The Most Influential Women in Payments, 2024

By John Adams, Mary Ellen Egan, Kate Fitzgerald

February 27, 2024 6:45 AM

Most Influential Women in Payments 2024 title card

Artificial intelligence, hybrid offices, real-time payments and other factors are rapidly changing the nature of work in the payments industry. And this year's honorees for American Banker's Most Influential Women in Payments are up to the challenge.

Standing at the forefront of innovation, these women have taken a proactive approach to the technologies and trends reshaping their work life, while still emphasizing the importance of empathy and mentorship.

"The payments industry is so dynamic, with exciting innovation coming from unexpected places. When women lean into their curiosity, it often helps them ask the tough questions, build bridges across the company and industry, and create new opportunities for themselves and our business," said Carol Juel, chief technology and operating officer at Synchrony, and one of this year's honorees.

Many of this year's honorees will appear in person at Payments Forum, taking place in Hollywood, Florida, on March 27-28. Click here to register for Payments Forum.

As more companies return to the office — in full or in part — it once again changes the opportunities women have to advance their careers through access to mentors. This is especially the case for people who started their jobs as remote workers during the pandemic, and live too far away to join colleagues in the office. But there are ways to overcome this issue.

"If we allow the hybrid or remote work environment to be an obstacle, then it will be. However, if women continue to network, even if remotely, with key individuals inside their organizations, the fact that a position is hybrid or remote is immaterial," said Kim Fitzsimmons, CEO of Talus Pay.

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She and other honorees spoke of the importance of networking with people who don't work at the same company. "Mentors can be found in a variety of places, but one must put themselves out there and seek mentors to take advantage of all the good things these relationships have to offer," Fitzsimmons said.

Read on to see what this year's honorees have to say about these and other important questions reshaping the payments industry. Honorees are presented below in alphabetical order.

Profiles below written by John Adams, Mary Ellen Egan and Kate Fitzgerald. Introduction by Daniel Wolfe.

Kathryn Albright

Executive Vice President, Head of Global Payments and Deposits
Umpqua
Time in current role: 6 years
Time in payments industry: 31 years

Putting customers first
When Umpqua merged with Columbia Banks last year, Albright and her teams led the conversion of more than 50 digital and payments applications, 70,000 commercial and business banking clients and 350,000 consumer clients through the conversion process. In order to provide seamless customer service, she spearheaded the launch of the merged bank's online chat and deployed a human digital strategy to enable clients to receive help via chat, collaborative browsing and video chat.

How women can advance
Albright said there are four key steps women can take to advance their career in the payments industry. First, participate in industry forums, organizations and networks to develop connections throughout the industry. Second, get certified in payments organizations such as Certification for Treasury Professionals and Accredited ACH Professionals. Third, by engaging with other like-minded women in the industry and creating your own personal and professional network of women leaders. And finally, by constantly challenging yourself with new leadership roles and raising your hand for new opportunities. —Mary Ellen Egan

Cathy Beardsley

President & CEO
Segpay
Time in current role: 19 years
Time in payments industry: 20+ years

Looking ahead
To weather the economic storm of the past year, Beardsley's team had to figure out how to reach its target goals. Starting in May, the company took a deep dive into its sales pipeline. "We found that the best solution was to prioritize our larger, more complicated deals and create a better path to get them through our sales pipeline," Beardsley said. "We felt that putting more effort into higher-margin clients would yield more of a reward and was more efficient than focusing on deals of all sizes." By moving to this strategy, the company was able to increase its payment facilitator volume by 17% over the last six months of the year.

Putting up defenses
Last year, Segpay had a large merchant fall victim to an account enumeration attack, meaning a cybercriminal uses brute-force methods to check for certain data on a web server. In this case, the crooks ran card numbers to see if they were valid. "The fraudsters started attacking larger BINs but we were able to help the merchant put blocks in place. This made the attackers move and spread out to lower-volume BINs. After we established multiple fraud gates with the merchant, we were able to resolve and stop the account enumeration attacks," Beardsley said.

