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Leaders In Payments
Leaders In Payments
Paytech Women Leadership Summit Day 2 | Episode 448
Recorded live from the PayTech Women Leadership Summit in Atlanta, this episode brings together an inspiring cross-section of executives, founders, coaches, and industry veterans who are shaping the human side of leadership in payments and fintech. A special thank you to our episode sponsor, Global Payments.
Across fast, heartfelt conversations, one thread is impossible to miss: influence grows when community grows. You’ll hear how clarity of purpose fuels confidence, why intentional relationships compound over time, and how investing in your own presence, skills, and courage creates opportunities that span roles, companies, and career chapters.
Valissa Pierre-Louis opens by grounding influence in self-awareness - truly understanding the value you bring and aligning your strengths to what the business needs most. She underscores the power of relationships that amplify that value. Outhay Lovan builds on that with a call to boldness, especially for those who don’t see themselves as natural extroverts. Her message is simple: step into discomfort, expand your network, and watch your impact grow.
Executive presence takes center stage with Eileen Nebhut, who highlights the importance of coaching, feedback, and stakeholder support systems. She notes that the Summit’s unique “vibe” comes from leaders who intentionally pay it forward. Audrey Blackmon emphasizes being intentional with time and staying rooted in authenticity and integrity - two qualities she sees as non-negotiable for long-term influence.
From the organizational lens, Dr. Gail Burgos encourages women to take risks, stretch beyond their functional lanes, and embrace curiosity as a pathway to growth. FIS’s Kristen Slink brings a powerful distinction between mentorship and sponsorship, urging women to advocate for one another and elevate voices not yet in the room.
Margie Kreutz adds a powerful mindset shift—reframing “risk” as courage—and reminds women that staying too long in a comfortable role can quietly stall advancement, while brave, timely moves create momentum and open doors.
Longtime industry leader Linda Perry reminds professionals to stay deeply informed—follow the trends, read widely, and understand the ecosystem so you can chart where you want to go. And to close, Jonathan O’Connor spotlights the magic of “playing in traffic” - putting yourself in the flow of conversations, peers, and opportunity during a moment of massive industry transformation.
If you care about accelerating your career, building meaningful connections, or leading with purpose in a competitive, fast-changing landscape, this episode offers practical insights you can put into motion today.
Hello and welcome to the Leaders in Payments Podcast. I'm your host, Greg Myers, and today we're podcasting from the PayTech Women's Leadership Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. We've got a huge lineup of great guests today, and I want to give a special shout out to our sponsor, Global Payments. So with that, on to the show. Our first guest is Valissa Pierre-Louis.
SPEAKER_07:Hi, I'm Valisa Pierre-Louis, a leadership strategist and executive coach, but also the founder of Standout Career Guide. And yeah, I've been in payments for 25 plus years as an executive in startups and financial institutions. Now I serve the industry in a different way as an executive coach.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, great. So two questions. First one, what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_07:Absolutely understand the value that they bring to an organization. So what those strengths are, how those strengths align with the strategic priorities of the business so that they can find opportunities for mutual success. Okay. And in doing so, make sure that they establish relationships that help them amplify those strengths and the values, the value that they bring to the business, the strategic value.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, I love that. I think that's great advice. So, last question what do you think makes the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for professionals in payments?
SPEAKER_07:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_04:It's a long list, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_07:Yes, it is. It's so close to my heart, too. If I had to pick just one thing, it's the community of women here that from the leadership to the people that attend this conference, everyone is so generous with what they know, what they have, and it creates this space where we're willing to be vulnerable with one another, to ask for that help, and we're all willing to give it. And the organization not only continues to grow its membership in women, but its membership in allyship. So the men that support women and take it to their organizations and give more than lip service, but actually they're putting leaders in those higher roles on their executive teams, and they're speaking about PayTech Women and its its value. And so this year was a great example of us in the leadership understanding that there's leadership, and then now in this time of AI, that it's us leading through the technology and helping everyone understand it's not taking our jobs. We just want to learn how to leverage it, work with it, and create new opportunities and new ways of working.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Well, Valisa, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time.
SPEAKER_07:Thank you so much, Greg.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_04:Our next guest is Otai Levon.
