Leaders In Payments

This conversation is part of a three-part series about Embedded Finance that Jane and I are launching leading up to Embedify 2026, our summit for vertical SaaS leaders on October 13 in Lehi, Utah. AI is making software faster to build, easier to copy, and harder to price with the old per-seat subscription model. So where does durable growth come from when “more features” no longer guarantees higher ARPU and AI agents start doing the work your users used to do? We think the answer is hiding in plain sight: the financial activity already running through your platform. In this episode I sit down with Jane Podbelskaya, Founder of Charge Forward, to unpack the embedded finance playbook for vertical SaaS. Jane explains how transactional revenue aligns with customer success, why embedded finance can protect profitability when AI tools carry higher costs, and what “embedded finance” really means beyond just payments. We also dig into where to look for monetizable moments inside real workflows, from obvious money movement to subtle signals like CSV exports, QuickBooks detours, and repeated integration requests. We then go past the hype into execution: what it means to manage embedded finance as a product and a P&L, how to think about pricing and packaging, how to drive adoption with clear UI and messaging, and why compliance-aware marketing matters even when a fintech partner handles most of the back-end complexity. Subscribe for the next parts of the series, share this with a SaaS operator who’s rethinking pricing, and leave a review with your biggest question about embedded finance.

Real-time payments are finally delivering what everyone asked for: near-instant settlement. But when the buffer disappears, a new risk takes center stage: not “was the credential valid,” but “did the actor have authority to create the obligation.” Greg Myers sits down with Jeremy Blackburn, founder and CEO of ChainIT, to unpack why authority verification may become the most important layer in modern payments, especially as AI agents start initiating transactions on behalf of people and businesses. We talk through ChainIT’s approach to zero-trust commerce, including biometric authentication, verifying identity and organizational roles through authoritative sources, and turning those verified claims into reusable digital tokens. Jeremy explains the difference between traditional network authorization and governance-derived authority, plus how transaction guardrails can be enforced at the moment of execution. We also dig into what “complete commerce” looks like when agreements, compliance, and payment movement happen as one governed workflow. You’ll hear practical examples like construction draws and insurance claims, where verification, conditional lien releases, and AML checks often drag on for days. We also zoom out to the biggest payments industry trends: RTP and FedNow, stablecoin and programmable money, agentic commerce, and why quantum security is already on the horizon for cryptographic infrastructure. If you care about fraud prevention, compliance, and the future of enterprise payments, this is the conversation to bring back to your team.

Your “global” checkout is only as strong as its most local payment method. I’m joined by João Del Valle , CEO of EBANX, to unpack what really happens when a fast-growing merchant tries to launch across emerging markets and discovers that international card acquiring alone is not enough. We get specific about why local payments unlock demand, from PIX in Brazil to pay by bank experiences and domestic card brands like Verve, and why these rails can determine whether you reach the market at all. We also dig into the commercial reality behind expansion: setting up local entities, teams, and infrastructure can take years, while many companies want to go live in 50 to 100 countries in parallel. João explains how EBANX helps global merchants accept alternative payment methods, enable installments, improve authorization rates, and deliver unified reporting and settlement across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. We talk through the verticals where this matters most, including retail marketplaces, streaming and digital services, advertising, and travel, where local installments can be the difference between abandonment and purchase. Then we zoom out to the biggest payments trends reshaping the industry: AI, early moves toward agentic payments, stablecoins for cross-border payments, and blockchain as settlement infrastructure. A major thread is the rapid rise of account-to-account payments, driven by financial inclusion, cost dynamics, and a consumer desire for predictable money movement without surprises.

Trust is the hidden advantage that decides which payments companies earn bigger merchants, stronger partners, and more room to innovate. Greg Myers sits down with Darrel Anderson, Senior Vice President of Compliance at Payroc, to get specific about how trust is built in a world of constant audits, card brand rules, bank expectations, and fast-moving fraud. We share why “perfect security” is easy if you lock everything down, and why the real craft is building a compliance framework that protects the business while still enabling growth. We dig into what trust looks like operationally: transactions that keep flowing, the right data showing up consistently, and issues getting caught before they become fines or sanctions. Darrel explains how experienced compliance teams don’t just say no, they help product and sales teams find a safe path to yes, and that credibility extends beyond merchants to regulators, card networks, and partner banks. We also talk about speed, including a simple test for reckless launches: if you cannot clearly explain the risk and controls back to someone else, you are moving too fast. When incidents happen, we focus on what preserves customer confidence: frank communication, involving customers in the solution, and taking ownership until resolution is complete. Darrel also shares leadership frameworks like the red balloon theory and “smoke detectors versus fire extinguishers” to push teams toward prevention over reaction. Finally, we tackle AI in payments compliance and fraud: how it can remove repetitive work and sharpen detection, and why criminals using AI means the arms race is just getting started.