Security risk is also an opportunity to deploy artificial intelligence, according to Beardsley, who calls AI one of the biggest opportunities for the payments industry. "Love it or fear it, it is game-changing technology. It has many benefits that help with risk modeling, fraud detection, and making fraud teams more efficient," she said. "AI can help filter the transactions that bubble up that typically would need manual review." —John Adams

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Lia Cao

Global Head of Embedded Banking and Solutions
JPMorgan Chase
Time in role: 3 years
Time in industry: 6 years

Evolution
The payments industry is rapidly evolving, said Cao, and it's a challenge for her and her team to keep ahead of the pace of change and continue to innovate while anticipating clients' needs. Among the changes Cao and her team are seeing is the rise of marketplaces, the proliferation of as-a-service models and the need for full-suite solutions. To meet some of these needs, Cao and her team are building out a commerce-enabled suite encompassing products from simple virtual accounts to e-wallets to whole embedded banking services.

Taking on new challenges
Cao said that during the course of her career, her greatest moments of growth came when she took risks and challenged herself. "Careers are rarely linear — mine wasn't, and I'm grateful for it. I studied urban planning at university and never envisioned pursuing a career in payments," she said. She believes the industry is an exciting place to build a career because it is "ripe for innovation" and is an integral part of everyday life. —Mary Ellen Egan

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Kristy Carstensen

Executive Vice President, Payments Chief Financial Officer
U.S. Bank
Time in role: 6 years
Time in industry: 6 years

Navigating a merger
Last year was challenging for many banks, given rising interest rates, inflation and increased scrutiny in the wake of the three failed regional banks. And heading into that year, U.S. Bank had just completed its acquisition of MUFG Union Bank. "We operated in a highly scrutinized, deadline-driven environment. All eyes were on us, and we needed absolute precision to complete the acquisition and move forward," Carstensen said.

Navigating the challenges required everyone in the organization to be open to change. It also required constant communication throughout all levels of the bank. "There were moments that felt grueling, but at the end of the day, the most important thing was to find ways to smile and to continue to work together as a team," she said.

Advancing women
Carstensen said she's always been passionate about advancing women in the workplace and on boards of nonprofits. In 2022, the bank piloted a career development program for women in payments. Carstensen sponsored the program and worked with a small cohort of women payments leaders to explore career goals, challenges and strategies. "I learned many early-in-career women are watching female leaders like myself, and I want to be a role model not only for these colleagues but also as mother to three daughters," she said. —Mary Ellen Egan

Hunter McRae

Gina Taylor Cotter

Executive Vice President and General Manager, Small Business Products, Global Commercial Services
American Express
Time in current role: 3 months
Time in payments industry: 27 years

Small-business guru
Teaching microeconomics years ago in grad school, Gina Taylor Cotter didn't realize that one day she would be a top small-business expert at one of the biggest global financial firms. She arrived at Amex after spending a year as a bank marketing analyst, and began a steady rise through roles in risk management, marketing and product management for corporate and commercial cards and payments. "I really enjoy mobilizing large teams around a mission or a purpose," Taylor Cotter said. Last year she was promoted to her current role where she also oversees Amex Business Blueprint, a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs' banking and finance needs, including cash-flow management. The move came after Taylor Cotter led the integration for Amex's 2020 acquisition of small-business finance tool Kabbage, which tied the card network's essential services for entrepreneurs together.

Lift others up
To advance in a career, Taylor Cotter says women need to be honest with themselves about which areas need strengthening and engage with leaders, mentors and sponsors who can advise on how to learn and grow. "Stay curious, observe and get advice from those around you," she said.

She has never forgotten the words of a valued mentor who told her years ago that building a career is a marathon, not a sprint. And it's a give-and-take process. "I'm a true believer that lifting up and advocating for others is one of the best ways to succeed in the long run," she said. Taylor Cotter, who has been a fully remote executive for more than a decade, said the pandemic drove home some key best practices for remote and hybrid workers. "On video calls, keep your camera on and resist the urge to multi-task — be just as engaged as you would in the room," she said. —Kate Fitzgerald

Kim Fitzsimmons

CEO
Talus Pay
Time in current role: 4 years
Time in payments industry: 35 years

Seamless
The greatest opportunity for the industry is the continued acceptance and proliferation of embedded seamless payments, Fitzsimmons said, referring to the practice of using a payment account to access other financial relationships. "As industry verticals adopt new technology to help constituents run their entire businesses, the ability to provide an end-to-end customer relationship management toolset coupled with embedded payments is critical," said Fitzsimmons. "Embedded seamless payments will continue to broaden opportunities for companies like Talus Pay to drive a deeper solution to existing payments acceptors, along with opening the doors to current non-acceptors."

