Lots of CEO moves at payments companies have grabbed headlines this year, but there were other high-ranking hires below that level that were perhaps more telling about the industry’s continued shift toward digitization and a focus on small business clients.
One of the most striking CEO appointments was the return this month of Ryan Breslow, who retook his former post at digital checkout company Bolt, after clearing up some litigation matters that had plagued his leadership in 2022 before he stepped down.
Breslow’s return shifted Justin Grooms, who had held the CEO job on an interim basis, into a president role. From his leadership perch, Grooms talked recently about how fintechs will keep taking on legacy payments players. “The vibe that seems to be emerging right now is the willingness to challenge norms and status quo in how people access financial tools in their life,” he said in an interview this month.
International remittance company Moneygram tapped Luke Tuttle as its new chief technology officer in February, following the appointment of Anthony Soohoo as CEO last October. Tuttle sharpened his payments chops in top roles at buy now, pay later Klarna, overseeing engineering, marketing and ad software at one point, and serving as a vice president for international products in an earlier role, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Tampa, Florida-based embedded finance company Bill360 this week announced that it had hired Ken Salazar as its new chief revenue officer, calling on him to bolster the business-to-business company’s growth, with a focus on the small and mid-sized business segment. From April 2021 to May 2024, he held the same title at Fort Collins, Colorado-based biller network BillGO, according to Salazar’s LinkedIn profile.
Also acquiring new C-suite digital talent was DailyPay. The earned wage access payments provider hired Deepa Subramanian from ride-share company Uber last month to serve as its new chief financial officer, and shifted its former CFO, Ken Brause, to a chief administrative officer role. They’ll report to Stacy Greiner, another new CEO in the industry as of last November.
Digital bank and card services company Green Dot installed a new CEO this month by tapping William Jacobs on an interim basis after Green Dot’s former CEO, George Gresham, headed for the exit. Before his departure, Gresham named Kim Olson as the Provo, Utah company’s new chief risk officer. She joined from Discover Financial Services, where she was head of its office of remediation, overseeing remediation for significant regulatory matters, a release on her appointment said.
