Payment Expert’s ID Check: Payments Professionals offers insight from industry leaders and experts on how they got their start in the financial industry, from their early years in education, to how they have been able to climb the corporate ladder.
2024 has come to an end, and so too has the first year of ID Check: Payment Professionals. Payment Expert looked back on some of the best answers of the year for each question, as financial leaders, lower-level employees and everyone else in between shared their stories on their come up through the industry.
Where did you go to university and what did you study? What impact did this have on your current journey?
Philip Harding: Reflecting on my university years, two key elements stood out.
The first is that while I thoroughly enjoyed studying law, I quickly realised it wasn’t the right path for me and pivoted in a different direction. I did a similar transition during my career, taking the leap from logistics to payments. Later on, the move from a global corporate, where I worked for 12 years, to Cashflows, a smaller scale acquirer, felt like a similarly big change, although the sector was the same.
Teresa Cameron: I didn’t go to university. Instead, I left college after my A-levels and got a job with a trading firm based at the London International Futures Exchange (LIFFE) – I call it my ‘University of LIFFE’.
Here I worked full time in the finance team, rotating across teams while studying at evening and weekend classes for my accountancy qualifications. This gave me fantastic real-world experience and helped with my studies, as I was able to put what I was learning into practice on the job.
Ignas Dovidonis: I completed my bachelor and master’s degrees at Vilnius University Business School, focusing on Business Finance and Sustainable Corporate Finance and Investments. My education offered me a comprehensive understanding of corporate finance, exploring the intricacies of financial structures, ownership, and relevant legislation.
Were you part of any sports clubs or societies at university and has this influenced your educational and professional development?
Parker Crockford: I spent many years wrestling, immersing myself in the discipline and challenges this sport offered. This experience not only shaped my character but also instilled in me invaluable qualities that have greatly influenced both my educational journey and professional trajectory.
Lucy Griffin: A lot of rowing! I rowed in and captained my college’s first eight and then went on to row for the university, competing in the Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race twice.
Training for and competing in the Boat Race was one of the most gruelling and rewarding experiences that I’ve ever had. Rain or shine – but most often in howling winds – we trained on the Ouse in Ely before lectures and then again in the evening on rowing machines or in the weights gym. Relentlessly and single mindedly chasing a goal helped me to develop resilience that I’ve carried forward into my career.
Brad Hyett: When I arrived at university, my big passion in life was playing the saxophone. Disappointingly, none of the groups that I met at the time needed a saxophone player. This taught me an important lesson – that if there isn’t anyone out there looking for your skills, you need to go out there and set up an opportunity for yourself.
As a result, I learned that hard work and hours of practice can lead to great results, regardless of natural talent.
Did you have any jobs outside of the industry before making your start in it and was this experience a motivation to get into the industry you aspired to be in?
Brian Gaynor: My career has meandered through life assurance, online services, telecoms and now core payments. I’ve always had a background in technology, which has morphed into product.
When I look back on my career, payments have always been involved: In my life assurance days I had the monthly task of uploading the direct debits to Bacstel, working for AOL it was how to authorise card payments more efficiently online, and then in telecoms how to provide buy online and pick up in store. All these times involved solving payments use cases.
Alex Reddish: During my education, yes. I started my first job picking fruit at the age of 13 for £2.17 an hour. I worked until university and then started my first role in payments the summer of my graduation.
Anna Moore: I worked in a local pub in Henley-on-Thames, which is famous for the Henley Regatta, where I also did a lot of work in hospitality at the event. In addition, I taught English as a foreign language teacher in a summer school in Reading when I was a student.
These jobs helped me to realise my strengths, which are to build relationships with people, and also to understand the absolute importance of the customer, whether they are internally or externally facing.
What was the first job you had in the industry and are there any lessons from this you still draw on?
Laurent Descout: I started in Barcelona as an analyst in a Tax Leverage Lease firm. The role was very niche, technical and at times intense, but I had the chance to start under the leadership of a very bright boss.
This helped to garner some of the skills that I needed to start Neo. During my nine years in the company, I learnt the importance of mastering a topic matter and becoming a specialist. It is impossible to become a specialist in a certain area without putting the time in.
Etika Chopra: My first job in the industry was the Control and Oversight Officer role in a fintech company. This position really shaped my work ethos – my manager at the time taught essential values like taking pride in my work and not letting anyone push me over.
These lessons have remained with me throughout my career, reinforcing the importance of integrity, self-respect, and resilience in the face of challenges.
Coral Kratenstein: My first job in the fintech industry was at PayPal, which I often refer to as the “best fintech school in the world”. I learned the importance of customer-centricity and innovation in building and marketing payment solutions.
One of the key lessons I still draw on is the value of agility – the ability to quickly adapt to market trends and regulatory changes, a principle that remains critical as I build the Product Marketing function from the ground-up at OpenPayd.