Outside the walls
Obstacles related to hybrid and full-time office work are inaccurate perceptions, according to Fitzsimmons. "If we allow the hybrid or remote work environment to be an obstacle, then it will be. However, if women continue to network, even if remotely, with key individuals inside their organizations, the fact that a position is hybrid or remote is immaterial," she said. Fitzsimmons recommends women get involved in adjacent organizations, rather than limit themselves to where they work. "Mentors can be found in a variety of places, but one must put themselves out there and seek mentors to take advantage of all the good things these relationships have to offer," she said. —John Adams

Kelly Williams

Allysun Fleming

Executive Vice President, Head of Payments
Comerica Bank
Time in current role: 2 years
Time in industry: 20+ years

How Comerica is using AI
While the bank is still assessing the best way to use generative AI, it is using traditional AI algorithms across credit, fraud, marketing, retail, authentication and cybersecurity. For instance, the bank is using AI to learn customers' transaction behaviors and flagging anything that is outside of their typical pattern. Comerica is also using AI to identify potential fraud within merchant processing services. The AI engine is invisible to merchants, and the technology works to provide faster funding and fewer false positives.

Advancing advice
Fleming said that something that has served her well over the course of two decades is to reflect on what she wants her next two jobs to be and what skills she needs to be successful in those roles. And then she said that she worked backward by taking stock of her current skills, gaps in those skills and then taking a lateral job to develop those skills. "I started my career in product management, and from there I took a lateral move into finance because I felt confident in my technological and customer experience capabilities, but I did not feel confident in my ability to deliver and credibly challenge business cases. So, I embraced the unknown and learned it," she said. —Mary Ellen Egan

Anna Greenwald

Chief Operating Officer
MoneyGram International
Time in current role: 1 ½ years
Time in payments industry: 12 ½ years

Biggest challenge
Last year, MoneyGram was acquired by private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners in an all-cash transaction and is now privately held. As chief operating officer, Greenwald navigated the change by focusing on the company's culture, strengthening her team of 10 direct reports and over 1,000 employees and continuing to focus on solving customers' problems.

Legacy-based career planning Greenwald joined MoneyGram as a program director in product development in 2011, and worked her way up the ranks over the course of the next 11 years before being named as COO in August of 2022. Her ascent, however, wasn't planned. "People typically feel the need to know exactly where they see themselves in five years. Not having a definitive career roadmap drawn out can evolve into a sense of failure of 'being behind.' However, throughout my entire career, I have not known where I see myself in five years," she said. "The twists and turns along my path have led me to embrace the concept of legacy-based career planning: the mental exercise of imagining a time in the future when you want to look back on what you've accomplished and feel it was a success." —Mary Ellen Egan

Kelly Haren

Senior Director, Payment Acceptance
Walmart
Time in current role: 2 years
Time in payments industry: 9 years

Inside view
The inner workings of payment acceptance happen not only out of customer view, but also out of view of other areas in the company, according to Haren. "As a result, payments can become an afterthought as new technologies and products are being developed. To get in front of this, I have found it to be incredibly effective to tell our story to both internal and external stakeholders and partners," said Haren. "By telling our story, we build awareness and alignment to bring my team in early in the process to ensure the customer payment experience, as well as our acceptance strategy, is incorporated into any new technology or product being deployed."

The AI generation
Walmart has made generative AI a large part of its strategy, using it to analyze troves of data to produce new content that can help internal staff perform their jobs, and improve engagement with external customers. "At Walmart, we are committed to using generative AI to drive innovation and improve our business," Haren said. "We are constantly exploring new use cases and models, and we are always looking for ways to improve our operations and provide better experiences for our customers and members." —John Adams

Carolyn Homberger

President, Americas
Featurespace
Time in current role: 2 years
Time in payments industry: 18 years

Everyone sells
Despite fraud and financial crime continuing to be a major issue, team members that supported existing customers were struggling with connecting the value of Featurespace's fraud prevention technology to its customers' business needs, said Homberger. To tackle the challenge, Homberger encouraged an "everyone sells" mindset, assigning all members of the leadership and commercial teams to "segment squads" based on their interest and professional experience. Workshops and homework assignments followed. "This ultimately landed in the form of a 2024 go-to-market plan for the region that drives our marketing priorities, financial planning and resource planning. Working through this exercise as a team helped drive buy-in to our plan, collaboration across functions and is already paying dividends in our ability to reflect the value of our technology to meet our customer's needs," she said.

