Leaders In Payments

Adrian Sanders, the CEO of Chargehound is our special guest this week and this is episode 59 of the Leaders in Payments podcast.  Adrian was born and grew up on a small farm in Corvallis Oregon before going to Bennington College in Vermont. Prior to starting Chargehound he had started and was running a crowdfunding company. He currently resides in Oakland California with his wife and 2 young kids.  Chargehound is the only fully automated chargeback representment service available and they use technology to drive better win rates, and better performance for their merchants. Their pricing is based on pay for performance meaning they take a percentage of what they win back which helps them align with their merchants.  Adrian has some great insights about how behavioral changes of consumers will affect the future of payments and he also provides some sound advice for those just starting out in payments.  

This episode is part of our special series on The Digital Payments Tipping Point. In this three-part series I'm talking with executives from WEX’s Corporate Payments division who partnered with the research team at The Economist over the summer of 2020 to look into the state of business-to-business payments in financial services, fintechs,  and technology companies. The research found that companies that have grown most robustly during the pandemic are almost all accelerating their evolution away from slow, manual, paper-based payments into secure, data-rich, real-time digital payments.This 3-part series digs into the issues surrounding this rapid evolution in digital payments. Our first episode featured Greg Sassone, SVP of Business & Partner Growth at WEX Corporate Payments, and focused on whether banks should build, buy or partner when it comes to adopting new technology or innovation. This episode will focus on the interchange realities that the payments industry needs to face. To wrap the series, we’ll talk with WEX Corporate Payments President Jay Dearborn about the shape of payments to come. My special guests on this episode are Dylan Jones and Laura Shen. Dylan Jones is the Vice president of operations for the Corporate Payments Solutions division at WEX and Laura Shen is the Director of Strategy for WEX Corporate Payments.   WEX is a B2B Payments Technology Company. Their Corporate Payments division focuses on innovating digital payments solutions for financial institutions and fintechs as well as large corporations that need to modernize their AP processes. 

This episode is part of our special series focused on Diversity and Inclusion. In this series I will be talking with leaders in the payments industry (and maybe some experts from outside of the industry) about diversity and inclusion. It has been proven that a diverse workforce and diverse management team leads to increased creativity, better decision making, reduced employee turnover and increased profit – as well as many other benefits that we will be talking about. This special series is brought to you by the Wnet and Paysafe.The Wnet or The Women's Network in Electronic Transactions is celebrating 15 years of helping women achieve greater personal success, influence, and professional parity in the payments industry. Wnet is a not-for-profit organization with a mission of creating a stronger and more diverse industry by empowering and investing in women. Learn how at wnetonline.org.Paysafe is a leading, global specialized payment provider. They’ve been driving innovation in and around payments for over 20 years all over the globe for both businesses and consumers. Paysafe believes Diversity and Inclusion is not just a checkbox, but rather a journey in which they are fully committed to being on around the world. Learn more at www.paysafe.com. I’m honored to be joined on the seventh episode by Nasiya Acklen the DE&I Manager at Discover. Nasiya Acklen is a native of Nashville, TN. She received her undergraduate degree from Hampton University and began her career with General Mills in the Consumer Food Sales division. After receiving her MBA from Cornell University in 2015, she transitioned into Human Resources at ExxonMobil. Eventually she became the first to serve as the company’s Inclusion & Diversity Advisor focused on creating a more coordinated global strategy for the 3rd largest Fortune 500 company. Since that time, she has joined Discover Financial Services as Diversity Equity & Inclusion Manager. She is hailed as a strategic and courageous leader that is passionate about helping others internalize the value of giving a seat and a voice to all those at the table. In addition to her daily responsibilities, Nasiya is a highly regarded speaker, holds training workshops, offers DEI consultation services, and has launched an Executive Coaching practice. Nasiya is proud to have been inducted into the Hampton University 40 Under 40 Society in 2019. In addition, she serves as the MLT Alumni Council lead for the Houston area and is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.As a self-professed foodie, good dancer, and lifestyle blogger, Nasiya has adopted Maya Angelou's quote as a personal mantra: My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Adrian Talapan, CEO of Fee Navigator is our special guest this week. This is episode 56 of the Leaders in Payments podcast and I’m your host Greg Myers Adrian was born and grew up in Romania. He came the U.S. through an opportunity to go to West Point. He has started multiple companies in the healthcare space before launching Fee Navigator.  Fee Navigator takes a merchant statement whether scanned or a PDF and produces in about 10 second a custom proposal. Fee Navigator doesn’t process transactions, so they are neutral and focus on ISOs, acquirers, banks, ISVs and more. They also offer a widget that can be added to a website to collect statements from prospects with minimal human interaction – thus a lead generator. Adrian has some great insights into the future of payments and provides some sage advice about adopting change.  

