Women Leaders in Payments: Gretchen Bender, SVP Business Development at MAPP Advisors | Episode 338

Unlock the secrets to a thriving career in the payments industry with our special guest, Gretchen Bender, Senior Vice President at MAPP Advisors. Gretchen's journey from Springfield, Illinois, through her academic pursuits at the University of Arizona and UC Irvine, to her pivotal move to Las Vegas in 2010, is a testament to the power of seizing unexpected opportunities. Learn how she stumbled into the payments industry in 1996 and discover the unique role MAPP Advisors plays in the fintech advisory market, specializing in mergers, acquisitions, and payments processing. Gretchen offers an insider’s view into the tailored approaches MAPP Advisors uses to bring unparalleled value to their clients, from portfolio evaluations to payments monetization.

In this episode, we also delve into the transformative power of mentorship and diverse work experiences. Gretchen shares invaluable advice on proactively finding mentors, especially for those in smaller companies, and underscores the importance of internships in navigating the payments and Fintech landscape. We discuss the enriching experiences gained from working in both large and small companies, and how these experiences can be a springboard for entrepreneurial success. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone aspiring to make their mark in the payments industry. Gretchen Bender’s journey and insights provide a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. From the importance of mentorship and diverse work experiences to the unique approaches taken by MAPP Advisors, there is something for everyone in this episode. Whether you are just starting out in your career or looking to take the next step, Gretchen’s advice and experiences will provide valuable guidance and motivation. Tune in to discover the secrets to a thriving career in the payments industry and learn from one of the industry’s leading experts.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Thank you for joining us during this special series running throughout the month of July, focused exclusively on women leaders and payments. We've got great content this month, focused on mentorship, career advice, getting out of your comfort zone, having your voice heard and much, much more. A special thanks to our contributing sponsors, stacks Payments, nuve and MAP Advisors, and to our episode sponsors, nmi, dailypay, g&d and Ingenico, as we continue our month dedicated to women leaders and payments, today, I welcome Gretchen Bender, senior Vice President at MAP. Advisors to the show. We've got a great episode ahead, so let's get started. Advisors to the show. We've got a great episode ahead, so let's get started. Hi, gretchen, thank you for being here and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast and, more specifically, thank you for participating during Women Leaders in Payments Month.

Speaker 2: 0:56

Hi Greg, it's nice to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 1:03

Absolutely so. If you don't mind, let's start off having you tell our audience a little bit about yourself, maybe where you grew up, where you went to school, where you currently live, a few things like that.

Speaker 2: 1:07

Sure. So I grew up in Springfield, illinois, and I went to the University of Arizona for undergrad in Tucson. A few years after that, I obtained my MBA from UC Irvine and for about 20 years, early part of my career, I lived in the LA Orange County, southern California, area. In 2010, I had the opportunity, while I was working for Global Payments, to move to Las Vegas, so that's where I reside now.

Speaker 1: 1:36

All right great, so tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at MAP Advisors, and a little about MAP Advisors.

Speaker 2: 1:43

Sure. So MAP is a boutique fintech advisory firm. It stands for Mergers, acquisitions and Payments Processing. We're known for sell-side M&A, but we also do buy-side. We do capital raises. We'll find strategic partners as well. On the consulting side, our services range from portfolio evaluations to payments monetization. Maybe a SaaS company that's not taking payments right now, not monetizing payments? We can help them get started. We can create a go-to-market plan. We can help any company grow revenue. We also have some people in the team that are operational experts, so we can help with contract audits or renegotiations, whether that's with processors or any third party. We can help a company buy technology and we also provide compliance and risk management services.

Speaker 1: 2:38

Okay, and what is your role there?

Speaker 2: 2:40

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm responsible for business development and I work across all practices.

Speaker 1: 2:44

Okay, well, can you tell us what makes MapAdvisors unique in the marketplace Sure?

Speaker 2: 2:49

So, first of all, we're led by former founders of payments companies. Jim Batista and Alexander Renzi formerly started and successfully exited five companies collectively, so they really have the experience to take a company, prepare a company for exit and take it to market. Second, we're very targeted in our approach. We spend a lot of time with our clients in due diligence, helping them prepare. We work with them sometimes for one, even two years prior to an exit. You know, when we do our due diligence and we see ways that they can increase their valuation, we'll help them do that before taking them to market. And then, third, we work with clients of all sizes and all stages of their life cycle, from pre-revenue to publicly traded companies. Our typical clients could range from ISOs to SaaS or technology companies, payment facilitators, processors, gateways, pos companies. Primarily, we work on the acquiring side. However, we have assisted some issuing clients as well.

