January 6, 2026 • 23 mins
Bruce Lowthers is the CEO and Executive Director of the Board at Paysafe, where he has led a successful transformation of the company since his appointment in May 2022. Under his leadership, Paysafe streamlined its operations, recalibrated its growth strategy, and returned to growth by focusing on innovation, customer experience, and a sales-driven culture.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank prison CEOs you should know, driven
by Western Transportation Group and iHeartMedia. Let's meet Bruce Lothers.
He is the CEO for pace Ape, global payment network
that provides online and in person payment solutions for both
customers and businesses. Before we talk more about Bruce's company,
I first asked him to talk a little bit about himself,
where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I grew up in a city just outside of Boston
called Everett and went to college at the University of
Massachusetts Lowell.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
So a proud Riverhawk, outstanding and when it came to school,
what did you want to do and what did you
do when you went out there in the real world.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So my godfather, my uncle, was a big influence in
my life, and I wanted to be just like him,
as probably many kids growing up do, and wanted to
be an engineer. I started out in engineering and college
and then somehow made the transition into accounting, and at
(01:06):
my uncle's influence, it was really very instrumental and kind
of the decisions I was making at the time back then,
and he was very bullish on accounting for some reason
and got me to switch into that, and I went
into a career of public accounting, which really set me
(01:28):
up in a lot of ways for success in my
career and was really foundational for me of understanding how
financial statements work.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Well, the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for
me because as I took a look at your resume
and why you're explaining your engineering and your accounting. That
leads right into paysafe, and we're going to ask about
mission and vision and all the great things and capabilities
and programs that you offer your clients. But I'm curious
about joining the company as CEO. And obviously I can
see why the company paysafe was interested in you, but
(01:59):
why were you went sitting and joining them after all
the things that you had done.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, I was very fortunate in my career that started,
as I mentioned as CPA and worked at Deloitte and
Ernst and Young really loved it.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Went into, like so many people do, into the.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Startup world where I had a client that had some
technology that led me to four startups, the last one
being acquired by a company called FIS, which really at
the time was a mid size company. We were about
three billion in revenue and over the next fifteen years,
(02:39):
I had the opportunity to do a lot of different
things at that company, and then ultimately became president of
the company, running the company at a fifteen a little
over fifteen billion dollar revenue company. So I had the
opportunity to do things really small from you know, right off,
as the story goes, I was right off the kitchen
(03:01):
table to a fifteen billion dollar, seventy thousand employee company.
And it was really at that time that I had
the opportunity to say, well, Okay, this probably doesn't sound great,
but I was getting older, and so I had the
opportunity to say, well, how do I want to end
up my career, my corporate career? And I decided that
(03:25):
after a lot of discussion, talking with my wife and
just thinking it through, that I really wanted to get
back to building something. And that really led me to
the opportunity at pay Safe.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
They had gone public.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
They had had some troubles posts going public from a
series of macroeconomic issues that really put the company in dress,
and it seemed like it would be a great challenge
to see if I could come in and help turn
the company around and set the company up for successes
(04:02):
and then you know, be able to go on to
whatever's next for me at that point, but I had
never done kind of a turnaround before, and I was
intrigued whether.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Our team would be able to do.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
That outstanding well. One of the common themes we have
in the series is that challenges ahead of entrepreneurs out there,
and if you could do me a favor and indulging
me just for a second before we talk specifically about
pay sape Bruce, because we do have a lot of
current CEOs and leaders, but we also have a lot
of future entrepreneurs that are listening to this series and
seeing how everybody has done it. Now, I realize that
your journey is very specific to you, but in general terms,
(04:40):
when it comes to startups, what are the exciting things
about that? But what are also the pitfalls? Because I
know there's both.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, there's a lot of exciting things about it. I
think for me, what I realized later on, you know,
I wasn't dialed into kind of how I was thinking
about it as I was doing it, but it really
started with trying to help people. I think as I've
gone back and reflected on it and I think about
the products that we created, it was really about going
(05:08):
to friends and saying, Hey, what are the challenges that
you're having, and then we built things to solve for
that problem. And then we sold that company, we went
to the next one, and I always joke I wasn't
smart enough to just come up with a cool new product.
