Leaders In Payments

Greg Myers
  • 5.0 (15)
  • Management
  • Updated Weekly

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.

  1. 11h ago

    Embedded Finance Special Series: Embedded Payments That Work with Conn Byrne, Payroc | Episode 514

    This episode is part of our Embedded Finance Podcast Series, exploring the strategies, opportunities and challenges shaping the future of embedded finance. The series is leading up to Embedify ’26, the Embedded Finance Summit for vertical SaaS leaders, taking place October 13 in Lehi, Utah. To learn more visit embedify2026.com.  In this episode I sat down with Conn Byrne, Executive Director of Integrated Payments at Payroc, to get practical about what embedded payments and embedded finance really mean for vertical SaaS leaders who want to scale without burning engineering time. We dig into Conn’s three-part framework for making embedded finance work in the real world: the cardholder and merchant experience (where retention is won or lost), the developer experience (how fast your team can integrate and customize), and the partnership experience (what happens after launch when something breaks, priorities shift, or you need roadmap clarity). Along the way, we talk about what’s driving demand right now, from private equity expectations to the explosion of AI-built software platforms that can enter a vertical overnight. We also map the natural product path after embedded payments: lending built on payment data, banking capabilities that improve funding speed and reduce fees, and add-ons like payroll that can turn your platform into a true operating system for your customers. If you’re evaluating an integrated payments partner, planning a migration, or trying to decide how far to go beyond payments, this conversation gives you a grounded checklist and a longer-term view. And a special thanks to Payroc for being a supporting sponsor at the summit this year.

  2. 5d ago

    Building the Trust Layer for Payments with Noam Izhaki, CEO of Ballerine | Episode 513

    Merchant onboarding is where growth goes to die, and where fraud quietly sneaks in. We sit down with Noam Izhaki, Co-founder and CEO of Ballerine, to unpack why the payments stack can feel real-time and automated while KYC, KYB, underwriting, and compliance still depend on slow investigations, scattered systems, and ever-growing analyst teams. We walk through Noam’s journey from building early online platforms in Tel Aviv to learning hard lessons in remittances and then at Wix, where the same merchant risk challenges showed up at scale. That experience led to Ballerine: a platform designed to help merchant acquirers, PSPs, marketplaces, card ecosystem players, and banks bring their policies and data into one place and use AI agents to automate decisions across the seller lifecycle, from onboarding through ongoing monitoring. We also dig into how this differs from traditional fraud and compliance point solutions that provide signals but still leave the hardest part, judgment, to humans. Then we zoom out to the future of payments: agentic commerce, agents buying from other agents, and a world where creating “a business” is cheap, fast, and sometimes fake. Noam shares what he’s seeing around fraud industrialization, including transaction laundering as a service, and why the biggest advantage may be becoming a true trust layer for the internet with real-time, global risk decisions. If you’re building for scale, ask yourself whether your plan requires hiring your way out of risk. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with a payments leader who’s feeling the pressure, and leave a review with your biggest question about AI in merchant risk.

  3. Jul 31

    Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Marielle Mekkaoui, Payabli | Episode 512

    Payments is getting smarter, faster, and more automated and that makes one question feel urgent: where does trust come from when the tech starts acting on our behalf? We sit down with Marielle Mekkaoui, Head of Marketing at Payabli, to talk about why the future of payments is still human, even in an AI-first era. We get into what embedded payments should actually look like inside vertical SaaS platforms, and why “embedded” cannot be a checkbox feature. Marielle breaks down Payabli’s view of the full money lifecycle with pay in, payout, and pay ops, and why solving only for payment acceptance leaves platforms stuck with operational mess. We also talk about go-to-market realities in B2B fintech marketing, the return of in-person events, and how education keeps customers confident as products become more complex. Then we zoom out to AI in payments and what’s next, including agentic commerce and the difference between bolting on AI versus building intelligence into the foundation. Marielle shares a grounded framework for due diligence: ask how AI is trained, demand transparency, and keep a human in the loop for the moments that matter most, like disputes, fraud, and support. If you care about embedded finance, intelligent payments, and leadership that doesn’t lose the human story, you’ll find it here.

  4. Jul 29

    Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Jaime Hawkins, Ingenico | Episode 511

    Checkout is getting faster, smarter, and more invisible, but the stakes feel more human than ever. We talk with Jaime Hawkins, Managing Director, North America at Ingenico, about what it takes to build technology that quietly works in the background while people stay front and center. From her roots in industrial engineering to years of client-facing operations, Jaime explains how process thinking and data analytics shaped her into a different kind of commercial leader and why one mentor’s blunt advice changed the direction of her career. We also dig into what is actually powering modern commerce: not only sleek payment terminals, but platforms and open API integrations that help partners reduce complexity and build tailored point of sale experiences. Jaime shares why payments are “no longer just about taking a payment” and how merchants can turn everyday interactions into actionable intelligence, from understanding customer behavior to improving store performance and delivering personalization like loyalty snapshots and targeted offers. Trust is the thread running through everything. As embedded payments, digital wallets, automation, and even digital assets evolve, Jaime argues that innovation must move hand in hand with security and confidence or commerce starts to crack. Looking forward, we explore the shift from physical hardware to digital interactions driven by biometrics, AI, IoT, and conversational commerce, and what merchants risk losing as the checkout moment gets thinner and thinner.