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 . Payments don’t fail because the API is hard. They fail because the experience is forgettable and customers never adopt it. We talk with John Badovinac, SVP of Embedded Commerce at Flute, about what vertical SaaS leaders can do differently when they want to own the payments experience and turn it into a real line of business. We get practical on the building blocks: how to model profitability, pick a pricing policy that matches your go-to-market, and design onboarding that feels native inside your product. John explains why “launching” is only the start and how the best platforms drive payment adoption by placing invoicing, text-to-pay, stored credentials, and checkout moments directly inside the workflow users already live in. Then we look forward. John shares how AI dev tools can cut integration timelines from weeks to days, lowering the barrier to embedded payments and embedded finance. He also lays out a compelling next step: embedded intelligence, where AI helps surface working capital, instant payouts, and other financial products at the right time for the right customer. We close with what to avoid, what to demand from a payments partner, and why urgency and long-term alignment matter as you scale.

Your LinkedIn feed will be full of “great to see you” posts after WSAA 2026, but the real value happens before the photos, in the hallways and late-night conversations where partnerships actually start. I’m joined by Amanda Beam, Vice President of Partner Relations at Exectras and a member of the WSAA Board of Directors, to give you a clear preview of what to expect September 15th through 17th in Palm Springs, California and why this conference continues to be a must-attend for the acquiring and merchant services community. We dig into what’s being expanded this year, including a heavier focus on education, technology exposure, and structured opportunities to collaborate with leaders across the payments ecosystem. Amanda shares what it takes to make the event feel seamless, from the online registration process to the on-site experience and the mobile app, and why those details matter when you’re trying to maximize meetings and make every conversation count. We also talk about what makes WSAA networking so effective: the density of decision makers, the mix of settings beyond the showroom floor, and the momentum that comes from being in the same place for three full days of connections. On the content side, expect two full days of conference programming covering emerging payment technologies, business growth strategies, and the evolving needs of merchants and consumers, plus updates from card brands and eight and a half hours of focused exhibitor time to evaluate solutions and spot trends quickly. If you want to stay informed, build real relationships, and avoid missing the conversations that shape next year’s deals, make sure you’re part of WSAA 2026.

Insurance payments are one of the last places you’d expect to still see mountains of paper checks and yet that’s exactly what Todd Greenbaum says is happening across large parts of the industry. We sit down with the President and CEO of Input1 to unpack a simple idea with big consequences: moving money is often the easiest part, while reconciliation, allocation, reporting, and clean data flow are what decide whether billing feels modern or painful. We talk through how premium payments really work in property and casualty insurance, including pay-in-full, installment billing, and premium financing. Todd explains why it’s so hard for carriers, MGAs, and brokers to stitch together separate tools without creating friction for policyholders, and how endorsements can change premiums mid-term in ways that break “simple” payment setups. We also explore what a better customer experience looks like, from feature-rich portals to timely reminders and confirmations that make customers feel seen rather than silently debited. Then we look ahead: the ongoing digitization of insurance payments, the rise of embedded payments and micro-insurance transactions, and why real-time payments can matter for something as basic as whether coverage is active when it counts. Todd also shares a thoughtful take on AI in insurance operations using it to reduce fraud and improve workflows while being careful about pushing AI to the front lines before customers are ready. If you care about insurance billing modernization, payment reconciliation, premium finance, and the future of insurtech payments, this episode is for you.

Payments is full of “after-the-fact” reporting, but we want a world where the system warns you before the damage is done. I’m joined by Ankita Chowdhry, AI Product Lead at Payabli, to break down where AI is genuinely making a difference in payments right now and where it’s still mostly experimentation. We get specific about risk queues, underwriting reviews, compliance workflows, and why modern reasoning models can reduce manual work without sacrificing safety. We also dig into what embedded finance changes for vertical SaaS platforms. When you combine financial data with operational data, you can move beyond simple scoring and start adding context: what the business actually does, how customers behave, and what patterns usually lead to disputes or stalled activation. Ankita shares how that opens the door to proactive payments operations, like detecting elevated chargeback risk early and recommending actions before a merchant gets into trouble. Then we tackle the practical questions builders are asking in 2026: what AI should you build vs buy, what makes production AI harder than a demo, and why Payabli is embedding AI directly into payments infrastructure instead of treating it like a separate tool. If you’re building embedded payments, embedded finance, or a vertical SaaS platform, this is a roadmap for what to automate first and how to do it responsibly.

