The Most Influential Women in Payments, 2021

By Daniel Wolfe, Kate Fitzgerald, John Adams, David Heun, Michael Moeser

March 15, 2021 5:01 AM

The payments industry is no stranger to disruption, which is why it was so well equipped to handle the economic and health crises of 2020.

Each payment company had a role to play — whether it was reaching underserved audiences, distributing stimulus payments or increasing digital access to accounts — and none of these tasks would have succeeded without strong leadership.

This year's Most Influential Women in Payments honorees demonstrate how a diverse background and a unique perspective can prove crucial in difficult times. Their leadership philosophies will also come into play as the payments industry moves into a hybrid workforce and advances on cultural issues worldwide.

The honorees are presented below in alphabetical order. Please click the link below each picture to read their full profiles.

These stories were written by Kate Fitzgerald, John Adams, David Heun and Michael Moeser.

Diana Avila, head of banking and expansion, Wise

Diana Avila, Wise

Avila made sure her educational and professional journey would steer her back to helping her home country of Colombia. Her role at Wise (formerly TransferWise) lets her accomplish that mission.

Click here to read her full profile.

Kelly Beatty, executive vice president, head of commercial and data solutions, FIS

Kelly Beatty, FIS

Beatty is a change agent that has led two major integrations of multi-billion dollar organizations and draws on her personal experiences to lead others to accomplish common goals.

Click here to read her full profile.

Marcy Campbell, vice president of digital in-store commerce and global professional services, PayPal

Marcy Campbell, PayPal

Campbell has worked for small to large organizations and is passionate about mentoring others to help them succeed in their careers as the pandemic opens new avenues to connect with senior leaders.

Click here to read her full profile.

Kristy Carstensen, Senior Vice President and CFO, Payments Group, U.S. Bank

Kristy Carstensen, senior vice president, and payments CFO at U.S. Bank

Kristy Carstensen, U.S. Bank

She could have been called "Doctor Kristy" at some point, but Carstensen followed a gut feeling that the medical profession wasn't truly for her — and she could have a bigger impact on financial and payments services in the banking industry.

Click here to read her full profile.

Hannah Fitzsimons, president and general manager of Elavon Merchant Service, Europe

Hannah Fitzsimons, Elavon Merchant Services Europe

Fitzsimons became the president and general manager of Elavon Merchant Services through a couple of key leadership traits: She was always prepared to accept more responsibility during her 15 years at Elavon, and was relentless in gaining support and collaboration from others.

Click here to read her full profile.

Cecilia Frew, Senior Vice President, Head of North America Push Payments, Visa

Cecilia Frew, senior vice president for Visa Direct, Visa

Cecilia Frew, Visa

Frew solves for consumer and small business cash flow needs by relying on her team, leadership skills and experience as a former small business owner.

Click here to read her full profile.

Debbie Gamble, chief officer of Innovation Labs and New Ventures, Interac

Debbie Gamble, Interac

Identity management is key to driving financial innovation, and Interac is part of the effort to streamline authentication across Canada, according to Gamble.

Click here to read her full profile.

Jasma Ghai, Vice President, Global Products, Discover Financial Services

Jasma Ghai, vice president of global payments product and delivery, Discover Financial Services

Jasma Ghai, Discover Financial Services

Bringing a philosophy of diversity to life at work, Ghai expands opportunities for people within Discover — and in her home country of India.

Click here to read her full profile.

Pam Codispoti Habner, head of U.S. branded cards and lending, Citigroup

Pam Codispoti Habner, Citigroup

The expansion of the True Name card program is an important step in the fight for equality for transgender people, according to Habner.

Click here to read her full profile.

Kara Kazazean, senior director of payment service, Walmart

Kara Kazazean, Walmart

Remote work has not created isolation, but in fact has brought digital connections to bring people closer together, according to Kazazean.

Click here to read her full profile

Martina King, CEO, Featurespace

Martina King, Featurespace

An interesting career journey through print and broadcast media brought King to the role at Featurespace she calls 'the best of all.'