Pushing back
The biggest threat to the payments industry is fraud and, more specifically, authorized push payment scams, which refers to a customer being persuaded by a criminal into transferring money to an account that the criminal controls, Homberger said. "In addition to the devastating financial impact, they create significant mental health issues for victims and often take years to recover. … The scam victim's relationship with their financial institution and transacting digitally is never the same," Homberger said, suggesting modern fraud analytics can help combat payment fraud. And generative AI is at the heart of innovation in the company's fraud prevention analytics, Homberger said. —John Adams

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Shannon Johnston

CIO and Senior Executive Vice President
Global Payments
Time in current role: 2 months
Time in payments industry: 20+ years

Hunting for phish
Cybersecurity is a perennial concern in the payments industry, and fintechs must continually invest in security tools and training to stay ahead of cybercriminals, Johnston said. "As CIO, I am responsible for ensuring we have effective programs in place to mitigate threats and keep our client and customer data safe and secure," she said. Global Payments has mandatory information security and privacy training programs for its 27,000 staff worldwide, and comprehensive targeted training for team members who access client and cardholder data.

"We also conduct monthly phishing exercises that mimic real-world phishing campaigns, giving team members an opportunity to identify suspicious content in emails in context of their daily jobs, thus becoming vigilant and knowledgeable about actual phishing attempts that could pose a risk to the company," she said.

Get a coach
Getting perspective is always helpful when trying to advance in your career, and having a mentor is a great way to gain that perspective, Johnston said. "It is important to map out what the challenges are, get input from a trusted mentor or coach and develop a plan to address the challenges," she said. "A mentor can help identify additional training or certifications needed to reach the next level and offer guidance on extra tasks or projects that may gain the attention of senior leaders. It's also crucial that you understand your value to the role and organization, which could be a great way to interact with people you don't interact with on a daily basis." —John Adams

Eric Myer

Carol Juel

Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operating Officer
Synchrony
Time in current role: 3 years
Time in payments industry: 29 years

Trends
One of the short-term trends Synchrony is focused on is the "wallet-less consumer." More customers are moving away from physical cards, and consumers may default to their top-of-wallet card for ease of use, so brands have to find ways to encourage people to use their payment account. One short-term way the bank is addressing this is by its recent launch of a new browser extension that "automatically triggers on partner websites reminding cardholders of their Synchrony card and providing a virtual card for purchase in real time," Juel said.

Another longer-term trend the bank is exploring is Immersive Reality, including applications of AR/VR and the Metaverse. "There are so many fascinating questions to explore: As our real and virtual worlds become increasingly intertwined, how will apps help to bridge that connection? How can we create more seamless experiences to keep pace with consumer expectations that disparate apps will talk with one another when they're all in your field of view? And when it comes to payments, will we use a single currency for all transactions in the virtual world — and if so, what would that be?"

Career advice to women
Juel advises women to think of their career as a "lattice rather than a ladder." Lateral moves, she said, can help someone learn, grow or spark curiosity in a new area of a company. Natural curiosity, she added, is one of the best traits and tools for advancing anyone's careers. "The payments industry is so dynamic, with exciting innovation coming from unexpected places. When women lean into their curiosity, it often helps them ask the tough questions, build bridges across the company and industry, and create new opportunities for themselves and our business," she said. —Mary Ellen Egan

Judith McGuire

Senior Vice President of Global Products
Discover
Time in current role: 10 months
Time in payments industry: 21 years

Riding a wave
A foundational period in Judith McGuire's career was the 17 years she spent moving up the ladder at Discover Financial Services' Pulse debit network, learning every aspect of the technology behind the transactions. Discover next promoted her to vice president of digital and consumer products before she moved to a position overseeing global products for the card network. A fascinating part of her job is spearheading Discover's support for contactless payments at nearly 60 transit agencies around the world — 64% of all global Discover transit payments now are conducted via tapping or waving to pay at bus and train turnstiles, up from 15% in 2020. "Implementation with each transit agency is no small task," McGuire said of the unique technical approaches in different countries and cities. Her next frontier is helping guide Discover's support of digital wallets and the gradual introduction of biometrics. "And these won't be the last new payment options introduced," she said.