This episode is part of our special series focused on Diversity and Inclusion. In this series I will be talking with leaders in the payments industry (and maybe some experts from outside of the industry) about diversity and inclusion. It has been proven that a diverse workforce and diverse management team leads to increased creativity, better decision making, reduced employee turnover and increased profit – as well as many other benefits that we will be talking about. This special series is brought to you by the Wnet and Paysafe.Start the new year with new research from the McKinsey Women in the Workplace Report. This comprehensive D&I study examines how the payments industry compares to other industries, and provides information you need to advance women and improve gender diversity within your organizations. Register for this much-anticipated Jan. 26 webinar now at wnetonline.org.Paysafe is a leading, global specialized payment provider. They’ve been driving innovation in and around payments for over 20 years all over the globe for both businesses and consumers. Paysafe believes Diversity and Inclusion is not just a checkbox, but rather a journey in which they are fully committed to being on around the world. Learn more at www.paysafe.com. I’m honored to be joined on the sixth episode by Wendy Sherrock.Wendy's passion is founded on removing barriers and igniting new ways of thinking.  She started her performance improvement / change management career as a Six Sigma Black Belt at GE and has worked in multiple industries over the past 20+ years.  Today Wendy leads the Operational Effectiveness team at Finastra and works across the organization to unlock people capabilities, optimize processes, and leverage systems to enable a world class customer, and employee experience.   Finastra is a Fintech company that provides the broadest portfolio of financial services software in the world today—spanning retail banking, transaction banking, lending, and treasury and capital markets. 

That was Meidad Sharon, CEO of ChargeAfter and he is our special guest this week. This is episode 54 of the Leaders in Payments podcast and I’m your host Greg Myers Meidad was born and grew up in Israel. He spent half of his time in Isreal and half in the U.S. and recently decided to make the U.S. his permanent home. He started his career in management consulting and then to the mobile industry and then to payments 10 years ago. ChargeAfter is the market leading point of sale financing or buy now pay later platform enabling consumer to have the choice of which solution is best for them. They serve markets with high average order value such as furniture electronics, luxury goods, and travel. They collect four data points from the consumer, and then match the consumer profile with the most relevant buy now pay later solution and only display or offer up those where the consumer will be approved. ChargeAfter has an approval rate of 85% which is higher than most single lenders which typically have a 30-40% approval rate.They help the merchants because the merchant can integrate to one solution not multiple lenders – which gives the merchant’s customers a simple customer experience.  This is a great episode about point-of-sale financing or buy now pay later which is a growing segment of our industry. www.chargeafter.com www.leadersinpayments.com

I’m honored to be joined on this fifth episode of our special series about diversity and inclusion by Joe Carella. In fact, this is actually part two of my interview with Joe. If you missed the first part just visit leadersinpayments.com or any of your favorite podcast apps and search for episode 50. Joe Carella is a Professor of Global Strategy and the Assistant Dean for Executive Education at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He has over 20 years of experience in helping executives and corporations in talent development, inclusive workplaces, managing change, strategy formulation and execution. His academic and research engagements have seen him focus on strategic decision making, corporate strategy, talent development and business performance with a variety of corporate clients including Hershey's, Chevron, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Intel, BBVA and Microsoft. He is also responsible for designing, developing and delivering successful executive education programs for global corporations. Joe has also been a contributor to Money 2020, a keynote speaker on the state of the industry at the annual congress of the Forum of European Technology Professionals, the Society for the Plastics Industry, the Association for Talent Development and Disrupt HR. Joe has been a contributor to the Harvard Business Review focusing on the challenges of leadership.Joe’s specialties include organizational change, talent development, diversity, business strategy, innovation, business intelligence, facilitation, coaching, leadership development, executive education and global business.