Click here to read her full profile.

Carey O'Connor Kolaja, CEO, AU10TIX

Carey O'Connor Kolaja, AU10TIX

E-commerce has been the story of the pandemic's digital response, but security risk has also jumped, according to Kolaja.

Click here to read her full profile.

Jane Larimer, president and CEO, Nacha

Jane Larimer, Nacha

The pandemic exposed the fact that too many payments are still traveling by paper checks, according to Larimer.

Click here to read her full profile.

Keren Levy, chief operating officer and general manager of merchant services, Payoneer

Keren Levy, Payoneer

Levy began showing leadership skills at an early age — and she has demonstrated them at Payoneer for the past 11 years.

Click here to read her full profile.

Ellen Linardi, senior vice president and head of product, Clover Network

Ellen Linardi, Clover

Small businesses and restaurants using Clover’s tools rapidly needed new ways to accept payments online when the pandemic struck, according to Linardi.

Click here to read her full profile.

Vidya Mani, Vice president of engineering for RippleNet, Ripple

Vidya Mani, Ripple

Blockchain has revolutionized international payments, and there are many more use cases in the pipeline, according to Mani.

Click here to read her full profile.

Jennifer Philo, global vice president of U.S. digital commerce and loyalty, Blackhawk Network

Jennifer Philo, Blackhawk Network

Philo started out her career as an entrepreneur selling prepaid calling cards to customers with her two year old and two old month old children in tow.

Click here to read her full profile.

Paulette Rowe, CEO of integrated e-commerce solutions global division, Paysafe

Paulette Rowe, Paysafe

Rowe has had many successes and challenges in her journey to the CEO position of a division of Paysafe, where she can also help the company promote diversity.

Click here to read her full profile.

Liba Saiovici, managing director and head of product for global transaction services in Latin America, Bank of America

Liba Saiovici, Bank of America

Latin America is rapidly modernizing its payments systems, despite complex regulations from market to market, according to Saiovici.

Click here to read her full profile.

Raj Seshadri, Global President, Data and Services, Mastercard

Raj Seshadri, Mastercard

Digital technology grew quickly during the pandemic, but making it work for everyone will be the hard part, according to Seshadri.

Click here to read her full profile.

Melissa Smith, CEO and chairman, WEX

Melissa Smith, WEX

The pandemic put payments companies to the test, exposing resilience and pain points, according to Smith.

Click here to read her full profile.

Nicole Tackett, senior vice president of strategy and commercial card management, corporate payment and Treasury solutions, U.S. Bank

Nicole Tackett, U.S. Bank

Becoming a collegiate swimming champion and watching her parents operate a small business for years provided valuable experience for Tackett, who now holds an influential payments role at U.S. Bank.

Click here to read her full profile.

Sheree Thornsberry, executive vice president and head of payments, Meta Financial Group and MetaBank

Sheree Thornsberry, Meta Financial Group and MetaBank

MetaBank’s rollout of the nation’s first prepaid card-powered federal stimulus payments expanded Thornsberry's skill set.

Click here to read her full profile.

Melane Vala, chief commercial officer, Splitit

Melanie Vala, chief commercial officer, Splitit

Melanie Vala, Splitit

Vala recognizes how difficult it is to stay connected with her team. Almost half her company has been hired during the pandemic's work-at-home environment.

Click here to read her full profile.

Jeanniey Walden, chief innovation and marketing officer, DailyPay

Jeanniey Walden, DailyPay

Walden’s career path to becoming the chief innovation and marketing officer at a leading earned wage access firm didn’t start out normally, but her focus and determination landed her a role in the C-Suite.

Click here to read her full profile.

Michelle Ziolkowski, senior vice president and head of global payables in the treasury management product management group at Wells Fargo

Michelle Ziolkowski, Wells Fargo

Economic stimulus has been a savior for the economy, but it's taken cooperation and reliable payments technology to make that happen, according to Ziolkowski.

Click here to read her full profile.