ETA: Celebrating Women’s History in Payments

Women’s History Month celebrates the contributions of women to our culture, history, workplace, and society. This month, we at ETA and in the ETA Network have been reflecting on the increasingly pivotal role women play in supporting the payments ecosystem at all levels and the continued potential for growth in diversity, equality, and inclusion. In honor of Women’s History Month, ETA has reached out to a few member companies to explore the positive changes they are seeing in the industry regarding gender equality, to explain how they are supporting these initiatives, and to discuss why they are important.

1. What positive changes have you seen/are you seeing in fintech in regard to more female participation in the workforce? In leadership? 

Lacey Frenzl, DishOut
I think we are seeing an increase in mentorship and camaraderie among women in the workplace. Helping women within the industry find their circle and encouraging them to lean on that circle for advice and empowerment — and reassuring them that it is OK to need those things. Wnet is a perfect example. They foster an environment where individuals can network with others outside of their organization, create their own circle of trust, and have deeper connections than just growing a LinkedIn following. That circle gives women a neutral place to get advice on the challenges and celebrate wins derived from both work and home life.

Caroline Hometh, RPY Innovations
I am the Founder and Managing Partner of RPY Innovations, a payment consulting company whose client is primarily a FinTech company. As an older woman, I experience less and less prejudice to this sector, which perhaps is a surprising sentence. The men and women emerging from the FinTech workforce don’t seem to care about my age or my sex, but in what I know and how quickly I can deliver information to them that assists them in making sound decisions.

Ainsworth Clarke, Fiserv
Women’s History Month is a recognition of the progress made and an acknowledgment of the gaps still left to fill. At Fiserv, we have a proud history and commitment to creating opportunities for women to grow and elevate their careers in payments and FinTech. We are #FISVProud to be recognized for the fifth year in a row for our commitment to women and gender equality by the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI).

Fiserv honors the contributions of women past and present, while seeking out opportunities to empower the next generation of women and allies. In partnership with the Women’s Impact Network (WIN), Fiserv will celebrate by shining a spotlight on prominent Leading Women at Fiserv, host weekly virtual events, and much more.

Any Fiserv employee around the world, regardless of gender, can join WIN, an ERG focused on developing leadership across all levels of the company. WIN supports its members in achieving their professional and personal goals by providing a variety of career development opportunities, educational workshops, networking events, a mentoring program, a speaker series, and volunteer activities.

Shalav Gupta, FSS Technologies
The steady increase in representation and leadership of women in the workplace has been encouraging, but we have a long way to go. It is inspiring to see women, despite several challenges that sadly still exist, persevere and continue to take initiative and speak up. Increasingly, men are reflecting on their own behavior and acknowledging the role they have played and continue to play in discriminating against women. It is nice to see men beginning to do more to promote behaviors and values that would help create equal opportunity in the workplace. We are increasingly seeing workplace cultures discourage autocratic decision-making and move to more communal and consensus-based decision-making. Diversity is increasingly seen as an asset rather than a liability. While some of these changes have been encouraging, we have a lot more work to do. I look forward to continuing to advocate for and to doing my part to create workplaces with equal opportunity for all their constituents.

2. What is your company doing to highlight women in payments? What initiatives does your company have to encourage the participation of all genders?

Deana Rich, Infinicept
At Infinicept, we are truly committed to cultivating a diverse workforce. We serve a diverse community around the world, and we make sure our company reflects this diversity. We are proud of our team that consists of all genders from different experiences.

We highlight women in payments in a couple of ways. First, we are a 50% woman-owned business. My Co-CEO, Todd Ablowitz, and I share equal decision-making on all aspects of our business. In fact, we have one vote that we share equally, ensuring that we are aligned and have an equal say in the direction of Infinicept. This has led to many productive discussions and ultimately has put our business on the path to success.

Another way we elevate women in business is through the ETA young scholars ’ program. We encourage and have had several of our employees apply. And finally, our strategic advisors are a diverse group of women and men from different backgrounds, and our leadership team includes 40% women.

We believe that diversity and elevating employees from all walks of life has led and will continue to lead to our success. Thought leadership that reflects a variety of different backgrounds and experiences is paramount to our business.

Marta Rzeszowska, Moneris
I am proud to work for a company with a strong contingent of females in senior leadership roles, led by our CEO, Angela Brown. Moneris ensures inclusion within the workplace for all, and that includes highlighting strong women while also helping all genders thrive. On our blog, Moneris Insights, we post employee testimonials to showcase our female tech leaders. See the latest post featuring Alicja Deptula, Director of Technology Governance and Planning. In February, we sponsored the HackerX Diversity and Inclusion event. We’re proud to partner with Elevate to launch Canada’s first ecommerce accelerator, eCommerce North, to help start-ups and entrepreneurs bridge the gap to digital. eCommerce North goes beyond traditional programming by providing founders with coaching and mentorship focused on sustainability, equity, and mental health. As part of the Government of Canada’s 50-30 initiative, Elevate and Moneris are committed to having 50% of the program’s participants be female founders and at least 30% of participants come from underrepresented backgrounds. We continue to grow as a company by creating balance and ensuring that we have participation from all genders and diverse backgrounds.

Diane Driscoll, US Alliance Group, Inc.
US Alliance Group Inc (USAG) leads from the top down when it comes to culture and diversity. For example, USAG Executive to Manager level is 53% held by women. USAG leadership also leads by example. Our CEO, Fadi Cheikha, joined Women’s Networking in Electronic Transactions (Wnet) as an advocate member to sponsor and support women in leadership within the payments industry.

Parag Ladhawala, Google Pay Partnerships
The payments organization within Google honored Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day through a range of activities. We kicked off a series of spotlights on women leaders within the payments around the globe and held panel discussions in different regions. In India, we celebrated International Women’s Day with a bespoke backsplash in the Google Pay app. Finally, we held workshops promoting allyship within the company, and reminded employees of the ongoing opportunities to get involved with Women@Google, an employee resource group committed to empowering all women at Google by connecting, developing and retaining female talent. All genders are welcome to participate in Women@Google initiatives.

3. What goals should the fintech/payments industry be working towards in regard to diversity in the workforce?

Adi Ekshtain, Amaryllis Payment Solutions
Diversity encompasses a wide spectrum, from hiring to culture and inclusion. Making the effort to create an inclusive workplace has many benefits. Any company in our industry that works toward inclusivity as a goal will benefit from adaptability, creativity, and innovative thinking. These companies will also be more likely to attract and recruit top talent.

4. What would you still like to see in regard to women’s participation in fintech?

Sam Pfanstiel, Viking Cloud
I am encouraged by the contributions I see every day by women in every area of FinTech. However, there is progress yet to be made in the area of payments security. In years past, many aspiring young women have unfortunately felt discouraged from pursuing careers in information technology, software development, or security engineering — important skillsets for cybersecurity professionals. But as we strive for better representation in these fields, we will better leverage our unique perspectives to innovate, solve challenging security problems, and provide a safer payments experience.