Who was your biggest role model outside of the payments industry who continues to inspire you in your current career?
Saeed Soheily: I’ve been fortunate to learn from a whole range of inspirational figures, like Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet and Sheryl Sandberg, as well as some of my past bosses.
From Jobs, I’ve learned the importance of innovation, simplicity, and maintaining a strong cash position for investments. Buffett’s value investing principles and long-term mindset have also been invaluable lessons.
Claire Gates: Outside of the payments industry, my biggest role model is my sister, who pursued a completely different career path in medicine. She is a senior oncologist consultant, who has dedicated her whole career to her patients and the NHS, many of whom are facing life-changing decisions every day.
Despite her intense work she unfailingly remains positive, encouraging, and is great fun to be around. Despite our different career paths, her dedication to making a difference in people’s lives motivates me to strive for impact in my own field.
Vijay Oddiraju: I admire figures like Larry Ellison for his visionary execution, Elon Musk for his brilliance, and Jeff Bezos for his business acumen.
Outside of payments, I’m captivated by the innovations happening in fields like space travel, quantum computing, the metaverse, AI, and autonomous vehicles. I often say that if humanity can eliminate nuclear arms and avoid creating anything that could threaten our existence, our potential is limitless. I envision us exploring the universe, expanding across galaxies, travelling in spaceships, and maybe even achieving immortality.
When was your first big break in the payments industry? Why was this such a significant moment for you?
Nelson Castellanos: It’s hard to pinpoint an exact moment here but for me, if I had to pick, it was when I got to design and deliver a full embedded insurance programme from scratch; taking a company with a legacy programme and offering them something new.
It was a newly established company that was in the market for only about a year. When I joined, I built a full distribution team, helped define the product price, and brought it all together. Delivering a programme from scratch? That’s when you feel like ‘this is a huge breakthrough’.
Jarrad Hubble: The second big break came when the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) approached me through a head-hunter. At this point, I had been in my job for about five to six years and had gone from knowing nothing about foreign exchange and payments to becoming quite knowledgeable, so the fact that a major bank specifically sought me out based on recommendations and the success of the growing business was a huge confidence boost. They wanted me to join them and share insights on how fintechs were thriving and what they were doing well.
Pedro Batista: When I secured my first global head remit at a payments firm. This was a pivotal moment for me because it represented a vote of confidence from shareholders and founders, entrusting me with a broad scope of responsibilities and the freedom to chart my own strategic path.
More importantly, being entrusted with such a global mandate fueled my passion for making a lasting impact. This moment marked the beginning of my journey to create meaningful and enduring change in the payments landscape, driving me to continuously pursue excellence and innovation in all aspects of my career.
Was there a moment you faced in the industry that really challenged you? How did you overcome this?
Sofia Cormack: When I first joined Visa Cross-Border Solutions about four years ago, I was immediately thrown into a project to replace five payment routes, aiming to significantly improve our clients’ experience. The deadline was tight, and I found myself onboarding a new team, learning about the business, and trying to bring everyone along on this journey all at once.
The biggest lesson I learned was the power of collective effort over individual work. I relied heavily on many brilliant colleagues who taught me about the company, our products, delivery, and our clients. It was a stressful period, but I wouldn’t change it.
Ryta Zasiekina: When the war started, it forced a lot of people to reassess their situations. Many companies had Ukrainian employees, Ukrainian engineers were involved in numerous IT projects for various companies. Businesses had to swiftly make decisions to mitigate the risks to their operations.
In times of uncertainty, businesses are often faced with unpredictable risks. While diversifying is a common strategy, when faced with uncertainty, there are typically two courses of action.
Mayuel Wattecamps: I’ve built more than 10 teams from scratch and changed positions many times. The main challenge has always been to make sure each member of my team is at the right place and in a position to succeed.
In my career the biggest challenge is ongoing – building the Mangopay marketing team by merging people from different companies, countries, cultures, backgrounds and ways of working.
Lastly, what is some advice you would give to an aspiring person looking to get a start in your respective industry?
Maff Gibson: Don’t let any preconceptions of “what sort of person works in payments/finance…” get in your way – organisations like this need diversity in terms of backgrounds, experience, and ways of thinking to prosper.
Never stop asking questions, and don’t stay in your lane – curiosity is a real edge. Finally, look for something that isn’t just a job but a mission that brings out the best in you.
Nirav Patel: Also be prepared for challenges. The field often requires problem-solving and adapting to new technologies or unexpected results in your projects.
Networking is also a crucial aspect of success – ensure you continue to connect with professionals and colleagues in the industry. There is both mutual benefit and interdependence in the payments sphere.
Jeff Parker: Finally, when decisions need to be made, being clear about how the decision will be made and who is the final decision maker is crucial. Flexibility is normally a virtue, but when push comes to shove, it’s key that teams know who to look to for a decision, and have confidence in the decision-making process.