Orlando tech unicorn Stax Payments on Aug. 1 announced it has hired Paulette Rowe as its new CEO.
London-based Rowe replaces John Kristel, who was named interim CEO in January. Rowe will move to Orlando, though the company did not specify when.
Before joining Stax, Rowe established a track record for leadership in the world of finance, holding top positions at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclaycard Payment Solutions, Facebook and Paysafe, among others.
“Stax has experienced fantastic organic and inorganic growth in recent years, carving out an enviable niche as a disruptor and a leader in the payments landscape,” said Rowe in a prepared statement.
Rowe said she was attracted to Stax because of the strength of the team and the simplicity of the integrated solution Stax offers. The product offered by Stax, which is used by 30,000 businesses and has processed over $30 billion in payments to date, is an application programming interface (API) for payment processing and analysis.
Most credit card processing services charge clients a percentage markup on each transaction. Stax has a subscription-based model and does not mark up interchange fees. Subscriptions range between $99 and $199 monthly, depending on the selected plan. A NerdWallet review said Stax is a good fit for companies that process $5,000 or more in credit card transactions per month.
The startup that launched as Fattmerchant in Orlando in 2014 quickly grew to nearly 300 employees as its payment processing platform for small and large businesses took off. Achieving unicorn status — a billion-dollar valuation — was significant for Stax as well as the Central Florida ecosystem overall. Stax is the first tech unicorn headquartered in Orlando since its founding.
Stax co-founder and former Executive Vice President Jacques Fu said, "I think Paulette will be a wonderful steward of the company and the people at Stax. It’s great to see another confident and capable woman CEO at the helm."
In an Aug. 1 Linkedin post, founding CEO Suneera Madhani posted a statement on behalf of herself and her brother and co-founder Sal Rehmetullah, who both left the company in January: “We are thrilled to see another woman, and a woman of color at the helm to carry on our legacy and the values that Stax was fundamentally built on. The day we met Paullete we both knew with her leadership and background she was the right fit for not just the role, but for the future of Stax as we embark on our next venture.”
Madhani and Rehmetullah — siblings who started Stax and were the only top executives to lead the company until this year — were replaced by interim CEO Kristel. He is an operating partner at Knoxville, Tennessee-based investment firm Greater Sum Ventures LLC, which in 2020 took a majority stake in Stax.
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