PayTech Women Leadership Summit Day One | Episode 444

Recorded live from the PayTech Women Leadership Summit in Atlanta, we bring you a rapid, energizing tour of leadership lessons from executives, board members, and rising voices shaping the future of payments and fintech. A special thanks to our episode sponsor Global Payments. 

Across crisp conversations, a common theme emerges: community multiplies competence. You’ll hear how curiosity fuels influence, why relationships beat résumés, and how owning your personal banner outlasts any company logo.

Chrissy Wagner (FIS) opens with a hard truth many leaders overlook—self care is strategy. When your cup is full, you lead with clarity and generosity. Margaret Weichert draws on three decades across Bank of America, First Data, Accenture, EY, and The Clearing House to champion curiosity as a daily practice: learn the tech, the processes, and the business context so every presentation connects to customer value and shareholder outcomes. That framing travels across product, risk, and operations, especially as rails evolve and real-time becomes table stakes.

Relationship building gets tactical with Rebecca Walden (Corvia), who shares how to deepen ties beyond LinkedIn: Zoom coffees, thoughtful introductions, timely articles, and in-person meetups that convert weak ties into trusted allies. Executive coach Cynthia Knowles underscores investing in purpose and skills, noting that the summit creates rare neutral ground where fierce competitors become generous collaborators. Melissa Desjardins (Protiviti) offers a powerful structure—build a personal board of directors who challenge your assumptions and push you to take bold steps, then return the favor for others.

From the talent pipeline, Laura Gibson Lamothe (Georgia FinTech Academy) shows how belonging accelerates careers, especially for those who haven’t always seen themselves reflected in leadership. Kathy Kmiotek urges leaders to own their personal banner—your story, your value proposition—through every career shift. And Naomi Donaldson (FISERV) connects the dots across industry change, from cash and checks to crypto, stablecoins, and agentic commerce, while navigating the realities of growth, family, and leadership on a shared stage with industry rivals.

If you care about payments innovation, career momentum, or simply leading with purpose in a competitive market, this conversation delivers practical, repeatable moves you can use today.