Leaders In Payments

Steve Barha, the Founder and COO of Instant Financial is our special guest this week on episode 109 of the Leaders in Payments podcast. Steve is from British Columbia, Canada and got a double major in Molecular Biology and Computer Science. He’s a technology entrepreneur and has founded multiple companies.  Instant Financial is a pioneer in the no fee, no interest, earned wages access space. Instant allows employees to access their wages on-demand. They are headquartered in Atlanta and serve about 350 corporate clients and move about a $1B in Instant pay funds annually. This is a fascinating and growing space and Instant has a unique value prop – where they don’t charge the employees for access to their wages, and they don’t charge the employer.  Steve is passionate about financial wellness and literacy as well as helping fellow entrepreneurs with their journeys. 

Brian Shniderman, the CEO of Opy and the Chief Strategy Officer for OpenPay is our special guest on this quarter's Pulse of Payment edition.  The topic for this episode is one of the hottest trends in payments  - Buy Now Pay Later.  Not a day goes buy without an article being written or announcement being made in this space. From Square’s acquisition of AfterPay to Apple’s announcement that they are partnering with Goldman Sachs to offer a buy now pay later solution. OpenPay offers a unique buy now pay later solution in Australia and the UK and will be launching in the US in Q4.  Brian starts by providing a definition of buy now pay later (one that I think you will find interesting) and then we discuss the value to merchants and consumers.  We also talk about the US and global landscape, some of the trends in the space and why buy now pay later has exploded in the last 18 months. 

Neil Bergquist, the Co-Founder and CEO of Coinme is our special guest on this episode -episode 107 of the Leaders in Payments podcast. Neil is from Edmonds, Washington and got involved with a tech incubator after college and it was there he was introduced to bitcoin. Coinme is the largest licensed cash to crypto exchange in the US. It was started in 2014 with a bitcoin ATM. Today they operate 17,000 locations across the US in partnership with Coinstar and recently launched a partnership with MoneyGram.   We talked about the early days of Coinme and their mission of changing the message in the market to help people better understand digital currencies and remove some of the negative perceptions that are in the market today.  Neil provided his vision of the future of crypto and what drives him to get up and work hard every day. 

That was Oded Zehavi, the CEO and Co-Founder of Mesh Payments and he is our special guest this week on episode 106 of the Leaders in Payments podcast.Oded grew up in a small town outside of Tel Aviv Israel. He spent time at both PayPal and Payoneer before starting Mesh Payments. Mesh Payments helps SMBs and midmarket companies in the U.S. to manage and control their expenses. Their clients can fully automate their corporate payments without exposing themselves to the risks that exist today.  Mesh Payments has been in business for 3 years and has 30 employees. They have grown 600% over the last 8 months. Oded and I talked about what differentiates Mesh Payments as well as the future of b2b payments. Oded has a passion for football and for helping start-up companies scale and understand their payments infrastructure.  

As we come to the end of July, we’re also coming to the end of the Women Leaders in Payments month sponsored by American Express.  I’ve had 5 tremendous women leaders on the show, and they have provided some incredible advice and perspectives on women leadership in general and specifically related to payments. In this episode I’m going to pull together the best of the best related to advice from our 5 guests. The podcasts were more than just advice though – I talked to each one of them about their unique journey and their unique perspectives about leadership and payments.Each episode covers three themes. One, their personal and career journeys – so from childhood to high school to college to their first job as well as their payments career progression. The second theme was a quick session where I asked 10 rapid fire questions like “what was your least favorite subject in high school or what is the most used app on your phone.”  The third theme was really about them providing career guidance and advice and we’re going to focus on that in this episode. Some of my personal favorite quotes and I might be paraphrasing a little but they were: “I’m not a man in a skirt” “Be unapologetic” “Be fearless and challenge yourself” and “Focus on action over perfection.”

Vivian Greentree, SVP and Head of Global Corporate Citizenship at Fiserv is our special guest on this the 104th episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast – This is also the 5th episode this month as we’re celebrating Women Leaders in Payments month sponsored by American Express. Vivian grew up in Tucker, Georgia and after high school attended the University of Georgia and then joined the Navy where she was a Naval Supply Officer. In 2009, she co-founded Blue Star Families which is the nation’s largest military family organization with 65,000 members. She joined First Data in 2014 as the Head of Military and Veteran Affairs and today is the Head of Global Corporate Citizenship at Fiserv where she manages all efforts around associate and community engagement, strategic philanthropy and diversity and inclusion.   Vivian and I talk about always being vulnerable, willing to learn and getting comfortable being uncomfortable. The underlying theme of Vivian’s advice is “resiliency” or as we like to say in the south – grit.  

Talbott Roche the CEO and President of Blackhawk Network, is our special guest on this the 103rd episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast as we continue to celebrate Women Leaders in Payments month sponsored by American Express. Talbott grew up in Richmond, Virginia and attended an all-girls school from kindergarten through high school. She majored in economics at Stanford and was the first person to go to college west of the Mississippi from her high school. She co-founded Blackhawk Network which was at the time a subsidiary within Safeway. During a holiday season 20 years ago, they put 7 gift cards in the northern California division of Safeway stores and did about $9 million dollars in sales. Fast forward to now, and Blackhawk Network will do $26B this year in total load value across 28 countries. What a remarkable success story. Her guiding principles are simple; commit, create and connect.  Talbott has some very impactful phrases that she used during our interview such as “focus on action over perfection,” “turn a crisis into an opportunity,” and “know your own worth and ask for the opportunity.”

Sam Ettus, the Founder and CEO of Park Place Payments is our special guest on this the 102nd episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast. She is our third guest in the Women Leaders in Payments month sponsored by American Express. Sam grew up in New York City and played competitive tennis from childhood through college. She went to Harvard College and then on to Harvard Business School. Sam has devoted her career to advocating and supporting woman, in fact this is what led to her founding Park Place Payments. Her unique sales force is comprised of women with no payments background who are trained on how to sell payments to their doctors, dentists and other small businesses in their local area.Sam co-hosts her own podcast, has written 5 books, is a renowned speaker and makes regular appearances on TV. Given her extensive background and experience helping women succeed she provides some powerful and insightful leadership advice for all women in payments. 

Suneera Madhani, the Founder and CEO of Stax (formerly Fattmerchant) is our special guest on this the 101st episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast. She is the second guest in the Women Leaders in Payments month sponsored by American Express. Suneera was raised by immigrant parents who were also entrepreneurs. Much of her personal and professional inspiration comes from her parents. She attended the University of Florida and after a short stint at a consumer-packaged goods company she started her career in payments. In 2014 she founded FattMerchant with her brother. They have recently rebranded to Stax and raised over $100 million. They process payments for over 25,000 merchants and are based on Orlando, Florida. Suneera has some great advice for women in payments including being bold, taking a risk, & being authentic and your true self.  

Kathleen Fiorello, the Head of US Partner Acquisition and Global Capabilities at American Express is our special guest on this the 100th episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast. I’m honored to have her on this show as we kick off Women Leaders in Payments month sponsored by American Express. Kathleen grew up in Wayne New Jersey, where she had a paper route as a kid, after high school she attended Florida State University and has had a long successful career at American Express spanning 25 years.  From playing golf on the boy’s team in high school (because they didn’t have a girl’s team back then) to moving the Stockholm Sweden to run the Nordics market where she learned several powerful lessons to attributing much of her success to hard work, Kathleen provides some dynamic messages about listening to your inner voice, taking risks, believing in yourself and being bold.