Long-distance vision
While McGuire has steadily moved up throughout her career, she believes that focusing too much on job promotions can get in the way of career satisfaction. Find a job and colleagues you enjoy, she advises, and success will follow. "Take a long view; careers are rarely linear," she said.

For example, years ago McGuire cut her schedule to just 30 hours a week to ease the challenge of having young children, which allowed her to hit the accelerator later in more time-consuming jobs. Today, hybrid work setups at Discover are helping more women nurture both careers and families, and McGuire supports those who are in the office most of the time or working fully remote. She also encourages women to find a close mentor who believes in them. McGuire's sister Laura fills that role, and even though she works at a different firm, Laura provides a rich sounding board and a two-way channel for encouragement and coping with challenges. "Find someone close who can share your career journey," she advised. —Kate Fitzgerald

Jenny Miller

Head of Business Operations, North America
Wise
Time in current role: 2 months
Time in payments industry: 8 years

Safeguarding trust
After five years on the product management side at Wise, a London-based fintech providing cross-border payments and other financial tools, Jenny Miller late last year became head of the company's North America Business Operations. The move enables her to continue driving growth for the firm, where Miller's previous contributions helped make the U.S. Wise's largest and fastest-growing global market. Maintaining speed, precision and rock-solid consumer trust is key to winning international payments volume. "I sit with my team almost every day to discuss where we see risk and how to insulate against it," she said. Everyone at the firm is encouraged to think like an innovator. "Curiosity, and willingness to explore and understand topics you know little about, are two of the things I look for in anyone who joins our team," Miller said.

In-house expert
The tremendous growth opportunities in digital payments technology create a fiercely competitive environment. "The race to scale and grab market share is real," Miller said. Experience has made her a believer in building solutions in-house, versus the riskier "quick fix" approach of outsourcing tasks. She also believes women can play a bigger role in payments. "In my experience, women are often the first to defer to others and rank external opinions and explanations over their own knowledge and instincts." She advises women to push through their doubts and contribute ideas and thoughts while diving deep into specific problems to become an in-house expert. Despite the convenience of remote work, Miller is bullish on being in the office as the best way to receive effective mentorship and move ahead at an organization. "Working in the office can lead to unexpected discussions that spark a new idea or strategy," she said. —Kate Fitzgerald

Bea Ordonez

Chief Financial Officer
Payoneer
Time in current role: 1 year
Time in payments industry: More than 20 years

Resilience and commitment
Payoneer has a significant presence in Israel, and the Hamas attacks on October 7 caused the company to deal with the "very real and devastating human toll" of the attacks and the ongoing conflict that has followed. "Our immediate response to the unfolding events was, of course, focused on the safety and well-being of our people on the ground. We also needed to ensure we could continue to support the needs of some 2 million global customers," said Ordonez. "This was exceptionally challenging, especially for our teams, and their resilience and commitment to serving our customers was truly amazing and inspiring."

AI advantage
Payoneer is using machine learning and generative AI in a variety of functions, and has seen early results. The average cost of a customer-service ticket has fallen 25% since the end of 2022, with AI optimizing workflow so the company can resolve more tickets in a single interaction. "In our organization we are intently focused on driving data transformation: to unlock the power of our data to drive more efficiency in our compliance processes, to make better underwriting decisions in our lending business and to focus our acquisition efforts on those customers who meet our ideal customer profile," Ordonez said. —John Adams

Rachel Pike

Chief Operating Officer
Modern Treasury
Time in current role: 18 months
Time in payments industry: 5 years

Crisis ready
The Silicon Valley Bank crash last year had unique repercussions for San Francisco-based Modern Treasury, which helps corporations manage workflows and money movement. The two firms shared many tech-industry customers, and within 24 hours of the bank's failure, Pike helped build an online page, updated daily, giving SVB customers the status of payments like wire and ACH transfers. The Wall Street Journal cited this work in the midst of SVB's meltdown. "We talked customers through the crisis, helped them launch new banking relationships and got them integrated," Pike said. When Signature Bank went into receivership shortly afterward, Modern Treasury repeated the task for other customers of that bank. "No critical payments, such as payroll, were missed," she said.

