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Leaders In Payments
Leaders In Payments
Women Leaders in Payments: Serena Smith, Chief Client Officer at i2c | Episode 408
What happens when the primary users of an industry's products aren't well-represented in its leadership? Serena Smith, Chief Client Officer at i2c, tackles this fundamental question in a fascinating exploration of women's influence in the payments ecosystem.
The stark reality? Women drive 85% of consumer purchases across categories but hold only 27% of C-suite positions in financial services. This disconnect creates a leadership opportunity that Serena has embraced throughout her remarkable career journey, which began in a bank's mailroom and led to executive roles spanning global payment operations.
Serena shares the pivotal risk that transformed her career trajectory - pitching a new remittance processing business directly to FIS's executive team when her position was threatened by an acquisition. This bold move not only saved her job but catapulted her career forward, embodying her philosophy that calculated risk-taking and authentic leadership are essential for success.
Her battle with cancer represents another transformative chapter, reshaping how she approaches leadership: "I'm not the same person I was before cancer. I'm stronger, wiser, more alive." This experience taught her to lead with purpose, gratitude, and a heightened awareness of what truly matters.
As payments become increasingly personalized, Serena emphasizes that tomorrow's successful payment solutions must adapt to consumers rather than the reverse. At i2c, she helps clients navigate this evolution through a flexible technology stack that supports global payment processing needs across 90+ countries.
For aspiring women leaders, Serena's advice is clear: own your story, recognize your unique perspective as strength, develop deep business knowledge, and both seek and provide mentorship. The future of payments needs diverse voices at the table, especially from those who understand consumer needs firsthand.
Welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast, where we talk to C-level leaders from across the payments landscape. We'll be discussing the products and services that impact the payment space today, as well as trends and predictions for the future of payments. We will also hear stories from our guests about their journeys to the top.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast. I'm your host, greg Myers, and this episode is part of our Women Leaders in Payments month, something we do every year in the month of July, and it's one of my favorite times of the year. This year's theme is redefining leadership, influence, impact and innovation. So those are some of the things you're going to be hearing about during the month of July. So first, a special thank you to our sponsors. Our title sponsor is WorldPay, our participating sponsors are VisiPay and PayRock, and our episode sponsors are the Clearinghouse and Genico and PaySafe. So special thanks to those companies. So for this episode, I'm super excited. We have a very special guest, serena Smith, who is the Chief Client Officer at I2C. So, serena, thank you so much for being on the show today and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, greg, and it's such an important month for us here in payments and thanks for including me.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So let's kick things off with a little fun question to kind of get going. So if you could have dinner with any woman in history, past or present, who would it be and why and what type of restaurant would you go to?
Speaker 3:Okay, the restaurant was the easy one.
Speaker 3:Picking one woman was a little bit harder for me. So you know, as I thought about that, margaret Thatcher is one that I would pick. You know those who don't know her maybe she is the first female and longest running prime minister of the UK. The thing I loved about her is she ran for office three times before she actually became the prime minister, so I loved her grit. I love the fact that she never gave up. I also love that she was known as the iron lady and she was really hardheaded.
Speaker 3:So if you get to know me for about five minutes, you find out that I'm hard-headed as well, and so I would just like to kind of understand kind of where she got her motivations from, how she survived through it still is a male-dominated space that she was in politics there and how that worked for her. I would just love to hear her story and her journey and what kept her on that path. And look, I live in Texas and this is the state for steaks and I love steaks, and as I did a little bit of research on her, what I found was she loved steaks as well and she was high protein, and so I would find a perfect steakhouse here in Texas and that's where we would go.
Speaker 2:So, serena, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about your background and your career, maybe just a snapshot of your career background, where you grew up, where you studied and what led you into payments.
Speaker 3:All right, awesome. So I grew up in Georgia, just south of Atlanta, and when I went to school, I went to school for accounting. I thought I wanted to be an accountant, but as I finished up my studies I very quickly realized that was not the path for me. Wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I went to work for a bank, ncmb. You may remember that they're now part of Bank of America through their various acquisitions now part of Bank of America through their various acquisitions.