Speaker 1: 3:54

Okay, great. So before we get into the meat of the conversation, I want to do a quick icebreaker exercise where I'm going to ask you a this or that question, you give me the answer and we're going to run through 10 of them real quick. Okay, sure, okay, all right, ready. I'm going to ask you a this or that question, you give me the answer and we're going to run through 10 of them real quick. Okay, sure, okay, all right, ready, I'm ready. Okay, do you prefer summer or winter, summer Cats or dogs, dogs, apple or Android, apple Coffee or tea, coffee, books or movies.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Oh gosh, I'm going to say, but I love both Okay, beach or mountains, beach Chocolate or vanilla Chocolate. Texting or calling, calling please the city or the country, the country, okay, and the last one pizza or pasta Pizza, okay, great, all right, that was a lot of fun. So let's start talking about you and your career. Tell us when did you start in payments and kind of give us that journey to where you are today.

Speaker 2: 4:45

So I started in payments in 1996, and I literally fell into it. When I first moved to LA, I worked in Hollywood. So I worked on some TV shows for a production company, I worked for a talent agency and I had a ton of fun, but I was getting to the point where I really needed to use my degree and get a I'll call it get a real job. So I was traveling home from a trip over Thanksgiving, I was on a plane and I sat next to a gentleman on the plane and we started talking and he told me that he owned an ISO which I had never heard of. I had never heard of the payments company or of the payments industry. And you know, he said well, we've got some open positions if you'd like to check them out. And so afterward I did, and I ended up going to work for that company. We were a small ISO that sat inside a bank and we did all the merchant services for that bank. And it was a great way to start because we were so small. I got to learn everything. I did everything from, you know, selling merchant accounts to customer service, helping merchants with chargebacks. I would program and deploy terminals. It was a really really great experience and from there I just kind of grew my career. I had roles at other ISOs. I had roles at other banks. I worked in operations, I worked in sales. For most of my career I've spent at the larger companies. So 14 years at Global Payments, where I led in operations. I worked in sales.

Speaker 2: 6:11

For most of my career I've spent at the larger companies.

Speaker 2: 6:12

So 14 years at Global Payments, where I led direct sales for their banking channel and then also an inside sales team which back then was really the start of what we now know as a VAR and ISV channels. Also, while at Global Payments, I served as president of Comerica Merchant Services, which at the time was a joint venture with Global Payments. I served as president of Comerica Merchant Services, which at the time was a joint venture with Global Payments. I had a sales leadership role at Paysafe for a while and just prior to joining MAP, I worked for FIS as head of merchant sales and then, as most of you know, we acquired WorldPay and I held a few roles at WorldPay. I led the ISV team in the UK, which is a lot of fun and very interesting, and then I came back to the US and I led the ISO and PayFact divisions for WorldPay. About a year and a half ago I joined Matt. We just wanted a change. I wanted to work for a smaller company and made the move in January of 23.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Okay, great. So obviously you've been very successful throughout your career. What are some of your guiding principles?

Speaker 2: 7:19

Yeah, I think, boy, you know, find the opportunity right. As you just heard, I had a lot of different roles and a lot of different companies and I think you just always have to find that next opportunity. Learn as much as you can. I think it really benefits you to learn different aspects of this industry operations, sales, you know, leadership, risk underwriting. Just learn as much as you possibly can.

Speaker 2: 7:45

Another guiding principle I would say is love what you do, respect your colleagues, learn from your colleagues, learn from your bosses. You can always learn something from somebody, and that's really how I've grown. My career is. I'm just always learning. And then I think, personally, I'm the kind of person that comes prepared, I deliver on time. If I say I'm going to do something, I do it, I get it done. I think that I am transparent. To do something, I do it, I get it done. I think that I am transparent. I communicate to my bosses, to my colleagues, as well as to my team. Think ahead and I think, like I said before, you have to enjoy what you do, or else why do it? You're at your desk or you're working 8, 10, 12 hours a day some of us so you've got to love what you do.

Speaker 1: 8:27

Right, all right. So what are some of the biggest challenges you faced as a female leader and how did you overcome them?

Speaker 2: 8:34

You know I look at leadership. I don't know the challenges that I've had because I was a female leader. I think those challenges would have been there all along. I think as a female, it's how you react to some of those challenges. As a leader, I try to bring all the tools in my arsenal to solve a problem or find a resolution to whatever that challenge is. Sometimes that means more empathy. Sometimes it means knowing when to be really pragmatic, especially if you're a sales leader helping your team hit a sales quota or you yourself have a sales quota to hit. That's pretty black and white, but at the same time, really understanding if there's an issue, really understanding what the root of that issue and trying to resolve it that way. And I think the best thing we can do as leaders is read the situation and be creative in our approach to solving.

Speaker 1: 9:25

Okay, so let's talk about getting out of your comfort zone. So maybe share with us an experience you've had where you've had to get out of your comfort zone to help you grow.