Legacy payments platforms do not usually fail with a dramatic outage. They fail by slowing every change request, inflating every integration, and turning “simple” upgrades like ISO 20022 into a stress test. Greg Myers sits down with Vijay Oddiraju, CEO and Co-founder of Volante Technologies, to talk about what banks are learning as real-time payments expand and modernization becomes unavoidable. We dig into how Volante started with a focus on automating financial data exchange, then found its center of gravity in payments. Vijay shares the moment that accelerated their payments journey: helping enable a record-setting real-time payments milestone in the US. From there, we unpack the biggest customer challenges today, including legacy constraints, time-to-market pressure, performance demands, and the need for resilience as regulations and rails keep changing. Vijay also lays out where he sees the growth opportunities next: ACH replacement projects, multi-rail payment platforms that can orchestrate across RTP, ACH, wires, and emerging options like stablecoin, plus cloud-native architecture that supports modular microservices and even multi-cloud disaster recovery. We close with a practical lens on AI in payments, especially for exception handling and operations, and the decision criteria that matter when choosing a payments vendor you can trust for the long haul.

Payments can be your second or third biggest cost line and one of your biggest levers for growth, yet most companies still treat payment performance like an afterthought until revenue dips. Greg Myers sits down with Klas Back,, CEO and Co-founder of Pagos, to unpack why enterprises keep “leaving money on the table” through avoidable declines, misconfigured vendors, outdated card network programs, and fragmented reporting that hides what is really happening. We get practical about what payment optimization looks like when you operate globally: approval rates, authentication friction, dispute and chargeback signals, and the compounding impact of a bad first purchase experience. Klas explains why the hard part is often not strategy, it’s payment data. When information lives in silos across PSPs, acquirers, orchestration, fraud tools, and 3D Secure providers, teams spend weeks normalizing spreadsheets before they can even diagnose a problem. Pagos approaches this as a payments data platform, focused on aggregation, normalization, monitoring, and surfacing opportunities teams can act on. From there, we dig into how AI changes payment operations. Klas shares how automation can shrink the manual workload, improve detection, and apply a huge knowledge base from card networks like Visa and Mastercard to real merchant data. We also explore emerging forces like agentic fraud and agentic commerce, plus why benchmarking and “time to detection” should be core KPIs for modern payments teams. If you care about enterprise payments, payment analytics, and building a smarter payments stack with fewer resources, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a payments leader, and leave a review so more teams can find it.

Embedded finance is booming, but most platforms miss the point: customers do not want more financial products, they want fewer steps. We sit down with Marni Mullikin, Director of Platform Growth at Maverick Payments, to unpack how vertical SaaS companies can embed payments in a way that actually improves workflow, increases engagement, and creates durable revenue. We dig into why embedded payments is usually the smartest first move, from faster revenue collection and better cash flow to the long-term upside of deeper platform usage and better data. Marni walks through the strategy questions teams should answer before they ever pick a provider, including what success looks like, which ownership model fits, and how to align leadership, product, sales, and customer success so launch does not stall. We also get specific about what software companies should own (the customer relationship, brand, and product experience) versus what a payments partner should take on (underwriting, compliance, risk management, and regulatory complexity). That conversation matters even more when supporting higher risk merchants like CBD or hemp, smoke shops, firearms, gaming, and certain government payment flows with large ticket sizes. We close with the practical reality that go live is only step one, and adoption is where the real value shows up, driven by simple onboarding and messaging that sells outcomes, not features. If you’re building embedded payments, embedded finance, or a payments-led growth strategy for vertical SaaS, subscribe, share this with a builder on your team, and leave a review so more operators can find the show.

Waiting three to five days for funds isn’t just annoying, it quietly reshapes entire business models. I sit down with Arpit Goel, CEO of Root, to unpack why money movement in the United States still depends on slow, multi-hop workflows and how that slowness creates “float” across payroll, staffing, marketplaces, insurance, and the creator economy. When settlement is delayed, someone benefits, and Arpit makes a sharp case that incentives are the real blocker, not the lack of technology. We dig into what Root is building in the instant payments space: a non-custodial, bank-to-bank infrastructure layer that aims to deliver true real-time payments where funds settle in seconds and can be used immediately. Arpit explains the “Zelle for businesses” idea, why it matters for enterprise disbursements, and how programmatic treasury APIs can help companies ship faster without spending a year integrating directly with a bank. We also talk about the current US real-time rails, including FedNow and RTP, and why adoption is accelerating as standards and competition push the ecosystem forward. Then we zoom out to the trends payments leaders can’t ignore: agentic payments, fraud and liability, strong customer authentication, and the stablecoin-to-bank convergence as regulation catches up. Arpit’s final message is direct: compliance is a follower, and security needs to be years ahead as AI-driven attacks scale faster than humans ever could. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with a payments leader, and leave a review so more builders can find it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.