I just went back out and asked people, Hey, what
do you need?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
What are you.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Struggling with and then tried to solve that. And so
that really has kind of been the key to success
for us. As we came into these things, we did
have thought process around being in particular verticals things that
were things we felt good about. Fintech for me, was
always one that I loved because of just a pace
(05:49):
of change. It was really dynamic space and you were
really only limited by your own imaanation, and so that
was really something that was very attractive to me. Is
to have the opportunity to go in work with people
help them make their lives better and just a little
bit on an every.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Single day basis.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And that's what we've really tried to do and still
trying to do it all these years later.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well, I appreciate you sharing that, and as you tell
that story, it always reminds me whether it's my career
in sports with television, radio or what you do. There's
a couple things that come to mind. Crowdsourcing people to
find out what they want and then to making their
lives a little bit better, a little easier, and that
really can go for any business model, can it?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah? Sure, Ken, and it can take you a long way, right.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I think it's one of the great things about what
people do is really taking the opportunity to help a person,
a business, a community, and I think if you keep
that at the heart of things, things generally work out
pretty well.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
All right, Well, let's talk about pace Safe and all
the incredible things that are going on before we get
into programs, capabilities and all the cool products you have.
I do want to talk about mission and vision because
I know they're always important leaders out there and your
team members too. So when I ask you about mission
and vision when it comes to pay Safe, what are
those yeah? For us?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
As I came in, we really tried to hone in
on what was going to be important for us, and
a lot of when you're doing starting these companies or
taking over a company, it's about galanizing people around a
particular mission for us. We really looked at the experiential economy.
When you look at what pay safe does, eighty percent
(07:30):
of our business was in verticals that would be defined
as experiential economy, so this is gaming, restaurants, travel, those
kind of verticals. So it was a natural place to say, Okay,
these are the verticals we're really going to focus in
on this experiential economy and we want to be a leader,
global leader in that in that space. And so that
(07:53):
really became something that we've centered on. We talk about
it every day and what we're doing and how do
we get better And again you'll see the theme there
of how do we make people's lives a little better
in every day, So whether it's buying that next skin for.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Your video game or.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Having the enjoyment of buying a ticket for a game
that you're going to take your family to and creating
those wonderful memories, that's where we're trying to focus.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Very good, well, Bruce, let's do this. There's a lot
of people that know what pay safe does and is,
but there's a lot of our listeners are being introduced
to the company for the first time. So if you
were to give kind of a thirty thousand foot view
and a short version to tell them this is what
we do. What would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I would tell you that we are a global payments provider.
We do business in over one hundred different countries. The
business is actually quite simple. We have a merchant acquiring business,
which that's where we process payments. If you go into
any store and you use your debit card or credit card,
where the people that process those payments for that retiller,
(09:02):
whether that's online or physically in a storefront. The second
part of our business is really a digital wallet business,
and so this is really a consumer centric wallet, much
like PayPal or any of your probably every consumers get
at least five different.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Wallets on their phone. We would be one of.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Those, and that is predominantly in Europe and most recently
we just launched a national wallet in Peru called Pago
Effectivo and so very very excited about that recent launch.
That's really what we do, payment processing for merchants and
moving money for consumers, allowing people to buy what they
(09:48):
want to buy, to create great.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Memories, and without any assumptions that there are other companies
that do exactly what you. Your team and pay Safe do.
How do you differentiate yourself from said competition.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I think a couple of is one.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We're twenty nine years old and we really have created
a tremendous risk framework. So in our business, there's a
tremendous amount of regulatory changes that happen. There's a lot
of licensing that's required to actual process payments and move
money around the globe, and we've kind of led in
(10:22):
that area. So that really creates a mode around the
business of what we do and how we do it.
I think also our distribution channels really set us apart.
When you look in Europe, for example, we have over
a million storefronts that you can go in with our
pay safe card and use that, and there's not a
(10:42):
lot of people out there that have a million storefronts
where you can go buy something or use a product.
So that distribution channel and scale that we have in
the US on our merchant acquiring side is really what
sets us apart.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I know what technology and the world we're living in
right now. Things are moving very quickly and the company
is doing well. But are there any current challenges for you,
your team members, and your clients right now that you're
working through.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I think in our business is kind of I alluded
to you earlier with fintech, there's a lot of changes
that they're always going on, right, So there's always the
regulatory change is happening.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I think now as I think about.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
It versus earlier in my career, you're just seeing the
pace of play be much faster. So the regulatory changes,
technology changes, really consumer behavior is changing at a lightning
pace compared to what it was ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.