Speaker 3:But I was working in the back office there at NCMB and I tell everybody you either love working in a bank or you don't. I loved it. I also like to tell everybody that I started out in the mailroom, because that's close to being true. I started out in the remittance processing area, opening mail, and moved from there to QA and IP. I remember pulling signature cards for those who remember the old paper signature cards that we had so I just embraced it. I loved the operations, I loved the bank, I love the financial industry and really started working my way up into different positions, which led me to be able to transfer to St Louis and then eventually get here to Dallas, where I am today.
Speaker 3:So I've been here for about 20 years or so and through that journey I started out in the back office but, you know, slowly made my way to the front office by managing businesses.
Speaker 3:So, through the various acquisitions that happened that we're all familiar with here in the FI space and payment space, eventually my company, which was Aurum Technology at the time, got bought by FIS and I had 16 years there where I was very blessed with being able to work in various positions, whether that was running the debit business, which I did for a period of time I actually stood up our chief client office that is there still today and then the last three years there I worked in our international payment space, so I was responsible for all of international payments, which was all payments outside of the US as well as real time payments globally, what really helped me to grow in different parts of my leadership. It gave me very good experiences through different parts of the organization, but after 16 years it was time to do something a little bit different, and so that eventually led me here to I2C, where I am today. I've been here for about three and a half years.
Speaker 1:You know what I?
Speaker 3:would say is I love payments and I've been very blessed along the way as I've been able to do various things.
Speaker 2:Great. So another fun question along the way, as I've been able to do various things. Great. So another fun question If you're going to be at a conference and they're inviting you up on stage and you have your hype song, what would that hype song be?
Speaker 3:I actually love this question. The song that I would pick is Believer by Imagine Dragons, and the reason that I would pick that is because, if you listen to the lyrics, that I would pick that is because if you listen to the lyrics, it talks about how you're shaped by your experiences, and the lyrics suggest that, although it talks about pain, pain is something that, or suffering, is something that everybody's going to experience and it leads towards transformation that we go through and it kind of shapes who we are. I also love that it talks about empowerment and it helps forge our resilience and our identity that we have, and ultimately the song implies that true strength and clarity come from enduring and overcoming adversity. And so, as I think about my career, I think about just my life experiences. One, I just love the song, but two, I like that it kind of speaks to a lot of us and how we're all going to go through stuff, whether that's personal or career-wise, and that shapes who we ultimately become, and so that's why I would pick that.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, it's a great song. Love that song. So, if you don't mind, tell us a little bit about your role at I2C, kind of maybe a little about what I2C does, what your role is and what excites you about your role there.
Speaker 3:Okay, so I'll start with what I2C does first. So when you think about I2C, I would say that we are the best kept secret in the payment space. We've been around for 20 plus years, and when you think about I2C, think about card issuing and all of the services that go around card as well, as we've recently deployed a payments hub and core banking solutions. So when you think about those services and products that the FI space is really looking to invest in and they need for their organizations, i2c really has the tech of the future that helps them to accomplish that, has the tech of the future that helps them to accomplish that. The other thing that I'll mention about I2C, and the thing that really brought me to the company, was our tech stack. So we have a tech stack that can move around the world with our clients. So we have a number of fintech partners that have global payment processing needs that we are providing the services for. So we have customers that are in 90 plus different countries on the same tech stack with the same experience that they're providing to their consumers, no matter where they are around the globe, and that, to me, is the most exciting thing about I2C.
Speaker 3:Now, what I do. Here is my job as the chief client officer is I actually lead our global account management team and our implementation team, so the easiest way to describe it is I am responsible for ensuring, after the client is sold, that that experience that they have with I2C is a positive one. So we're engaged with the partnership in whole, making sure that we understand what our customers need. They understand what we can provide and we work together to deploy that for them. That's the easiest way to describe it.