This episode is part of our special series on The Digital Payments Tipping Point. In this three part series I will talking with executives from WEX who in the summer of 2020, partnered with the research team at The Economist to look into the state of business-to-business payments in financial services, financial technology companies or fintechs and technology companies. The study found that companies that have grown during the pandemic are almost all accelerating their evolution away from slow, manual, paper-based payments into secure, data-rich, real-time digital payments.This 3-part series digs into the issues surrounding this rapid evolution in digital payments including building, partnering or both, interchange realities, and the shape of payments to come. Our first episode features our special guest Greg Sassone the SVP of Business and Partner Growth at WEX. He’s been in payments and financial services for 20 years.  WEX is a B2B Payments Technology Company. Their Corporate Payments division focuses on innovating digital payments solutions for financial institutions and fintechs as well as large corporations that need to modernize their AP processes.   

This is episode 51 of the Leaders in Payments podcast and our special guest this week is Tom Lineen, CEO of West Town Payments. Tom was born in Brooklyn NY, grew up in New Jersey  and attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh He has lived in multiple cities including LA, Charlotte, Tampa, New York City, and now to Park Cities Utah. Tom is the CEO West Town Payments which is a joint venture with West Town Bank and Trust. The bank has its roots in agriculture and as there’s a shift from tobacco to hemp the bank is there to help these merchant. So naturally hemp and CBD businesses are big opportunities for the bank from a deposit and treasury services perspective.  West Town Payments now allows the bank to also offer merchant services to these hemp and CBD businesses as well as others in the bank’s portfolio. The bank takes a compliance-first approach to board these merchants and Tom explains some of the unique compliance factors in this space. This is a growing and interesting industry and is expected to reach $26.6B by 2025. 

This is episode 50 of the Leaders in Payments podcast and this is the fourth episode in our special series focused on Diversity and Inclusion. In this series I will be talking with leaders in the payments industry (and maybe some experts from outside of the industry) about diversity and inclusion. It has been proven that a diverse workforce and diverse management team leads to increased creativity, better decision making, reduced employee turnover and increased profit – as well as many other benefits that we will be talking about. This special series is brought to you by the Wnet and Paysafe.The Wnet or The Women's Network in Electronic Transactions is celebrating 15 years of helping women achieve greater personal success, influence, and professional parity in the payments industry. Wnet is a not-for-profit organization with a mission of creating a stronger and more diverse industry by empowering and investing in women. Learn how at www.wnetonline.org.Paysafe is a leading, global specialized payment provider. They’ve been driving innovation in and around payments for over 20 years all over the globe for both businesses and consumers. Paysafe believes Diversity and Inclusion is not just a checkbox, but rather a journey in which they are fully committed to being on around the world. Learn more at www.paysafe.com. I’m honored to be joined on this fourth episode of our special series about diversity and inclusion by Joe Carella. In fact, my interview with Joe was so full of incredibly useful information that we decided to break it into to two episodes, so this is the first of two with Joe Carella. Joe Carella is a Professor of Global Strategy and the Assistant Dean for Executive Education at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. He has over 20 years of experience in helping executives and corporations in talent development, inclusive workplaces, managing change, strategy formulation and execution. His academic and research engagements have seen him focus on strategic decision making, corporate strategy, talent development and business performance with a variety of corporate clients including Hershey's, Chevron, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Intel, BBVA and Microsoft. He is also responsible for designing, developing and delivering successful executive education programs for global corporations. Link to research mentioned in this podcast:  www.executive.eller.arizona.edu Joe’s email: carella@arizona.eduwww.leadersinpayments.com