I think those are really the three common things that
(11:46):
I see. It doesn't really matter whether you're in Europe
or the US or Latin America. Those things are the
things that really create a lot of challenges for anybody.
And probably the fourth I we'd add is just the
more recently is probably just the geopolitical pressures that every
(12:07):
CEO faces on a daily basis now. And I think
in all of the CEO meetings that I have, geopolitics
always seems to come up. Of late, there was always
those three of regulatory, tech, and consumer behavior, and now
I would say the geopolitics is coming up more and
(12:28):
more so.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Bruce, one of my favorite questions in this series is
talking about the cool things that happen out there with
your clients and making a difference. And my question to
you as well, I'm sure you've got handfuls of different stories.
Whether it's a small, medium, large business or a client.
It's about you know, this is why we get up
every day kind of thing, because we're making a difference.
Is there a story that you can share with us
and you don't have to mention the client or the person,
(12:51):
just something that you know, we really we made it.
We made a difference at day, the team and I
did and it turned out really well for them and
it was really cool. And this is why we get up.
You have a short story you can share with us.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I think we have those stories every day, right.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
So there's always a consumer that has run into problems
one way or another and either the money didn't get
to where they thought it was going to get to
or and our team has really done a great job.
I'm really proud of the evolution of the team over
the last few years bringing the customers to the center
(13:25):
of what we're trying to do right and help them.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So you see that quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
What our team has really been focused on has been
on that engagement improvement so building out systems so that
we can respond faster, move to being proactive versus reactive
to events that happen in the movement of money. You know,
fraud is a big issue that we're all combating. We've
(13:50):
made some choices to speed things up, but also do
it in a way that the payments remain safe and
people can have trust that the money's getting to where
they think it's going and executing a transaction at a
high level. So I feel very good about the energy
that the team has poured into improving experiences for consumers
(14:13):
and merchants, and I think we've really come a long
way in that regard.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Well, just a moment, I'm going to talk to you
about leadership and ask you a few things about that,
because I think it's important this series. But I also
want to talk about communication. And I talk to a
lot of CEOs. Whether it's a medium, large, small company,
it doesn't matter what the size is about making sure
that the mission, the vision, and all the communication that
you need to do for your team members is funnel
(14:38):
down and you have a pretty big wide net that
you cast with all your clients out there. So when
it comes to communication with you and your team members,
the execution, and also making sure that the company's always
getting better. How do you do that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Well, it's a great question, Dennis.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I think one of the things that you learn over
the years is just that you can't communicate enough. It
can't be just in one format, So you have to
be aware that people absorb information differently, and so it's
really important to kind of layer out your communication and
(15:13):
do it in a variety of different ways. So internally,
we do a lot to make sure people understand why
we made decisions and how we made those decisions. I've
always believed in just being transparent about those things, and
it's really kind of helped. You may not agree with
like how I got or what I ultimate decision was,
(15:35):
but you always understand how I got there. And because
I'm always been very transparent about just saying here's the
fact pattern that I had, this is what led me
to that decision, and I.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Found that to be very helpful.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
We do a tremendous amount, whether it be town halls
or roundtables and off site meetings with our teams to
make sure that we all are bought in on what
the vision is, how we're executing against that vision where
we stand what needs to be worked on, and I
think that's really been successful because of the team is
(16:11):
willing to do that and willing to take the time
to invest in the others within the organization and really
take time explaining what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You know, Bruce, there is one thing that really caught
my attention that I have subscribed to a long time
ago after I learned a hard lesson as a young manager,
and you were talking specifically about this, and I think
this is a good lesson for anybody, whether you're going
to be a future leader or you're a current leader.
And I think the people appreciate in the end being
appropriately candidate and just giving them the truth because if
(16:42):
you start dancing around things, it muddles things up and
it puts everybody in trouble. So that's something that I
want to make sure that you kind of expounded on
a little bit, because in the end, I think people
just want the truth, whether they like it or not,
so they can move on with things and know exactly
and how their leader stands.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, I think it's just important.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
And again for me, that's always worked, and I don't
know if that's because of the being counter in me
that just wanted to share the numbers and say, look,
this is what I'm looking at. So obviously I'm a
very data centric person, but I have just found that
it's massively helpful if you just are open about it.