Speaker 3:What I would also say is you know, when you think about what's most exciting is you know the change that's happening in the market, and so when we were working with our clients, you know part of this is also understanding, like how they're adapting. You know it's not just how we're adapting, but how are we adapting our products to meet their needs, and so when we're working with our clients, I think they're one of the best sources of information on the change that's happening in the market or what they're looking to deliver from a consumer standpoint, and so one of the things that I love is we're not hindered by a lot of legacy technology, so when our customers have something that they want to deploy to meet the new, whatever that is in the market. I2c has the flexibility in order to deliver that and part of my role is to make sure I understand what that is and how I2C can provide those solutions to them.
Speaker 2:Okay, great Thanks for sharing that. So let's talk a little bit about leadership. So, as you well know, leadership is evolving. Every day, every year, every decade. Leadership is changing. So what do you think leadership means today and sort of, how do you embody that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I think you know, when I think about modern leadership, it really is about being adaptable and being authentic. So it's less about top-down decision-making and it's more about listening, learning, uplifting others and also understanding. I think sometimes we forget about that last part, and I think that's such an important part for us. You know, I've always tried to lead by example. You know, I try to bring clarity into what we're doing. Why we're doing that, building trust and really just showing up for people, whether that's our clients or our teams and showing up in a way that's both strategic but also human. We're people. At the end of the day, we're just all people trying to get a particular job done. Modern leadership for me is more about creating a culture where others can lead. You know, it's not just I'm a leader today and I'm always going to be a leader. Part of our job is to help others feel empowered. They need to feel empowered to innovate, speak up and challenge what we do, because that's how we become better.
Speaker 3:And today is such a different workplace than it was whenever I first started out. So most of our staff are remote, so there's flexibility that comes with that, but there's also challenges that come with that. So creating those relationships with people that are all spread out, it does require you to be intentional and available, and so that's something that I also try to do all the time intentionally work with people, engage with them and make myself available. And you know, the last thing I'll just mention is in this new world of AI. I spent a lot of time just trying to understand, like, what does that mean? What's the applicability for that to us? How do we pull that in? Because there's so many great things sometimes scary, but so many great things that are happening with AI. It's how do we make our jobs better and easier, and also not just for our staff, but for our clients as well.
Speaker 2:Well, during your career, was there a decision or a defining moment that really stands out? I call them like the aha moment, like really made a difference in, maybe, your career. That's that one decision or that one moment in time.
Speaker 3:So I think there were really two and I'll walk through both of those. So the first one is I'm not the same person that I was before cancer. So I'm stronger, I'm wiser, I'm more alive. I look at things differently than I did before I went through that process, things differently than I did before I went through that process. That entire experience really reshaped me and how I view the world moving forward. So I've learned to really cherish, you know, the quiet moments, to speak with purpose and to live with just fierce gratitude. And you know this is really my second chance and I'm trying to live it to the fullest extent now, having gone through that experience. It really helped me to find my voice and courage.
Speaker 3:So I'm not the same leader that I was before I went through that and I think the decision that really changed my career in a different way. So I mentioned a little bit at the beginning I worked for a company called Aurum Technology. We got bought by FIS and really quickly after we were bought they also bought a company called Intercept. So now you had Aurum and Intercept, who basically did the exact same things. And at that point I was running our central region and I looked around and guess what, these IP managers, which I was regional managers, were a dime a dozen.
Speaker 3:So I'm looking around and I'm thinking, yeah, all of us can't stay with what we have, so I needed to do something really different.
Speaker 3:I needed to reinvent myself, and so I still can't believe I did it but what I did was I kind of fed off of my previous experience with remittance in the back office. I put together a business plan to launch remittance processing at FIS. I actually set up a meeting with our entire executive team at FIS. At the time we were all headquartered in, or they were headquartered in, orlando. I flew to Orlando. They all showed up for the meeting.
Speaker 3:So if you can imagine, you've got Gary Norcross and the rest of the team, I think they were shocked at like what is this girl coming in to tell me? Like, what is she doing? So they all showed up to see, you know, to hear what I wanted to present. I pitched them my idea and they allowed me to move forward. And so just in a few short months after that, I'm leading our remit division. I've sold our largest account and I think it's still the largest account they have at FIS today, and now we're implementing it. So that to me, I think, was the decision and the experience that really shaped who you know, my career as I started to evolve. Because then, guess what, Everybody knew who I was, the executive team knew who I was I was able to go launch this new division. It became very successful and, you know, without that I think I would have been one of the many IP leaders who didn't make it through. You know that acquisition.
