ATLANTA, GA, August 30, 2021— Rapidly growing FinTech, Optimized Payments, today announced it will welcome two highly-respected industry veterans as strategic advisors.
Mike Passilla, former Vice Chairman at JPMorgan Chase, and Sameer Govil, former Senior Vice President at Visa, will join the Optimized Payments Advisory Board to help guide and manage the firm’s unprecedented growth in data services and payment analytics.
“I am very excited by the rapid growth in digital payments and believe that Optimized Payments is uniquely positioned to support and empower merchants and acquirers globally with their advanced analytics suite, seamless integration, and bespoke consulting services,” said Govil.
Optimized Payments is a one-of-a-kind global platform that enables large merchants to easily aggregate and analyze their payments data across multiple vendors to manage all aspects of payments and streamline back-office operations like reconciliation and chargeback management.
“I have been closely following Optimized Payments for the last five years and have been impressed with the value they have been able to create for enterprise merchants with their data services and analytics capabilities,” said Passilla. “I look forward to lending my knowledge and experience to assist in the healthy growth of this already remarkable FinTech company.”
Passilla and Govil are joining the Advisory Board at the ideal time to help guide the company’s rapid growth. Since its start in 2007, Optimized Payments has grown from being U.S.-centric to consuming data from acquirers, digital wallet providers and PSPs in Canada, Europe, and Asia on behalf of its global merchant clients. And early next year, it will add payment vendors from Africa and the LATAM region.
The successful SaaS platform is also scaling operations and expanding its service offerings beyond global merchants to support PayFacs, ISOs, and acquirers.
“We are thrilled to have Mike and Sameer join the Optimized Payments Advisory Board,” said Founder and CEO Anand Goel. “Together, they bring a combined 60+ years of experience in merchant acquiring and more broadly in building large, successful organizations– they will be invaluable as we scale our analytics platform globally. We anticipate our client base and team will more than double in size over the next year. My team and I will immensely benefit from Mike and Sameer’s strategic guidance as we grow and expand our services,” said Goel.
Passilla and Govil bring an impressive wealth of experience and credentials to the Board:
Mike Passilla
Passilla is CEO of Posillipo Ventures and brings more than 30 years of experience leading and growing FinTech businesses. He served as the Vice Chairman at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the Chief Executive Officer of Chase Merchant Services before retiring from the firm in 2018. Prior to his time at JPMorgan, he was the Chief Executive Officer and President of the 7th largest payments processing firm in the world, Elavon, Inc. Passilla serves on the Board of Directors for Priority Technology Holdings Inc., Cantaloupe, and P97. In addition to serving as an advisor to Optimized Payments, Passilla also acts in an advisory capacity for Forte Ventures and multiple PE firms. Passilla earned his MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and has a BBA from the University of Notre Dame.
Sameer Govil
Govil is a Senior Advisor to McKinsey and Board Director for Revolut, US. He also serves as an Advisor for several FinTech and VC firms. Govil was the Senior Vice President at Visa, where he helped establish the firm’s global strategy for integrated digital commerce products focused on Seller solutions to support the adoption of electronic payments. He also headed Visa’s Middle East and South Asia offices, where he was instrumental in establishing Visa’s leadership in the region. Govil also worked at ANZ Bank, where he was the Head of Cards Business in India and GM- Consumer Finance in Australia. Sameer holds a BS in Computer Science, MBA, and a DCI Fellow at Stanford University.
About Optimized Payments
Optimized Payments is a global provider of choice for merchants seeking best-in-class electronic payments data services, analytics, and consulting. Through its SaaS analytics platform, merchants are empowered with tools to manage chargebacks and declines, streamline back-office operations, generate reporting and analyses, and gain actionable insights that reduce costs and drive revenue– all without any IT investment or resources. To date, the company has generated more than $350 million in savings for clients spanning many industries, including retail, grocery, insurance, and healthcare.