(17:21):
Everybody understands here's where we sit, these are the decisions.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
We're facing, and this is you know.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
How I got to where we got to you And
so I think that's really just something I was just
speaking yesterday at the University of North Florida as something
I mentioned there as well as just this is really
important as you're coming out. These are all young kids
coming out and starting their career. Transparency is so important
(17:48):
to build trust with your team, and you can get
through a lot if you have trust with your team.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah, I couldn't have said it better. I really appreciate that.
And I think this is a good segue to talk
a little bit about leadership and once again, and we
have so many leaders that listen to this series, Bruce,
but also a lot of future leaders, and I know
that everybody's going to roll a little different when it
comes to what they think leadership is and then how
to execute it. But as I mentioned, the word leadership
to you and your team and in your life, how
do you execute it? And what does the leadership mean
(18:15):
to you?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, I think it's one of those questions.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That comes up quite a bit, and I always go
back early on and I'll share a brief story please. Yeah,
that my grandfather was, you know, older guy. I was
in high school and at the time, and its story
always just stuck with me, and that we went over
(18:39):
to see him. He was kind of restricted to bed
at the time, and I was just a young kid,
thought I was.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Going to be captain of the football team. I didn't
get it.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I was like every eighteen year old kid, kind of
down in the dumps about you know, the plate that
I was now facing the horrors of not getting what
you wanted and I will never forget.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
He asked me why I was upset.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Now, this is a guy that was literally dying and
he was more worried about me and why I was upset.
And I shared with him that, you know, I didn't
get what I thought I was going to get and
he said, oh, he said, well, you know, when you
run out onto the field next week and you go
(19:27):
to practice, do you have to be captain? To be first,
and I looked at him like he was, you know,
crazy old guy, and I said, well, no, of course,
you don't have to do that, and he said oh.
He said, well, when you start doing all your drills,
I guess you have to be captain to go first there.
(19:48):
And I said, well, no, grandfather, I don't. I don't
have to be captain like whoever's first is first. And
he just said, well, you know, why not just be
first and you can still lead like it didn't matter,
smart man. And I kept that my whole life and
(20:09):
it's really served me well throughout my career because you
didn't need to be CEO to set the vision of
what you were trying to do or set the pace
or cadence of what the team was trying to accomplish.
You just had to be willing to step out there
and give direction and be willing to be accountable for
(20:29):
what was happening. And I really it's probably a silly story, but.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
I've not at all. I love that.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I love that my life and really grateful for that
little lesson.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, it's a great one too. And I think the
other thing, I'm sure you subscribe to this to Bruce
We're all going to make mistakes. You are, I am,
your team members are, but I'm always that person to
see if you make a mistake or you trip up,
how do they respond, because that really, in the end
is what it's all about. Is it to see if
some he can be a future leader or not?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Absolutely? And you know, especially you know, I think back
to the startup days. It was all about a series
of mistakes, right you were you know, we always used
to talk about we were just bumping into the wall
looking for the crack to run through. So it was
just a series of mistakes till you found something that worked.
And it was all about just being fast, make the
(21:23):
mistake didn't matter, learned something and move on and really
have kept that and that transferred whether I was in
a startup or in a super large.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Company or in a company like we here at pay Safe.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
All right, well let's do this. I really enjoyed the conversation.
I want to get some final thoughts from you, Bruce,
and then we're also can get of the website. Anything
else you'd like to talk about as we wrap up,
but just maybe recap what we've chatted about, the floor's
yours or go ahead, look.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
I appreciate the opportunity to be here. I think you know,
when we talk about pay safe, I would just invite
and anybody who's interested to come check out pasafe dot com.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
We're always hiring, so please feel free to reach out.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
We love creative people that are curious, want to learn
and try to be something part of something that's special,
and I think that's really what we're focused on here,
is creating a world class payments organization. So we want
to be part of our communities. We want to be
good corporate citizens, and we're looking for all great people,
(22:30):
So please feel free to reach out and we'd love
to chat with you at standing.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Bruce, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time.