The right formula
Joining Modern Treasury shortly after its launch in 2018 as chief growth officer, Pike — who has a Ph.D. in chemistry from a previous career path — last year became chief operating officer, working to shift more customers away from manual, error-prone legacy internal payments processes. "Eventually we see all payments beginning and ending with software," Pike said. But generative AI, with its early-stage flaws, isn't on her road map yet. "Inaccuracy just cannot be tolerated with money," she said, noting that Modern Treasury has used standard AI for years as an indispensable tool. In recruiting talent, Pike often seeks people who demonstrate passion for work and willingness to learn. "Background isn't the only thing I look for. I look for their hunger," she said. —Kate Fitzgerald

Nichole Price

Senior Vice President of Risk, Process and Performance, Banking As a Service division
Pathward, N.A.
Time in current role: 7 months
Time in payments industry: 8 years

Test and explore
In a career spanning more than 30 years in accounting and financial services, Nichole Price now specializes in risk management for Pathward (formerly Meta), known for its fintech partnerships with firms like early-wage-access provider Clair. Price's prime job challenge isn't just meeting growing levels of cybersecurity threats that are complicated by the immediacy of real-time payments. It's also the steadily increasing regulatory pressure from many state and federal agencies, she says. To keep abreast of threats and complex rules, she leads small teams to constantly test and explore the best risk-management and compliance practices at many levels, sharing what they learn. "Collaboration is key," Price said, adding that risk management touches the entire organization. "We ensure we're integrated in all new [product and services] initiatives so we can flag potential pitfalls and solve problems at the beginning," she said.

The power of kindness
Many years ago at a different job, Price adopted a mentor she admired who was the only female partner at an accounting firm. The colleague gently pushed Price out of her comfort zone and modeled a subtle "emotional intelligence" that Price absorbed. "I learned from her how to set goals and focus on tasks, create a network, listen to others before reacting, use transparency to drive engagement with colleagues … and simply be kind," Price said. Applying these techniques enables Price to look forward to work and coming home to relax with her husband, with whom she nurtured two now-grown children. "Whether at work or with my family, I maximize my time and enjoy each moment." —Kate Fitzgerald

Yaminah Sattarian

Senior Vice President and Group Lead, Institutional Payments
KeyBank
Time in role: 5 years
Time in industry: 23 years

Biggest threat to the industry
Staying ahead of payments fraud and cybersecurity threats with the rapid adoption and integration of technology continues to be the biggest threat to our industry. The recent hacking of China's Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the world's biggest bank, revealed the fragility of the financial markets. Cyberattacks cost victimized businesses in the U.S. an estimated average of $9.48 million in 2023, according to a recent report by IBM. Beyond bank runs and instability, in a market where customer trust and confidence are vital, a cyberattack can trigger immediate financial and reputational damage for fintech vendors as well as the banks and brokers that rely on their software.

Promoting cultural understanding
Sattarian's parents are first-generation immigrants. Her mother is Nicaraguan and her father is Palestinian. Her father is one of the founders of the Beit Hanina Cultural Center, which was established in the early 1980's in Cleveland, Ohio. BHCC serves the community as a cultural center that advances knowledge and understanding of the Palestinian culture to the surrounding communities to promote diversity and cultural integration. It provides social services, tuition assistance, education and financial assistance to families in need. Sattarian serves on the women's committee of the BHCC helping to raise money and plan events. —Mary Ellen Egan

Celeste Schwitters

Senior Vice President, Head of Community Accounts
Visa
Time in current role: 3 years
Time in payments industry: 31 years

Financial inclusion
Educating consumers is a big opportunity for the payments industry, Schwitters said. "Many consumers don't understand payments or banking and are then unable to take advantage of the resources available to them," she said. Visa promotes digital and financial literacy among consumers of all ages through such initiatives as practical money skills tools, financial football/soccer games and Marvel comic lessons. Visa is also working with minority-owned banks and credit unions to better equip them to serve their clientele and communities. As of last February, Visa invested $100 million via deposits with minority-owned banks to help kick-start increased lending.

