFICATION OF PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER PURSUANT TO
SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

         I, Marco A. Emrich, the principal executive officer of SEDONA
Corporation, certify that:

         1. I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of SEDONA
Corporation;

         2. Based on my knowledge, this annual report does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary
in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which
such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
this annual report;

         3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this annual report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this annual report;

         4. The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and we have:

                  (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
         caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
         supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
         registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
         us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in
         which this annual report is being prepared;

                  (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
         controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
         about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
         of the end of the period covered by this report based upon such
         evaluation; and

                  (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
         internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
         registrants' most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected,
         or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
         control over financial reporting;


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         5. The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,
based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's
board of directors:

                  (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in
         the design or operation of internal controls over financial reporting
         which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's
         ability to record, process, summarize and report financial data and
         have identified for the registrant's auditors any material weaknesses
         in internal controls; and

                  (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
         management or other employees who have a significant role in the
         registrant's internal controls; and

         6. The registrant's other certifying officers and I have indicated in
this annual report whether or not there were significant changes in internal
controls or in other factors that could significantly affect internal controls
subsequent to the date of our most recent evaluation, including any corrective
actions with regard to significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.

Dated:  May 11, 2004                         /s/ MARCO A. EMRICH
                                             -------------------
                                             Marco A. Emrich
                                             President and Chief
                                             Executive Officer
                                             (Principal Executive Officer)