Podcast
Leaders In Payments
Hosted by Greg Myers · EN
Hear directly from C-level executives in payments/fintech about industry trends, successful strategies, products, services, and what the future holds for the payments/fintech industry. We cover the entire industry from merchant acquiring, payment processing, ISOs, payfacs, fraud, security, issuing, b2b, fintech, to start-ups, if it goes on in payments we will be talking about it.
54episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Clarice Leaman, dLocal | Episode 506
3d ago00:21:50Tap to summarizePayments don’t fail as an abstract metric. They fail for a freelancer waiting to get paid, a small business trying to accept the locally normal method, or a customer who gets told “we don’t support how you pay.” That’s why our conversation with Clarice Lehman, Alternative Payments Operations Lead at DLocal, keeps landing on one theme: the future of payments has to stay human, even as the industry gets more automated, embedded, and AI-driven. We start with Clarice’s journey from Uruguay to fintech, including a pivotal dinner-party moment that redirected her MBA path to MIT, followed by consulting at BCG, and a return to DLocal to lead strategy and operations across alternative payment methods. We unpack what “APMs” really include (instant payments, wallets, cash-based options, BNPL operations, card-present initiatives, and crypto operations) and why delivering a consistent cross-border payments experience is hard when every market’s infrastructure looks different underneath. Then we get practical about leadership and trust: why smarter systems can’t mean more exclusion, what transparency should look like when AI makes decisions, and why reliability and accountability are non-negotiable when downtime or a wrong decline hits. Clarice also shares the trend she’s most excited about: AI-driven credit and underwriting using alternative data, and how that can expand access to capital for consumers and SMBs that traditional credit bureaus overlook. If you care about emerging markets, payments strategy, fintech leadership, and building products that actually include people, this one is for you.
Transcribe →Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Kimling Lam, Fortis | Episode 505
5d ago00:20:45Tap to summarizePayments are getting smarter and more automated, but the real question is simpler: are we making life easier for the humans behind every transaction? For Women Leaders in Payments Month, we’re joined by Kimling Lam, Chief Marketing Officer at Fortis, to talk about what “the future is human” actually looks like inside fintech, embedded payments, and modern go-to-market teams. Special thanks to Payroc for sponsoring this year’s series and supporting the advancement of women across the payments industry. Kimling shares her career journey from Wellesley and broadcast journalism to TV news reporting, software sales, and leadership roles across major payments brands before stepping into her current CMO role. Along the way, we dig into how strong storytelling becomes a growth advantage in fintech marketing, why CEO sponsorship and networks can change a career trajectory, and what it really takes to turn ambiguity into strategy that drives pipeline and revenue. We also explore the practical impact of generative AI and large language models on marketing workflows. Kimling explains why marketers are shifting from writing everything manually to orchestrating faster, more scalable work streams while protecting brand voice and applying human judgment. From there, we zoom out to B2B payments and accounts receivable, including the pain of “swivel chair accounting,” the importance of human-centered design, and why trust in payments feels invisible until something breaks. If you care about customer experience, embedded finance, women in fintech leadership, and where AI helps or hurts, you’ll get a lot from this conversation.
Transcribe →Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Rachel Costello, Maverick | Episode 504
1w ago00:19:01Tap to summarizePayments are getting faster and more automated, but the hardest part still isn’t the tech. It’s trust. We talk with Rachel Costello, VP of Platform Growth at Maverick, about why the future of payments is human and how leaders can keep empathy, judgment, and real partnership at the center while AI and automation reshape everything around us.Rachel shares her career path into fintech, from early work in ad tech and e-commerce to revenue operations and growth roles, and why payments became the perfect place to combine strategy, go-to-market, and customer impact. We also dig into what she’s building today: strategic partnerships, embedded payment strategy, and the infrastructure that helps software platforms deliver seamless commerce experiences.A big theme is embedded payments and embedded finance, and what it actually means when a software platform becomes a commerce platform. We break down the customer journey, preferred payment methods, and the practical outcomes businesses want: less friction, faster scaling, and simpler ways to get paid. Along the way, Rachel makes the case for fundamentals, customers don’t buy buzzwords like AI or APIs, they buy the results those tools deliver.We wrap with leadership lessons, mentorship, and advice for the next generation of women in payments: raise your hand before you feel ready, get comfortable being uncomfortable, and choose a culture that fits how you work and grow.