Inclusion in the industry
Being a woman in the payments industry has required Schwitters to learn to adapt to different social cues and settings, she said. "Earlier in my career, I did not pay attention to the fact that I was often the only woman in the room. I was eager to learn and happy to have earned the opportunities that were available to me. However, as I became more aware of that fact, I realized that I was frequently in a culture that did not speak the same language as me. For example, I had to learn to discuss various sports, play a competent round of golf — things that were not directly related to our work or something I thought I would ever have to take part in. But like many industries, finance and payments can be very relationship-oriented. I had to do these things to be successful in my career and build key connections or risk being shut out," she said. —Mary Ellen Egan

Shamina Singh

Founder and President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Executive Vice President, Sustainability
Mastercard
Time in current role: 10 years
Time in payments industry: 17

Closing gaps
Singh is behind Mastercard's bold moves to boost financial inclusion for vulnerable communities and small businesses through its global Strive initiative, run by the card network's Center for Inclusive Growth. Strive delivers grants, technology resources and training to small businesses to bring excluded individuals and groups globally into the modern economy. But tens of millions of people are still locked out of success "as technologies evolve and access to data and information is available to select groups," Singh said. Data and open banking have the potential to close the gap between the haves and have-nots, she believes.

"We want to expand the pool of tech talent in the development phase to ensure that the data inputs represent the diversity of the communities, countries and regions we're operating in, thus mitigating biases and lack of diversity in the [data] field," she said.

Change agent
Born in the U.S. to immigrants from India, Singh began her career working as a volunteer, then as a staffer at various nonprofit, government and corporate posts. Appearing on many annual lists of leading LGBT+ executives, she was appointed by President Clinton to expand access to health care through the U.S. Department of Labor, then President Obama placed her on the board of AmeriCorps for six years. She later spent nearly six years at Citigroup driving global community development and served in a similar post at Nike before arriving at Mastercard to lead sustainability and financial inclusion across the organization.

Getting there took hard work and imagination. "Think of yourself as the driver, and surround yourself with people who can get you to your destination," she advises others, noting how important it is to pick realistic goals and lean into change. "We live in a dynamic time, with many global and societal shifts occurring simultaneously … diversity of experiences will make you a stronger candidate in the long run." —Kate Fitzgerald

Saema Somalya

Executive Vice President of Legal and Risk
Remitly
Time in current role: 3 years
Time in payments industry: 3 years

A careful balance
As Remitly expands globally, one of its challenges is finding ways to create know-your-customer systems for consumers who are less likely to have the same documentation as the general population, while building a scalable system that reaches a wide range of customers.

"Managing fraud, financial crime and other suspicious activity effectively in these regions without overly broad de-risking is also a key challenge," said Somalya. "Unless these systems are best in class, they suffer from the same problems as classic racial profiling. They are over inclusive and under inclusive at the same time. They catch too many 'legitimate customers' while also letting too much unwanted activity proceed without detection."

Bridging the care gap
Many organizations have implemented initiatives such as implicit bias training and improved transparency in performance management, Somalya said, adding that these are important, beneficial steps. "However, I'd also encourage companies to consider caretaking programs for a variety of reasons," she said, noting that caretaking duties disproportionately fall on women at the expense of career development. "A majority of women continue to be the most likely to care for their children on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this role as primary caretaker pushes them out of the workforce at a higher rate than men." —John Adams

Alexis Sowa

Global General Manager, Point of Sale
Square
Time in current role: 1 year
Time in payments industry: 6 years

Entrepreneurs' advocate
Before arriving at Square six years ago, Alexis Sowa worked at a variety of different jobs as an analyst, including at Google, which enriched her skills and helped her move up the ladder to her current role. By helping sellers accept payments and run their businesses, Sowa's career continues on the common theme of her lifelong work: economic empowerment for all. Payments are a lifeline to survival for entrepreneurs in diverse and challenging environments including at shops, events and farmers markets. "I find that reminding our team of the critical importance of this job helps us stay motivated," she said.

Staying transparent
That mantra has been essential over the last year, as Square has endured the exit of several longtime executives and the return of founder Jack Dorsey to the CEO post with some layoffs and mandates for corporate efficiency in a decelerating economy. Sowa boosts morale with clear communication about the reason for changes, pushing for in-person meetings for remote teams and events to showcase colleagues' projects. She also instituted "couch hours" where anyone can talk to Sowa on any topic in person or virtually. "It builds cohesion and connection … and helps us build a company where we all want to work."