SPEAKER_01:Otai Lavon, Chief People Strategy Officer at Visipay.
SPEAKER_04:Great. So two quick questions. First one, what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. So, Greg, I was on a podcast with you prior. Um, I would say the same thing. Be bold. Be bold, take risks. Um, you know, for me, I'm not a natural extrovert. I'm not a social butterfly, although it may seem like I am. I'm actually an introvert. That's my natural um for me. And so to get out there out of my comfort zone is something that has helped me grow and expand my network.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. So last question. What do you think makes the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for professionals in payments?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's the community, the community of like-minded individuals. You know, we want each other to thrive. It's that supporting each other, it's the showing of the empathy. You know, you don't see that a lot in other conferences or trade shows. And so it's good to be around, surrounded by people, just have the same goal for each other.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Well, Otai, thank you so much for doing this. I really appreciate your time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, thanks.
SPEAKER_09:Thanks for having me again.
SPEAKER_04:Our next guest is Eileen Nebbitt.
SPEAKER_09:Eileen Nebit, CEO of Venus Rising.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome. So, two questions. First one, what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_09:I kind of feel like this is a trick question because I've been delivering sessions at this summit around executive presence. So I would say investing in themselves. There's lots of great coaches that are associated with PayTech Women. There's the Executive Impact 365 program that's available to them next year. So they've got lots of um coaching available. And I think it's always good to get a stakeholder group and to lean on others who know a little bit more about presence than they do to kind of help them grow their influence.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. So, final question. What do you think makes the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for professionals in payments?
SPEAKER_09:This summit has a vibe. It is, I think it's the leadership. I think it's, I think it's Gail all the way down. And this is a group of women who really want to pay it forward and to help each other and who are so smart. And every conversation I have had has been so valuable. And Gail asked us this morning to write down all of our takeaways and to email it to her. And I thought, I'm gonna have a book because it's just it's incredible women who have come in from international uh places and all over the US, and just very, very impressive. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Well, Eileen, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. You're welcome. Thank you. Our next guest is Audrey Blackman.
SPEAKER_03:Audrey Blackman. I am currently the senior enterprise sales executive for Euronet worldwide, and I have 35 years in payments.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome. And we obviously know each other, so thank you for being here. So, quick question: what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_03:So I talk about this a lot, and thank you for that question. Um, you know, one of the things is be open and be intentional with what you do and your time. Uh, one of the things that's very important to us as professionals is our time. You know, it's priority, right? So be intentional with your time and make sure that you're taking care of yourself and your brand. So one of the things that I hang my hat on is I'm a great connector, but I also have integrity. That's all you know, first and foremost is integrity in what I do, and I'm authentic in what I do. So I can always be myself in any room.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome. So, last question. What do you think makes the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for professionals and payments?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's easy. Community. It's all about the connection, you know, opening up yourself to learn something new, opening up yourself to be connected with others. That's something that can last you a lifetime. And I think that this event is a great cross-section of women and men in our industry and it allows you to connect yourself in different parts of the industry and not just be single-threaded, right? And to be yourself and be authentic. And so for me, this event is a pinnacle event because it allows me to share with others, to uh learn and meet other people that I probably would not get a chance to meet, because a lot of our attendees, this may be the only show that they go to on an annual basis. So that it's their only exposure to this community. And so I think it's very, very important for people to participate for the next two days and enjoy being themselves. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Audrey, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you doing this.
SPEAKER_03:Well, thank you for the opportunity. Great to be here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you. Our next guest is Dr. Gail Burgos.
SPEAKER_06:First of all, good morning, good afternoon. Uh, I am Dr. Gail Burgos. I am the CEO of Pay Tech Women.
SPEAKER_04:I am so honored that you're here. Thank you so much, Gail.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_04:So, first question: what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_06:Oh, that is a loaded question, but if there's one that I need to narrow it down to, um, it's certainly to be a risk taker, not be afraid to grow your knowledge within your respective organization. Um, you're not departmentalized, you're not divisionalized. And if you are fortunate enough to be in a sizable organization that has multiple areas to go to, be curious, be a risk taker, take an opportunity to learn something new and not be comfortable because that's what makes you better. Uh, stretch yourself. And certainly that makes you, of course, more accessible for growth and grow up growth opportunities when those doors open.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Yeah. So, final question: what do you think makes the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for people in payments?