I'm glad we could feature you on CEOs you should Know.
Continued success and thanks again.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Well, thank you, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
should Know is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive.
Because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
M and T Bank prison CEOs you should know, driven
by Western Transportation Group and iHeartMedia. Let's meet Bruce Lothers.
He is the CEO for pace Ape, global payment network
that provides online and in person payment solutions for both
customers and businesses. Before we talk more about Bruce's company,
I first asked him to talk a little bit about himself,
where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I grew up in a city just outside of Boston
called Everett and went to college at the University of
Massachusetts Lowell.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
So a proud Riverhawk, outstanding and when it came to school,
what did you want to do and what did you
do when you went out there in the real world.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
So my godfather, my uncle, was a big influence in
my life, and I wanted to be just like him,
as probably many kids growing up do, and wanted to
be an engineer. I started out in engineering and college
and then somehow made the transition into accounting, and at
(01:06):
my uncle's influence, it was really very instrumental and kind
of the decisions I was making at the time back then,
and he was very bullish on accounting for some reason
and got me to switch into that, and I went
into a career of public accounting, which really set me
(01:28):
up in a lot of ways for success in my
career and was really foundational for me of understanding how
financial statements work.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Well, the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for
me because as I took a look at your resume
and why you're explaining your engineering and your accounting. That
leads right into paysafe, and we're going to ask about
mission and vision and all the great things and capabilities
and programs that you offer your clients. But I'm curious
about joining the company as CEO. And obviously I can
see why the company paysafe was interested in you, but
(01:59):
why were you went sitting and joining them after all
the things that you had done.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, I was very fortunate in my career that started,
as I mentioned as CPA and worked at Deloitte and
Ernst and Young really loved it.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Went into, like so many people do, into the.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Startup world where I had a client that had some
technology that led me to four startups, the last one
being acquired by a company called FIS, which really at
the time was a mid size company. We were about
three billion in revenue and over the next fifteen years,
(02:39):
I had the opportunity to do a lot of different
things at that company, and then ultimately became president of
the company, running the company at a fifteen a little
over fifteen billion dollar revenue company. So I had the
opportunity to do things really small from you know, right off,
as the story goes, I was right off the kitchen
(03:01):
table to a fifteen billion dollar, seventy thousand employee company.
And it was really at that time that I had
the opportunity to say, well, Okay, this probably doesn't sound great,
but I was getting older, and so I had the
opportunity to say, well, how do I want to end
up my career, my corporate career? And I decided that
(03:25):
after a lot of discussion, talking with my wife and
just thinking it through, that I really wanted to get
back to building something. And that really led me to
the opportunity at pay Safe.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
They had gone public.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
They had had some troubles posts going public from a
series of macroeconomic issues that really put the company in dress,
and it seemed like it would be a great challenge
to see if I could come in and help turn
the company around and set the company up for successes
(04:02):
and then you know, be able to go on to
whatever's next for me at that point, but I had
never done kind of a turnaround before, and I was
intrigued whether.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Our team would be able to do.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
That outstanding well. One of the common themes we have
in the series is that challenges ahead of entrepreneurs out there,
and if you could do me a favor and indulging
me just for a second before we talk specifically about
pay sape Bruce, because we do have a lot of
current CEOs and leaders, but we also have a lot
of future entrepreneurs that are listening to this series and
seeing how everybody has done it. Now, I realize that
your journey is very specific to you, but in general terms,
(04:40):
when it comes to startups, what are the exciting things
about that? But what are also the pitfalls? Because I
know there's both.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, there's a lot of exciting things about it. I
think for me, what I realized later on, you know,
I wasn't dialed into kind of how I was thinking
about it as I was doing it, but it really
started with trying to help people. I think as I've
gone back and reflected on it and I think about
the products that we created, it was really about going
(05:08):
to friends and saying, Hey, what are the challenges that
you're having, and then we built things to solve for
that problem. And then we sold that company, we went
to the next one, and I always joke I wasn't
smart enough to just come up with a cool new product.
I just went back out and asked people, Hey, what
do you need?