Transcribe →Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Alexandra Dolia, Akurateco | Episode 503
1w ago00:23:28Tap to summarizeA failed payment is never just a technical error. It’s a customer stuck at checkout, a merchant losing revenue, and a moment where trust is either reinforced or broken. We sit down with Alexandra Dolia, co-founder and COO of Akurateco, to talk about what payments leadership looks like when you refuse to treat the industry like a black box and you build teams that can explain what’s happening end to end.Alexandra shares her path from Ukraine to a formative year in the United States as a teenage exchange student, then into fintech almost by accident through a contact center role. That early frontline experience shaped how she thinks about customer support, payment failures, and operational details that quietly define the client experience. We also unpack the leadership philosophy that came from working in a culture where knowledge is shared, not guarded, and how she’s applied it by developing people through structured internal education.From there, we get practical about the future of payments: embedded checkout, automation, and why “the future is human” isn’t anti-technology. It’s a reminder that technology should sharpen judgment, not replace it. Alexandra breaks down how companies earn trust through transparency, honesty when things go wrong, and consistency over time, then points to a major shift reshaping global commerce: the fast-growing mix of alternative payment methods, from wallets to account-to-account and local rails, and the rising need for payment orchestration.
Transcribe →Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Alex McCandless, Payroc | Episode 502
2w ago00:20:11Tap to summarizePayments look instant and invisible until something goes wrong. That’s when you find out whether you’re working with a faceless system or a team you can actually trust. We sit down with Alex McCandless, EVP of Marketing and Training at Payroc, to get specific about what “people powered” really means in fintech and why transparency and access to real decision makers still matter in a world of automated transactions. Alex shares her career journey from the agency world into payment processing, plus what she learned scaling from a scrappy startup environment into a platform shaped by 27 acquisitions. We talk about the challenge of bringing many brands under one Payroc umbrella without forcing a one-size-fits-all playbook, and how culture integration requires real discovery, humility, and a willingness to borrow the best tools and processes from every team. We also dig into the future of payments and the role of AI in fintech. Alex makes the case for AI-assisted operations, not AI-powered relationships, and connects that to embedded finance, SaaS, and the push toward more holistic experiences across card-present and card-not-present payments. On trust and security, she explains why “secure” should be baseline, why trust is earned one transaction at a time, and how the 1% edge cases can define your reputation. We close with what she’s watching next, including agentic commerce, machine-to-machine payments, and how marketing teams are adapting for LLM search and more qualified inbound leads.
Transcribe →Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Gunita Bindra, Bottomline | Episode 501
2w ago00:22:14Tap to summarizePayments are getting smarter, faster, and more automated, but the stakes are still deeply human. I sit down with Gunita Bindra, CRO of Paymode New Business Development at Bottomline, to talk about what it takes to lead in fintech when AI is reshaping how decisions get made and how money moves. Along the way, Ganita shares her path from computer science in India to roles in software engineering, solution consulting, product management, and now leading sales and partnerships in the B2B payments world. We explore what “the future is human” means when technology can feel like it’s in the driver’s seat. Gunita lays out why leaders in payments need to embrace change while building for enduring excellence, not just short-term success. We also get practical about the customer experience behind every transaction: how product-minded empathy shows up in sales conversations, why understanding small business payment pain matters, and how transparency turns into trust when your platform can clearly explain where a payment is, why it’s there, and what happens next. Then we look forward at agentic commerce and the idea of payments that can route themselves with humans still in the loop. Gunita offers a grounded take on job evolution, the skills that stay valuable, and the mindset shift leaders need right now. We close with direct advice for women entering payments and fintech: network early, ask for what you want, build a business case, and learn negotiation without apology.
Transcribe →The State of Payments: Shifts, Friction & The Road Ahead | Episode 500
3w ago00:34:51Tap to summarizeIn this milestone 500th episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast, I bring together seven respected leaders from across the payments ecosystem for a special look at the state of the industry.Rather than a traditional one-on-one interview, this episode features perspectives from Jim Oberman, CEO of Payroc; Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, President of SoFi Tech Solutions at SoFi; Greg Cohen, CEO of Fortis; Alex Shtilman, CEO and Co-Founder of Rapyd; Steve Pinado, CEO of NMI; Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect; and Derek Dean, CEO of Flute.Each guest shares their view on three important questions: what shift they are seeing in payments right now, what is still harder than it should be, and what the industry should be preparing for over the next three to five years.The conversation covers the continued rise of embedded payments, the role of software in reshaping distribution, the growing importance of stablecoins and real-time money movement, the impact of AI and agentic commerce, and the ongoing need to simplify the merchant experience. Guests also discuss the friction that still exists behind the scenes, from onboarding and reconciliation to fraud, false declines, global commerce, regulation, and legacy infrastructure.Episode 500 is both a celebration of the first 500 conversations on the podcast and a forward-looking discussion about where payments is headed. It reflects how much the industry has changed, how much complexity still needs to be solved, and how much opportunity remains ahead for payments leaders, fintech innovators, software platforms, banks, and the broader commerce ecosystem.A special "thank you" to all who have listened, watched and participated over the last 5+ years. And now on to the next 500!