SPEAKER_06:It's it's the opportunity to come together once a year in a setting where you not only can reunite and rekindle and see other women and men uh across the industry in one place, but it's that camaraderie and that energy that you feel when you come into the room. It's that industry knowledge. The breakout sessions and the general sessions that we have are amazing. And it's also that ability to network and to connect with people outside of your community and outside of your corporation. Uh, the payment industry is vast, it's not just one particular space. And so it brings the summit allows you that opportunity to do that. So that's what's exciting about it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's it's been a great event for us. And before we go, I do want to thank you very, very much for allowing us to come do this at the event.
SPEAKER_06:It's been my honor and my pleasure. And thank you for being here.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, thank you, Gail. Really appreciate your time. Our next guest is Christy Slink.
SPEAKER_00:My name is Kristen Slank. I'm a FinTech Market Strategist for FIS.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome. So, first question: what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_00:Advocate for other women. And there's multiple ways that you can do that. So we talked a lot about sponsorship and mentoring here, which are incredibly different. So mentoring is more skill-related. So if you have someone that is doing something that you want to learn more about, get better about, that's typically where you seek out mentorship, someone who's done what you're looking to do. So you can learn from their experiences. Sponsorship is a little bit different. That comes kind of the opposite way. So someone who's typically in a higher leadership position is sponsoring someone who is in a lower position. So it's bringing their name up in rooms that they're not in. It's making sure that they have visibility in meetings, in conversations, that people know the work that they're doing. So mentorship's usually something that you seek out. Sponsorship is usually something that you get naturally from being yourself and being amazing in your organization and having someone really showcase that and tell other people about how amazing you are.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, great. So, last question. What do you think makes the PayTech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for professionals in payments?
SPEAKER_00:We in FinTech have a lot of events.
SPEAKER_04:We do.
SPEAKER_00:And it's a very male-dominated industry. So a conference like this, bringing women together to talk about leadership, provides us with a safe space. There's a lot of times where women won't ask questions in certain rooms if they don't feel like they are going to be respected or they think that the question may sound, you know, immature or something like that. So when you get women together, it's just a different vibe. It's very co-creative, right? We're here to advocate for one another. We're here to lift another up, and it's just in a safe place where we don't feel like we need to censor one another. So it's nice to have that variation. We're definitely industry events are great to attend with our peers, but when we get our own time where we see people that look like us on the stages as the majority, that's what makes this event really special.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you doing this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_04:Our next guest is Margie Kreutz.
SPEAKER_05:I'm Margie Kreutz. I work for JP Morgan Chase. I'm an executive director in the payment space there, and I've been there for 18 years.
SPEAKER_04:Wow, great. So, first question what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_05:Uh, we talked a lot about this in some of the sessions, um, taking risks, and I'm trying to flip my mindset about risk and changing that word to courage. So taking a courageous step, even if you're not certain, um, can be um give you so much advantage. And I think that there is risk in staying complacent in one role for too long. Um, I wish in my earlier part of my career um someone would have tapped me on the shoulder and said, you know, it's time for you to make a change. And and the reason I stayed in the position I was in is because I was doing well and I was enjoying it, and I had a good leader. Um, but in hindsight, I think that held me back from my next uh promotion a little bit.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Well, final question. What do you think makes the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for professionals in payments?
SPEAKER_05:The content is incredible. I have been coming to this conference for oh, probably seven or eight years now, and I'm still learning something new every time that I come. And second, or maybe even topping that is the connection. The connection we're making as women at this conference is just incredible.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Well, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Our next guest is Linda Perry.
SPEAKER_08:I'm Linda Perry. I am one of the co-founders of PayTech Women, formerly known as WNet. Uh, we've been in in uh in this uh arena for 20 years now, and we started with really very good friends. Different start, different places in the business. I was at Visa for 17 years. Uh, Diane was running a business uh for Chase Paymentech or Chase, and um Holly's an attorney. And we had various careers, but we came together because we were not only business partners, but we were friends, and we learned to work with each other, and we said, let's start something to help other women in the industry. And that's what we did.