Speaker 2:So, would you say, the moral of that story is be willing to take chances.
Speaker 3:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:Love it. So what's something that you believe female leaders bring to the table that our industry needs more of?
Speaker 3:So I would say the top three things that come to mind are really empathy, perspective and a collaborative mindset. I think there's an approach to solving problems that requires you know balancing vision with context. And in a space like payments, which is becoming more consumer driven and experience led, these qualities aren't just soft qualities, they're strategic qualities that we all need to embrace. So, per TechCrunch, in the US, women account for 85 percent of the purchases that are made across various categories 85% of the purchases that are made across various categories. Yet when you look at women in the financial industry, we make up 52% of the total headcount. However, only 27% of women are in C-suite roles.
Speaker 1:So when you think about the users so we're the primary users.
Speaker 3:However you think about the leaders in this space, we're the minority. Okay, so I've always been fascinated by the fact that women are the primary users, yet most of them are designed by men. Yet most of them are designed by men. So I'll tell you a quick story. So years ago, I hosted Tom Peters. He was the author of the Little Big Things and he told a story of how men and women shop.
Speaker 3:Man goes to the mall to buy a black pair of pants. He goes to the store that he knows he likes, he buys the black pair of pants and he goes to the store that he knows he likes, he buys the black pair of pants and he leaves the mall. A woman goes to the mall to buy a black pair of pants and she goes to, you know, multiple stores. She's got to look at her options, and I can relate to all this. She has to look at her options. She tries them on and on.
Speaker 3:You know, as we're going along the way, we're going to buy two shirts, a pair of earrings, maybe a purse and some shoes before we ever get to our original goal, which was to buy the black pants. And so when you think about how different we are from a shopping perspective. You know you got to think about the tools and the mechanisms and the experiences that we're creating. So now that was before 2020. And I know things have changed a bit since then, you know, and more and more is done online, but I think you know the same premise of how we're different and how we approach it is exactly the same and so you know.
Speaker 3:I think, as we think about how women really influence, we have to remember that women are the majority users of a lot of these products that we are defining, and we have to keep that in mind.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I am definitely the man that goes to the mall to buy the black pants and runs out the door as fast as possible.
Speaker 3:You and my husband both.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's funny. So let's talk about innovation and influence. So, as you know, and you've mentioned it, this payment space is just incredibly fast changing and moving. So how do you stay innovative as a leader?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think you have to stay grounded. So I work really hard at just staying grounded, being updated by listening to our clients, the teams that I have around me and the market. Innovation isn't always about chasing trends, but it's about anticipating the real needs and removing friction from that. So the reason I moved to I2C is that our platform was designed for just that the flexibility that allows us to evolve as the market and our clients do. That mindset influences how I lead.
Speaker 3:I've got to stay curious, which I love. I love the payments industry. It's always changing. I'm always curious about who's developing what next, or what that product looks like or how it works. I'm a super user for a lot of different things because I want to just experience that and my team will tell you. I ask a lot of questions so you know everything that we do. It's always you know. What's the benefit for that, why are we doing that, what's the impact, what does that look like? You've got to question by default. Just don't take things at face value. You've got to understand them and I encourage people to really experiment, right? I mean, a lot of times leaders aren't open to allowing their folks to take chances and you know, as you heard from my story early on, I'm all about taking risks. Let's understand what that risk. You know what are the repercussions for that. Can we overcome them? If the answer is yes, let's move it forward and let's see what that looks like.
Speaker 2:Okay, so what's one change or trend in the industry that you're really paying attention to right now?
Speaker 3:It's really around the continued personalization and payments. So consumers, especially the younger generation, expect the products to adapt to them more so than any other time in our history. So if you think about it 25 years ago, you know consumers had no say in the payments products that were being developed. The bank, would you know? Banks gave us ATMs. Bank gave us digital banking. You took what they gave us. Banks gave us ATMs. Bank gave us digital banking. You took what they gave us. Today there are tons of options and consumers are really driving that innovation.