Speaker 2: 9:36

Oh gosh. So I'll relate a recent example. When I joined MAP Advisors, I had never done consulting before. I had never worked in M&A before, just a little bit, having worked with some of the other companies doing due diligence, and when we were looking at acquiring a company. But I had very limited experience, so I was literally just thrown into the fire. My very first engagement was a very large, complex engagement and we work as a team here at MAP, so everyone has a role, Everyone has a responsibility. Problem was I'd never done it before, so I was just thrown in. It was a great experience. Yes, I was a little bit nervous at first, but I had great teachers, the team was great at helping me and, you know, it really allowed me to learn from the ground up and it also, you know, closing that deal and just that experience gave me a boost of confidence for the next deals to come and future engagements. So it was a challenge but it was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1: 10:34

Great, great Thanks for sharing that. So let's talk about mentorship. So have you had mentors over your career and sort of what is your view on mentorship holistically?

Speaker 2: 10:45

Yes, I have had mentors over the years and I think mentors are wonderful. I've been in both formal programs as well as informal, starting out in my career in the early part. Whenever possible, I participated in a formal mentoring program and then, even today, I can pick up the phone and three of my former bosses who I you know, are just a phone call away and we still talk, probably on a quarterly basis.

Speaker 1: 11:14

Okay, so you know, one of the things we've talked about regarding mentorship a lot lately has been around having formal programs and obviously bigger companies have them and you've done that For smaller companies. Sort of, what is your advice to people around mentorship, like, how do you do that when you don't have a company that's promoting you or asking you to do it or providing you the platform to do it? Any thoughts on what someone in a smaller company should do to kind of build their mentorship program themselves?

Speaker 2: 11:44

Well, especially in the payments industry, there are several companies. Eta, for instance, has a mentoring program for women called Empower that you can become a part of. Paytech Women is another organization in payments. They have a mentoring program as well. Go online, ask your bosses, ask your colleagues how they found their mentors. I think that the opportunity is available. I think you just have to be proactive in finding it.

Speaker 1: 12:13

Right, okay, so let's play out a scenario. Young woman's graduating from college. She looks at the payments FinTech industry, says hey, I'm interested in getting and building a career in payments. What advice would you give her to be successful?

Speaker 2: 12:28

I would start before graduating. I would try to get an internship in payments. What advice would you give her to be successful? I would start before graduating. I would try to get an internship in college, whether it's a summer intern or even during the year. Try to get some experience before you graduate and a lot of companies will hire or a lot of companies will hire you out of college and they sometimes have rotational programs where you can commit to a company for two years and go through a program. You'll have three or four five different roles within that two-year program. That's a wonderful way to really learn the payments industry. Get to do different jobs, see what you like, see what you don't like, but I think internship is really important.

Speaker 1: 13:06

Okay, any thoughts on big company versus small company, starting out, oh, that's a great question.

Speaker 2: 13:12

Let's see, I started out small. I got progressively, went to bigger and bigger companies and then I wanted to go small again, which I did, and then I kind of went back. You know, I kind of went back to the bigger companies and now I'm at a small company. So I think both are great. I think it's great to have experience in a large company, especially if you want to someday be an entrepreneur Just sort of learning structure. You know, you can take that large public company experience into entrepreneurship very easily. I think both are great, both are fun. It's personal preference, but try to get experience in both.

Speaker 1: 13:51

Yeah, I think that's important. I know I worked at JPMorgan Chase obviously big on the payment side so I had eight years of experience there and I have nothing bad to say. I think I learned a ton about business and big business and public companies and things like that, so I definitely learned from that. One final question before we wrap up who or what inspires you to continue to grow throughout your career?

Speaker 2: 14:14

Right now. My clients inspire me and my colleagues inspire me. I really enjoy what I do at Map Advisors. I really enjoy helping our clients and this is sort of a benefit of the small company. Right Is where you really see where your efforts can help a company grow or help a founder exit, or whatever the situation may be. Every engagement is different and that's also important. So every company that we work with has different challenges or has a different goal, and so we go about helping them in a different way, so it never gets boring. It's always fun. There's always something different. My colleagues are fantastic, very, very bright people and, yeah, helping clients is what I love to do.

Speaker 1: 14:56

Okay, great. Well, I think that's a great way to wrap up the show. So, gretchen, thank you so much for being here today. I really appreciate your time. I know it's very valuable, so thanks again for being on the show. Thanks, greg, and to all you listeners out there, I thank you for your time as well, and until the next story, a special thanks to our sponsors for helping make this month possible, especially our contributing sponsors Stacks Payments, nuve and Map Advisors, and to our episode sponsors NMI, daily Pay, g&d and Ingenico. To learn more, visit wwwleadersinpaymentscom.