Transcribe →What Would It Take For Insurers To Go Fully Digital? with Ian Drysdale, CEO of One Inc. | Episode 499
4w ago00:17:42Tap to summarizeChecks still power a shocking amount of insurance money movement, and that single fact creates slow claims, higher operating costs, and an open door for fraud. Greg Myers sits down with Ian Drysdale, CEO of One Inc, to talk about what it really takes to drag property and casualty insurance payments into a modern digital payments era without breaking the workflows carriers rely on.We unpack how One Inc handles both sides of the insurance payments stack: premium payments (inbound merchant acquiring) and claims payouts (outbound disbursements). Ian shares what “scale” looks like in this vertical, from a huge vendor network that already includes the auto body shops, doctors, and lawyers insurers pay every day, to the complex edge cases that traditional payment processors rarely touch. Think mortgage endorsements after major home damage, lienholder payoffs on total-loss auto claims, and the growing need for insurer-to-insurer settlement use cases like subrogation.Fraud is a different beast in insurance, too. The risks aren’t about someone buying a TV with a stolen card; they’re about claims fraud, identity fraud, account takeovers, and payments getting intercepted or redirected. Ian explains how data, controls, and hands-on investigation work together to make sure claims payouts land with the right person or business, especially when payouts can run through PayPal, Venmo, push to debit, Visa Direct, and Mastercard Send.We also zoom in on the premium payment experience gap. Policyholders, especially younger ones, expect Apple Pay, Google Pay, flexible billing dates, and a frictionless mobile flow, and network tokens help reduce failed payments by keeping card credentials current behind the scenes. You’ll leave with one blunt question Ian wants the industry to face: when will insurers write their last check?
Transcribe →The Financial Connectivity Layer with Jose Bethancourt, Co-Founder & CEO of Method | Episode 498
4w ago00:28:45Tap to summarizeMailing checks to pay off a credit card in 2026 sounds like a joke, but it is still a real debt consolidation workflow at scale. Greg Myers sits down with Jose Bethancourt, Co-Founder and CEO of Method, to unpack why liability payments are uniquely messy and what it takes to make them feel as seamless as modern fintech promises.Jose shares his path from growing up in South Texas near the Mexico border to building products at UT Austin, then turning a personal problem into a company. GradJoy started as a way to help new graduates understand student loan debt, interest rates, and payoff strategies, but it quickly revealed a deeper issue: people often cannot even locate their liabilities, and credential-based financial data access is brittle. Method tackles that with an identity-based financial connectivity API that, with consent, can find student loans, credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, and personal loans, then enable two-way flows that support both reading data and sending payments to creditors.We also get into what this unlocks for underwriting, personalization, and better customer outcomes, plus how it can reduce errors and fraud compared to manual PAN entry and back-office check operations. Jose lays out a forward-looking view of AI in payments, agentic payments, and a world where an AI agent can securely analyze your debt, shop for a better APR, and execute payoffs. Finally, we step back to discuss consumer demand for speed, why ACH still shapes reality, and how RTP and FedNow may push expectations even further.
Transcribe →Fighting Fraud with Tamas Kadar, Co-Founder & CEO of SEON | Episode 497
Jun 1900:35:19Tap to summarizeFraud doesn’t usually announce itself with a flashing warning sign. It shows up as a chargeback, a fake account that looks “normal,” or an account takeover that slips through the exact same checkout flow your best customers use. Greg Myers sits down with Tamas Kadar, Co-Founder and CEO of SEON, to unpack how modern fraud actually works and how digital businesses can protect revenue without burying users under friction.Tamas shares the origin story that started with a real loss: a crypto checkout experiment that got hit by fraud almost immediately. That experience turned into years of studying how fraudsters operate and, eventually, into SEON’s mission: help businesses prevent fraud, verify identities, and stay compliant in real time using the minimum data points companies already collect, like an email address or phone number, plus hard-to-fake device and digital footprint signals. We dig into when step-up verification makes sense, how to reduce false positives, and why trust and safety teams deserve to be seen as revenue drivers, not cost centers.The conversation goes deep on AI in fraud prevention beyond the buzzwords. Tamas explains where classic machine learning helps, where it breaks, and how LLMs can speed up investigations by summarizing cases, surfacing patterns earlier, and reducing the “five tabs per investigation” problem. We also explore the shift toward headless software, where analysts can ask questions in natural language and get answers from the system of record without clicking through a UI, while still keeping decisions explainable with human-readable rules.We close with what’s next: synthetic identities, deepfakes, account takeover, stablecoins and changing payment rails, plus the rise of agentic commerce where good agents and bad bots can blend into the same traffic.
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