Speaker 3:You know, when we did our recent top-of-the-wallet study. It shows that rewards and cookie-cutter offers alone aren't enough anymore. What's driving loyalty is flexibility, control and tailoring to meet your needs. I'm a sucker for that. All day long you give me something that meets my needs and makes it easy. I'm all in for that. And that's really where ITC thrives helping issuers really deliver those experiences that are relevant, scalable and fast to market.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you mentioned something there. I have a 21-year-old daughter who everything is on the phone right Rarely is she in front of a computer and if there's any friction, if there's anything that makes it a challenge no matter what it is, but especially financial things she just moves on to the next thing. I mean she's not going to sit there and try to figure it out, right.
Speaker 3:That's right. Yeah, it's typical, and it gets even worse as we look at what's the new generation, Gen Alpha, Is that the new one? So you know I look at my granddaughter, she's 11. She loves to come over here because she likes to utilize my phone and, to your point, if she runs into an ad or something that you know isn't working, she immediately Gigi, can I download this other thing, Because she's done with that application, she's ready to move on to the next one.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's crazy. So, when you think about women leaders, how can they influence the future direction of our industry?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So as I previously mentioned, you know the TechCrunch study, women are making 85 percent of the primary purchasing that they do in their households. So when you think about that, if we're the ultimate majority user of payments. More women should be making decisions around what's being built and deployed in the marketplace. We need more women in product shaping, that strategy, the product design and the investment decision.
Speaker 3:Women leaders we're uniquely positioned to advocate for more inclusivity and accessibility of financial tools such as, you know, the new fintechs that are trying to meet the underserved market. And our voices also challenge the legacy thinking. You know, we need to be brave, we need to be brave, we need to be courageous, we need to be open to sharing our thoughts, because we all have a voice and we need to make sure that we use that. So, when we lead with both innovation and empathy, we create better outcomes for users, companies and the communities.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's switch gears a little bit, really pushing mentors, being a mentor and also looking for mentors, right.
Speaker 3:So I think we all have a role to play with that, and one of the things I would encourage women is, when you're, you should have multiple mentors, and mentors should be men and women, so not just women helping women. I think that's very important, but because it's still a space where women are still the minority when it comes to leadership positions, we need to have men that are also mentors to help us understand how they're thinking as we move up the ladder, and I think that's been critical for me as well not only having women mentors, but having men mentors, and so I encourage everybody that I talk to and work with to have both as well. As you know, don't just be a mentee, you need to be a mentor. We all need to be pulling up those that are coming behind us.
Speaker 3:But I will tell you, the one woman that immediately comes to mind as you asked me this question is a lady Janice Gowers. She was one of the first female managers that I ever had, and she actually very start of my career, as I'm starting to grow in leadership positions. Not only was she able, or she tried, to guide me, but she also gave me opportunities where she saw more in me than what I saw in myself, than what I saw in myself. She gave me opportunities for roles which, quite frankly, I don't know that I was ready for, but she believed that I was ready for, and so over time my career actually excelled past her role. But her and I became friends that could never be replaced.
Speaker 3:So not only was she my mentor, but she was also my friend, and without her I also don't think I would be where I am today. But there are so many women that have influenced my life and career. She's the one that stands out because she was at the very beginning of that and she really helped encourage me as I was growing. It's difficult to narrow down that list, but I really admire women who are writing their own stories, not following the status quo, not trying to be like someone else, not trying to play someone else's game, and they're having the courage to take risk. I mean, what's the worst that's going to happen?
Speaker 1:You know when I flew to Orlando.
Speaker 3:the worst that was going to happen is they said no, so what did I have to lose? It's you know, it's all about taking risk and utilizing your voice to do that.
Speaker 2:One thing I'd like to double click on the mentorship thing, and I think people feel like there has to be this structured program of mentorship. And I think it's kind of an old school way of thinking, right, where you relied on your company that you worked for and a lot of big companies have programs, but there's also a lot of medium and small companies in our space that they don't have formal mentorship programs, right. But I think with today's technology, people like LinkedIn and other ways to communicate with people, I feel like there's like it's much easier to find mentors. So just kind of curious your thoughts on that.
