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Founder / Operator·Payments

Paulette Rowe

Chief Executive Officer at Stax Payments

Orlando, Florida, USA

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Why they matter

As Stax CEO she's driven two payments-infrastructure acquisitions in 14 months, making her a sharp read on embedded-payments M&A, vertical SaaS economics, and processor consolidation.

Background

Paulette Rowe is CEO of Stax Payments, an Orlando-based embedded payments and processing platform, a role she took in August 2023 after more than 20 years in banking, payments and fintech at Paysafe, Meta (Facebook), Barclaycard, Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest, Tesco Bank and GE Capital. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and an engineering graduate degree from the University of Birmingham, and has been repeatedly named one of American Banker's 'Most Influential Women in Payments.' Alongside Stax, she sits on the board of Thredd and is an Independent Operating Partner at Greater Sum Ventures, Stax's backer.

Notable deals

  • 2023
    Appointed CEO of Stax Payments, taking over from interim CEO John Kristel after a global board search
  • 2023
    Led Stax's acquisition of Atlantic-Pacific Processing Systems (APPS), her first deal as CEO, creating the Stax Processing platform
  • 2024
    Led Stax's acquisition of BlockChyp to add retail payments technology and gateway capabilities
  • 2023
    Appointed independent Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chair at card-issuing processor Thredd

Call-prep brief

Background

  • CEO of Stax Payments since August 2023, appointed after a global board search to succeed interim CEO John Kristel.
  • Prior roles: CEO, Integrated & eCommerce Solutions at Paysafe; Head of Payments & Financial Services Partnerships at Meta/Facebook; senior roles at Barclaycard, RBS/NatWest, Tesco Bank, GE Capital.
  • MBA (INSEAD), engineering graduate degree (University of Birmingham). Multi-year American Banker 'Most Influential Women in Payments' honoree.

Current focus

  • Transforming Stax from an ISO/reseller model into an end-to-end processor ("Stax Processing").
  • Two acquisitions under her tenure: Atlantic-Pacific Processing Systems (Oct 2023) and BlockChyp (Oct 2024).
  • Building partnerships (Mastercard, PayPal) and a vertical SaaS/ISV embedded-payments strategy.
  • States Stax does not need additional outside funding — growth is organic plus M&A off the current balance sheet.

What she cares about

  • Reducing "payment-fee fatigue" for SMBs and software platforms.
  • Margin/EBITDA uplift from owning processing rather than pure reseller economics.
  • Governance and DEI — chaired the ESG Committee at United Utilities for seven years.

Recent moves

  • Relocated from the UK to the US (Orlando) in 2023 for the Stax role.
  • Stepped down from the United Utilities board in July 2024 due to the relocation.
  • Currently NED/Remco Chair at Thredd and Independent Operating Partner at Greater Sum Ventures, Stax's owner.

Sensitivities

  • Stax is owned by Greater Sum Ventures — she already operates inside a sponsor-backed governance structure; frame outreach accordingly.
  • Left a long-tenured UK board seat abruptly for the US move; relocation/family logistics may be a sensitive area.
  • Public "no new funding needed" stance may signal reluctance to discuss a sale or recap directly.

Questions to ask

  1. With APPS and BlockChyp now integrated, what's the realistic 18–24 month roadmap to a fully unified processing stack, and where are the remaining gaps?
  2. How does Greater Sum Ventures' ownership shape Stax's appetite for further M&A versus organic reinvestment?
  3. Given your Paysafe and Meta partnerships background, where do you see the next wave of embedded-payments consolidation happening?

Outreach draft

Subject
Stax's Processing Buildout — Quick Call?
Hi Paulette, I'm [Name] with [Firm]. We've been following Stax's shift from ISO to full-stack processor with real interest — the APPS and BlockChyp acquisitions read like a deliberate build toward owned processing economics, and your Meta and Paysafe background gives you a rare vantage point on where embedded payments and vertical SaaS are heading. We do work across payments and merchant acquiring and would value 20–30 minutes to hear your perspective on where consolidation goes from here — no pitch, just a conversation with someone building it from the inside. Would you have time for a quick call in the next couple of weeks? Best, [Placeholder Name]

Sources

Strongest evidencePage title7 public sourcesVerified2026-08-09How the grades work