Speaker 3 (05:28):
What are you.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Struggling with and then tried to solve that. And so
that really has kind of been the key to success
for us. As we came into these things, we did
have thought process around being in particular verticals things that
were things we felt good about. Fintech for me, was
always one that I loved because of just a pace
(05:49):
of change. It was really dynamic space and you were
really only limited by your own imaanation, and so that
was really something that was very attractive to me. Is
to have the opportunity to go in work with people
help them make their lives better and just a little
bit on an every.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Single day basis.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And that's what we've really tried to do and still
trying to do it all these years later.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well, I appreciate you sharing that, and as you tell
that story, it always reminds me whether it's my career
in sports with television, radio or what you do. There's
a couple things that come to mind. Crowdsourcing people to
find out what they want and then to making their
lives a little bit better, a little easier, and that
really can go for any business model, can it?
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah? Sure, Ken, and it can take you a long way, right.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I think it's one of the great things about what
people do is really taking the opportunity to help a person,
a business, a community, and I think if you keep
that at the heart of things, things generally work out
pretty well.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
All right, Well, let's talk about pace Safe and all
the incredible things that are going on before we get
into programs, capabilities and all the cool products you have.
I do want to talk about mission and vision because
I know they're always important leaders out there and your
team members too. So when I ask you about mission
and vision when it comes to pay Safe, what are
those yeah? For us?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
As I came in, we really tried to hone in
on what was going to be important for us, and
a lot of when you're doing starting these companies or
taking over a company, it's about galanizing people around a
particular mission for us. We really looked at the experiential economy.
When you look at what pay safe does, eighty percent
(07:30):
of our business was in verticals that would be defined
as experiential economy, so this is gaming, restaurants, travel, those
kind of verticals. So it was a natural place to say, Okay,
these are the verticals we're really going to focus in
on this experiential economy and we want to be a leader,
global leader in that in that space. And so that
(07:53):
really became something that we've centered on. We talk about
it every day and what we're doing and how do
we get better And again you'll see the theme there
of how do we make people's lives a little better
in every day, So whether it's buying that next skin for.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Your video game or.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Having the enjoyment of buying a ticket for a game
that you're going to take your family to and creating
those wonderful memories, that's where we're trying to focus.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Very good, well, Bruce, let's do this. There's a lot
of people that know what pay safe does and is,
but there's a lot of our listeners are being introduced
to the company for the first time. So if you
were to give kind of a thirty thousand foot view
and a short version to tell them this is what
we do. What would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I would tell you that we are a global payments provider.
We do business in over one hundred different countries. The
business is actually quite simple. We have a merchant acquiring business,
which that's where we process payments. If you go into
any store and you use your debit card or credit card,
where the people that process those payments for that retiller,
(09:02):
whether that's online or physically in a storefront. The second
part of our business is really a digital wallet business,
and so this is really a consumer centric wallet, much
like PayPal or any of your probably every consumers get
at least five different.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Wallets on their phone. We would be one of.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Those, and that is predominantly in Europe and most recently
we just launched a national wallet in Peru called Pago
Effectivo and so very very excited about that recent launch.
That's really what we do, payment processing for merchants and
moving money for consumers, allowing people to buy what they
(09:48):
want to buy, to create great.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Memories, and without any assumptions that there are other companies
that do exactly what you. Your team and pay Safe do.
How do you differentiate yourself from said competition.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I think a couple of is one.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We're twenty nine years old and we really have created
a tremendous risk framework. So in our business, there's a
tremendous amount of regulatory changes that happen. There's a lot
of licensing that's required to actual process payments and move
money around the globe, and we've kind of led in
(10:22):
that area. So that really creates a mode around the
business of what we do and how we do it.
I think also our distribution channels really set us apart.
When you look in Europe, for example, we have over
a million storefronts that you can go in with our
pay safe card and use that, and there's not a
(10:42):
lot of people out there that have a million storefronts
where you can go buy something or use a product.
So that distribution channel and scale that we have in
the US on our merchant acquiring side is really what
sets us apart.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I know what technology and the world we're living in
right now. Things are moving very quickly and the company
is doing well. But are there any current challenges for you,
your team members, and your clients right now that you're
working through.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
I think in our business is kind of I alluded
to you earlier with fintech, there's a lot of changes
that they're always going on, right, So there's always the
regulatory change is happening.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I think now as I think about.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
It versus earlier in my career, you're just seeing the
pace of play be much faster. So the regulatory changes,
technology changes, really consumer behavior is changing at a lightning
pace compared to what it was ten, fifteen, twenty years ago.