Speaker 3:So it's interesting that you brought that up, because the structured mentorship programs that I've been a part of haven't worked as well as the unstructured ones.
Speaker 3:So whenever you have the set time and you're kind of working with somebody and it's very formal, yeah, you can get out a little bit out of it, they can get out a little bit out of it. But for me, mentorship is you have to develop a relationship with them. They have to get to know you, you have to get to know them. You develop that over time and trust and it's you know. To me it becomes more critical to your success when it is unstructured, because now you've developed this resource that you have where you can go and talk to them at any time. You can run things by them. I haven't met one woman or man who I've worked with that hasn't appreciated that or taken the call whenever I've given that to them. I will also say that there's tons of organizations for women, like PayTech Women, which I was on the board of for several years. That does offer ability to be a part of a mentor program, structured and unstructured.
Speaker 3:So they have a database of women who you can look at and you can actually reach out to them directly to see if they would be your mentor. And what's important, as you're looking for a mentor, for me was finding people above and below you, because they have different perspectives, as well as finding people in the role that you want to move to, so that they can help you understand what that role actually looks like. So what I would encourage everyone who's listening to this is don't be afraid to ask.
Speaker 3:Lots of people want to be mentors but they don't really know how. They don't know how to like approach that. Or you know they I wouldn't call you, greg, and say, hey, can I be your mentor? Right? But you know, a lot of people might feel intimidated to say, you know, to call you and say, would you be mine? And so let's don't be afraid to do that and let's make sure that we have lots of different people we're reaching out to at lots of different levels to give us a really rounded view.
Speaker 2:This is maybe a similar question, but curious what your answer will be. If you could give the next generation of female leaders in our space just one piece of advice, what would that be?
Speaker 3:Well, hopefully you've learned in the last 20, 30 minutes. I can't give one piece of advice. I have multiple things. So I would start with you have to own your own story. It's your journey, yours alone. You have to own it. Your perspective is your strength. Don't let anyone diminish that or fit you into a mold. Learn the business that you're in. I cannot stress this one enough Understanding the why behind decisions gives you both power and credibility. This is so important. And finally, what we've been talking about, greg you have to find mentors and become one. The next generation is watching us and how we show up. And leadership isn't just about your life. It's about the impact that you make on others.
Speaker 2:Well, we're going to wrap up with one more fun question. So when you look at your phone, what app do you use the most? That is not business related and why.
Speaker 3:This is a very embarrassing question to answer. I will start by saying I'm totally addicted to my phone. I'm always on my phone but, to your point, it's not answering your question. I'm always checking email. I'm always on Teams. I'm always doing business related stuff. I'm right now playing a lot with AI. I'm trying to understand what some of the tools are, what works, what doesn't work. So most used app. So I will tell you so at night. Okay, after I've been addicted to my phone all day, all of the business stuff I spent about five minutes on social media and then I have this little puzzle game on my phone and I will play that until I unwind from the day and I'm ready to go to sleep. So yeah, it's a little game, but I have on my phone.
Speaker 2:That's great. That's great Glad you shared that. So we're going to wrap up the show. I just want to make sure that we've covered everything you wanted to. Is there anything else you'd like to add before we wrap up the show?
Speaker 3:I just want to thank you, greg. I've had a lot of fun talking to you. I'm so excited about July and what you do here for women and I would just encourage everybody listening to this, male or female. Let's just lift everybody up. Let's embrace what's happening in the payments market and I can't wait to see what's next.
Speaker 2:Okay, great, I think that's a great way to close out. So, serena, thank you so much for your time. I know it's very valuable, so I really appreciate you being here today.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:And to all your listeners out there. I thank you as well. Until the next story.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us this week on the Leaders in Payments podcast. Make sure you visit our website at leadersinpaymentscom, where you can subscribe to the show and where you'll find our show notes. If you enjoyed listening, please share on your social channels as well.