Generative AI is the next challenge for Square. "AI is changing the way the payments industry works today," she said, noting its potential to improve fraud and risk management, enrich sellers' tools and streamline operations from customer service to the firm's engineering productivity. "AI also introduces new threats for consumers, businesses and payment-service providers," she warned. —Kate Fitzgerald

Katie Whalen

Senior Vice President, Head of North American Issuer Processing
Fiserv
Time in current role: 6 years
Time in payments industry: 11 years

Bracing for change
Operating behind the scenes of some of the largest North American card issuers like Wells Fargo, Synchrony Financial, and Target Corp., Fiserv provides critical account-processing services. Katie Whalen oversees this large responsibility and has helped modernize, expand and digitize issuers' methods over the last several years. "Any platform changes, from technology to regulations, can have a significant impact on our clients' business," she said, flagging this year's new rule mandating a cut in credit card late fees plus the proposed Credit Card Competition Act as potential threats to the status quo. For Whalen, this means helping issuers find effective ways to phase these changes in as painlessly as possible. "We operate as an extension of our clients' businesses," she said.

Adding value
Whalen is fascinated right now by new payments innovations like embedded finance, which delivers financial services via software platforms, marketplaces and digital wallets. "It streamlines customer journeys and expands the portfolio of services clients can offer in new channels, such as a bank account, line of credit or other financial service," Whalen said. She is known for scouting new ways to help Fiserv's issuer clients. "There's always an opportunity to do more than what is in front of you. Saying 'I can add value here' or 'I can contribute more' opens the door." Whalen was gratified to see Fiserv at the forefront of the post-pandemic return-to-office movement in the summer of 2021. "We found ourselves hosting first-time in-person meetings with clients, and conversations quickly became strategic and forward-thinking instead of being merely transactional," she said. —Kate Fitzgerald

Eddie Arrossi

Elena Whisler

Chief Client Officer
The Clearing House
Time in current role: 6 months
Time in payments industry: 20 years

Global vision
Elena Whisler's parents came from Uruguay — where her relatives still live — and she was born in Canada and has lived in the U.S. since age 10, giving her a perspective of international financial inclusion that covers multiple economies. Along with steadily driving onboarding of hundreds of financial institutions to The Clearing House's real-time payment rails, Whisler's team plays a key role in converting TCH's legacy CHIPS payment messaging to the information-rich ISO 20022 standard, launching in April 2024. "I've witnessed a transformation in how financial technology is built and runs. The accessibility of more cloud-based technology [and] more cost-effective computer power is enabling financial services to adapt and change much more easily, and at lower costs, than ever before," she said.

Going the distance
Whisler got her start as an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, then worked at Fiserv, Clear2Pay and FIS before arriving at The Clearing House in 2020, where she recently was appointed chief client officer. A collegiate diver and runner who's completed many marathons, three Ironman triathlons and two 30-mile ultramarathons, Whisler loves to challenge herself and sees parallels between athletic achievements and her work. "There are times when I have to stop, walk and collect myself, and then just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's amazing how powerful the mind is, and marathons remind me of that." It's also important to acknowledge key milestones in life and on the job, Whisler says. "Never let anyone take your work for granted." —Kate Fitzgerald

Michelle Young

Senior Vice President, General Manager of Merchant Solutions for Financial Institutions
Worldpay
Time in current role: 6 years
Time in payments industry: 32 years

'On demand' generation
Young, who is responsible for leading new sales, channel management and relationship management for the banks that offer merchant services through Worldpay, says the shift toward a work culture that is not constrained by geographic limitations reflects a broader change in societal values and expectations. "Consumers are placing a premium on convenience, a trend that persists irrespective of the challenges faced by the marketplace, such as staffing issues, limited operational hours and fluctuating price points. The willingness of consumers to bear additional costs for convenience is evident in their expectations for enhanced service delivery, such as the use of specialized packaging to meet product transportation requirements and the demand for rapid delivery times," said Young, calling the trend emblematic of the "on demand" generation.

Personal brand
For new employees especially, understanding the importance of building a personal brand early in one's career is critical, according to Young, adding that the time spent in collaborative office environments should be maximized to establish one's professional identity and forge important relationships.

"The time spent in shared workspaces outside the office should be utilized to expand one's network, gather diverse insights and explore new opportunities," Young said. "Shifting work schedules and the hybrid work model offer a unique and valuable opportunity for professionals today. By leveraging local spaces beyond the home and the traditional office environment, individuals can significantly enhance their professional networks and gain access to a broader range of industry insights. —John Adams