I think those are really the three common things that
(11:46):
I see. It doesn't really matter whether you're in Europe
or the US or Latin America. Those things are the
things that really create a lot of challenges for anybody.
And probably the fourth I we'd add is just the
more recently is probably just the geopolitical pressures that every
(12:07):
CEO faces on a daily basis now. And I think
in all of the CEO meetings that I have, geopolitics
always seems to come up. Of late, there was always
those three of regulatory, tech, and consumer behavior, and now
I would say the geopolitics is coming up more and
(12:28):
more so.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Bruce, one of my favorite questions in this series is
talking about the cool things that happen out there with
your clients and making a difference. And my question to
you as well, I'm sure you've got handfuls of different stories.
Whether it's a small, medium, large business or a client.
It's about you know, this is why we get up
every day kind of thing, because we're making a difference.
Is there a story that you can share with us
and you don't have to mention the client or the person,
(12:51):
just something that you know, we really we made it.
We made a difference at day, the team and I
did and it turned out really well for them and
it was really cool. And this is why we get up.
You have a short story you can share with us.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I think we have those stories every day, right.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
So there's always a consumer that has run into problems
one way or another and either the money didn't get
to where they thought it was going to get to
or and our team has really done a great job.
I'm really proud of the evolution of the team over
the last few years bringing the customers to the center
(13:25):
of what we're trying to do right and help them.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So you see that quite a bit.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
What our team has really been focused on has been
on that engagement improvement so building out systems so that
we can respond faster, move to being proactive versus reactive
to events that happen in the movement of money. You know,
fraud is a big issue that we're all combating. We've
(13:50):
made some choices to speed things up, but also do
it in a way that the payments remain safe and
people can have trust that the money's getting to where
they think it's going and executing a transaction at a
high level. So I feel very good about the energy
that the team has poured into improving experiences for consumers
(14:13):
and merchants, and I think we've really come a long
way in that regard.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Well, just a moment, I'm going to talk to you
about leadership and ask you a few things about that,
because I think it's important this series. But I also
want to talk about communication. And I talk to a
lot of CEOs. Whether it's a medium, large, small company,
it doesn't matter what the size is about making sure
that the mission, the vision, and all the communication that
you need to do for your team members is funnel
(14:38):
down and you have a pretty big wide net that
you cast with all your clients out there. So when
it comes to communication with you and your team members,
the execution, and also making sure that the company's always
getting better. How do you do that.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Well, it's a great question, Dennis.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I think one of the things that you learn over
the years is just that you can't communicate enough. It
can't be just in one format, So you have to
be aware that people absorb information differently, and so it's
really important to kind of layer out your communication and
(15:13):
do it in a variety of different ways. So internally,
we do a lot to make sure people understand why
we made decisions and how we made those decisions. I've
always believed in just being transparent about those things, and
it's really kind of helped. You may not agree with
like how I got or what I ultimate decision was,
(15:35):
but you always understand how I got there. And because
I'm always been very transparent about just saying here's the
fact pattern that I had, this is what led me
to that decision, and I.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Found that to be very helpful.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
We do a tremendous amount, whether it be town halls
or roundtables and off site meetings with our teams to
make sure that we all are bought in on what
the vision is, how we're executing against that vision where
we stand what needs to be worked on, and I
think that's really been successful because of the team is
(16:11):
willing to do that and willing to take the time
to invest in the others within the organization and really
take time explaining what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You know, Bruce, there is one thing that really caught
my attention that I have subscribed to a long time
ago after I learned a hard lesson as a young manager,
and you were talking specifically about this, and I think
this is a good lesson for anybody, whether you're going
to be a future leader or you're a current leader.
And I think the people appreciate in the end being
appropriately candidate and just giving them the truth because if
(16:42):
you start dancing around things, it muddles things up and
it puts everybody in trouble. So that's something that I
want to make sure that you kind of expounded on
a little bit, because in the end, I think people
just want the truth, whether they like it or not,
so they can move on with things and know exactly
and how their leader stands.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, I think it's just important.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
And again for me, that's always worked, and I don't
know if that's because of the being counter in me
that just wanted to share the numbers and say, look,
this is what I'm looking at. So obviously I'm a
very data centric person, but I have just found that
it's massively helpful if you just are open about it.