  5. Jul 27

    Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Ann Berkmeier, Dash Solutions | Episode 510

    Payments are getting smoother on the surface, but the real story is what happens underneath when something changes, breaks, or needs to scale fast. That’s why our conversation with Ann Berkmeier, Chief Administrative Officer at Dash Solutions, centers on a simple idea with big consequences: companies don’t scale by accident, they scale by design. From her early work in large-scale banking migrations to leading global transformation programs and now operating at the intersection of people, AI enablement, and strategy, Ann shares how to bring clarity to complexity without losing momentum. We talk about what “the future is human” looks like in the payments industry as automation accelerates. Faster and more seamless transactions are great, but experience is what leaders must keep front and center: simple, secure, reliable, and valuable for everyone involved. Ann also breaks down the trust equation in fintech and payments technology, including why the 1% of moments when payments do not go as planned is where accountability, communication, and ownership become the real differentiators. AI is the turning point, but not in the usual “do more tasks faster” way. Ann makes the case that the biggest impact of AI in payments is the opportunity to step back and redesign the company around what’s now possible. We get practical about implementation too, including building AI as a team capability, rolling out tools thoughtfully, and prioritizing initiatives where they create better client, partner, and employee experiences. We also cover mentorship, leadership principles, and direct advice for the next generation of women entering payments and fintech.

  6. Jul 24

    Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Garima Chaudhary, Thetaray | Episode 509

    AI is racing into payments, but the uncomfortable truth is that speed without trust turns into risk fast. We sit down with Garima Chaudhary, VP of Financial Crime and Compliance AI at ThetaRay, to unpack what it really takes to modernize AML and sanctions compliance while keeping humans accountable for outcomes. Garima shares her career journey from engineering and operational risk into the high-stakes world of financial crime, where “follow the money” reveals both how economies grow and how criminal networks adapt.  We get specific about why legacy rules-based transaction monitoring creates overwhelming false positives, and how behavioral AI can spot anomalies across customer segments and peer groups, improving detection without punishing legitimate people and small businesses with blunt, one-size-fits-all rules. Along the way, we talk about the human cost of financial crime and why compliance decisions can either protect vulnerable communities or unintentionally lock them out of the financial system. The theme “the future is human” shows up everywhere: explainable AI, human-in-the-loop review, and the governance and documentation needed to defend decisions to auditors and regulators. Garima also looks ahead to agentic payments, where AI agents buy and move money on our behalf, forcing a rethink of identity, delegated authority, and what “normal behavior” even means in fraud and AML models. If you care about fintech, payments innovation, and building compliant products that scale, this conversation will sharpen your thinking.

  7. Jul 22

    Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Kim Molinaro, Fiserv | Episode 508

    Payments are not just transactions anymore. They are software experiences, API connections, and full business operating systems, and that shift changes what leadership looks like across fintech. We sit down with Kim Molinaro, Head of ISV at Fiserv, to trace her path from fashion-focused marketing and early sales roles into 24 years in payment processing and partner growth, and to unpack what makes the ISV channel such a powerful engine for scale. We get specific about embedded payments: why modern merchants rarely want a standalone terminal, how software platforms bake payments into the product, and how ISV partnerships can reach thousands of businesses at once while lowering churn. Kim also shares how ecosystems like Clover reflect a broader move toward bundled commerce: payments plus banking tools, lending, apps, and value-added services that keep businesses running in one place. Then we go straight at the big tension in the industry: automation and AI. Kim explains what “the future is human” means to her as a leader, including where AI tools like copilots help teams move faster and where human thinking still has to stay in the driver’s seat. We talk about trust, transparency, accountability, and the emerging impact of agentic AI that can find and buy on behalf of people, raising new questions about authorization and confidence in what machines choose. If you care about fintech leadership, embedded finance, ISV strategy, and building trust in modern payments, this conversation will give you practical ideas you can use right away.

  8. Jul 20

    Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Kristin Reischel, Rapyd | Episode 507

    Payments look like pure software until you move countries, get hit with fraud, or watch a “guaranteed” settlement date slip. That’s where the real story starts, and it’s why I loved talking with Kristin Reischel, Senior Director of Solutions and Partner Marketing at Rapyd, for our Women Leaders in Payments Month series sponsored by Payroc. Kristin shares a refreshingly honest career path: Boulder, Colorado roots, a fine art degree, a pivot into computer science, then early years at IBM where every hour was billable and accountability was immediate. From there, she follows what energizes her most, working closer to customers, shaping stories, and eventually landing in payment product marketing. We talk about what product marketing means in fintech and how it connects product teams, partners, and real business needs, from local payment methods to faster money movement. Our theme is “the future is human,” and Kristin makes it real. Automation, AI, and embedded payments keep expanding, but trust is still built by people who test systems, respond when things break, and make judgment calls when fraud and risk show up. She also unpacks the cultural side of global payments, comparing credit habits in the US with the UK’s banking realities, Germany’s cash preference, and the mobile payments leadership seen across Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. We close with what she’s watching next: stablecoins, crypto adoption on familiar card rails, and the convergence of AI with agentic commerce and microtransactions. If you care about the future of payments, fintech trust, and practical leadership lessons, this conversation delivers.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Greg Myers
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    515
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Leaders In Payments
  • Show Website
    Leaders In Payments

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