SPEAKER_04:Awesome. So, two questions. The first one: what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_08:You know, somebody just asked me that question, and a very young person who started out at Viceerf. And I said, first of all, read everything you can in the papers, in digital transactions, in the green sheet, wherever you can find information about our business. Because if you start to follow the trends, what's going on, who's where, it'll help you figure out where you want to be, who your customers are, maybe a little more about them that you don't know today. And so I really encourage people to keep learning about the industry every way you can. And coming here is a great way to do that.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely. I think that's great advice. So, last question: what do you think makes the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for professionals in payments?
SPEAKER_08:You know, I think this event is really valuable for people because they get to be in person. You know, we sort of drifted away from in-person for a long time. We do a lot of Zoom things as well. But it's great to sort of be in touch with somebody to say, I know you, oh, I've seen your face and I know who you are, and I've heard your name. And so they can actually approach you and talk about, you know, what they want to talk about or ask a lot of questions. So the value, I think, is one, the personal interface that happens here. Two is the education we try to provide, whether it's about career advice or whether it's about the industry. And this year we really added a lot of industry topics, and we had some spectacular speakers, people you will not hear again. We're here this year, and we're gonna have to be it's gonna be interesting to top it next year.
SPEAKER_04:So I have to personally thank you because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. So thank you so much for inviting us and allowing us to do that.
SPEAKER_08:Well, thank you for being persistent about it and keeping calling me because I had a busy job trying to manage this affair. But people asked me, like today, they said, Are you, you know, are you on a do you have podcasts? Do you have TikTok? Do you are on Instagram? And I realize I'm not in that generation. And so I think podcasting is important to this upcoming generation, that we need to provide those kinds of services and values to them that that we didn't do before because it didn't matter. I mean, that just didn't exist. Right. So I think we're gonna have to, I'm excited about learning from what's going on here with you and from these kids who asked me these questions about TikTok or something, to say what do we do next to keep the momentum going, to keep the education going, to keep the networking going. I mean, I think it's so important to do that, to find ways to connect with each other, whether it's social media or some other kind of media, right? I think it's important to keep changing and keep moving on. So I appreciate you coming here a lot. And I hope you get great interviews.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's been it's been amazing two days. So again, thank you so much for everything you've done and are continuing to do. And thank you for doing this right now. You're welcome.
SPEAKER_08:Thank you.
SPEAKER_04:Our next guest is Jonathan O'Connor.
SPEAKER_02:Great, great to see you again. Jonathan O'Connor, I'm division president of third-party payments in Sonovas. 30 years in the payments industry, both in the US, AMIA, and APAC.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. So, two questions. The first one: what's one piece of advice you'd share with women in payments who want to grow their influence and make a bigger impact?
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. It's all about passion, passion and purpose. You know, be very passionate about what you do, but also have a purpose. I also spoke yesterday about playing in traffic. And this event is a great example of that where you get to meet people, meet peers, potential new employers, uh, and you know, really grow your brand. It's all about growing your brand, being aware of growth in the industry. We're in an amazing section of transformation, and now is the time to grab that.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, final question. What do you think makes the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit such a valuable event for professionals in payments?
SPEAKER_02:Look, this is my first event. I spoke in a panel yesterday. It was it was very uh enjoyable, but also very rewarding to see the amount of people uh and interest that it generated. You know, there's almost 7,000 members here, it's 20 years in existence. Very impressed by that. So I would say, you know, what makes this unique is, you know, the the amount of dialogue and integration that goes on with everybody here. And uh I think keep on attending this, and I wish them all the best in 2026.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Well, thank you first of all for being on the panel yesterday. I really appreciate you doing that. And secondly, for being here and doing this interview. So thank you so much, Jonathan. Thank you very much. Thank you to all the special guests who were on the show today and yesterday. It's been a great show, and I really appreciate the opportunity. So, a special thanks to the Pay Tech Women Leadership Summit organization for allowing me to come do this, and a special thanks to all of the guests that were on the show and to our sponsor, Global Payments. And to all your listeners out there, I thank you as well. And until the next story,