(17:21):
Everybody understands here's where we sit, these are the decisions.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
We're facing, and this is you know.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
How I got to where we got to you And
so I think that's really just something I was just
speaking yesterday at the University of North Florida as something
I mentioned there as well as just this is really
important as you're coming out. These are all young kids
coming out and starting their career. Transparency is so important
(17:48):
to build trust with your team, and you can get
through a lot if you have trust with your team.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah, I couldn't have said it better. I really appreciate that.
And I think this is a good segue to talk
a little bit about leadership and once again, and we
have so many leaders that listen to this series, Bruce,
but also a lot of future leaders, and I know
that everybody's going to roll a little different when it
comes to what they think leadership is and then how
to execute it. But as I mentioned, the word leadership
to you and your team and in your life, how
do you execute it? And what does the leadership mean
(18:15):
to you?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, I think it's one of those questions.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
That comes up quite a bit, and I always go
back early on and I'll share a brief story please. Yeah,
that my grandfather was, you know, older guy. I was
in high school and at the time, and its story
always just stuck with me, and that we went over
(18:39):
to see him. He was kind of restricted to bed
at the time, and I was just a young kid,
thought I was.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Going to be captain of the football team. I didn't
get it.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I was like every eighteen year old kid, kind of
down in the dumps about you know, the plate that
I was now facing the horrors of not getting what
you wanted and I will never forget.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
He asked me why I was upset.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Now, this is a guy that was literally dying and
he was more worried about me and why I was upset.
And I shared with him that, you know, I didn't
get what I thought I was going to get and
he said, oh, he said, well, you know, when you
run out onto the field next week and you go
(19:27):
to practice, do you have to be captain? To be first,
and I looked at him like he was, you know,
crazy old guy, and I said, well, no, of course,
you don't have to do that, and he said oh.
He said, well, when you start doing all your drills,
I guess you have to be captain to go first there.
(19:48):
And I said, well, no, grandfather, I don't. I don't
have to be captain like whoever's first is first. And
he just said, well, you know, why not just be
first and you can still lead like it didn't matter,
smart man. And I kept that my whole life and
(20:09):
it's really served me well throughout my career because you
didn't need to be CEO to set the vision of
what you were trying to do or set the pace
or cadence of what the team was trying to accomplish.
You just had to be willing to step out there
and give direction and be willing to be accountable for
(20:29):
what was happening. And I really it's probably a silly story, but.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
I've not at all. I love that.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I love that my life and really grateful for that
little lesson.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, it's a great one too. And I think the
other thing, I'm sure you subscribe to this to Bruce
We're all going to make mistakes. You are, I am,
your team members are, but I'm always that person to
see if you make a mistake or you trip up,
how do they respond, because that really, in the end
is what it's all about. Is it to see if
some he can be a future leader or not?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Absolutely? And you know, especially you know, I think back
to the startup days. It was all about a series
of mistakes, right you were you know, we always used
to talk about we were just bumping into the wall
looking for the crack to run through. So it was
just a series of mistakes till you found something that worked.
And it was all about just being fast, make the
(21:23):
mistake didn't matter, learned something and move on and really
have kept that and that transferred whether I was in
a startup or in a super large.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Company or in a company like we here at pay Safe.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
All right, well let's do this. I really enjoyed the conversation.
I want to get some final thoughts from you, Bruce,
and then we're also can get of the website. Anything
else you'd like to talk about as we wrap up,
but just maybe recap what we've chatted about, the floor's
yours or go ahead, look.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
I appreciate the opportunity to be here. I think you know,
when we talk about pay safe, I would just invite
and anybody who's interested to come check out pasafe dot com.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
We're always hiring, so please feel free to reach out.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
We love creative people that are curious, want to learn
and try to be something part of something that's special,
and I think that's really what we're focused on here,
is creating a world class payments organization. So we want
to be part of our communities. We want to be
good corporate citizens, and we're looking for all great people,
(22:30):
So please feel free to reach out and we'd love
to chat with you at standing.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Bruce, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time.
I'm glad we could feature you on CEOs you should Know.
Continued success and thanks again.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Well, thank you, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
should Know is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive.
Because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
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