My guest this week marks our first impressive female leader in payments to kick off our Women Leaders in Payments monthly special. Her name is Kathleen Pierce-Gilmore, and she is the head of payments at Silicon Valley Bank.
For those of you who may not know, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is often referred to as “the bank of innovation” and is very popular throughout the fintech space. SVB caters specifically to private equity firms, venture capitalist firms, accelerators, and incubators. They serve as a commercial bank for standard BAU protocol and also provide infrastructure and licensing for their partners in need of embedded payments. In addition to all this, they also facilitate all things startup as far as fundraising, IPO, acquisition and the like, as well as a $7 billion capital platform used to invest in companies they gain exposure to through their innovation roots.
And if you think that’s impressive, wait until you hear about the woman behind their payments legacy.
Kathleen grew up in what she would describe as very unstable circumstances. Her family suffered from severe financial insecurity and she will be the first one to say that poverty is more than just an economic state. However, it was this experience that drove her to become the woman she is today. This instability throughout childhood eventually brought her into one of the most stable industries available. And her journey getting there has been absolutely fascinating!
With a résumé that includes some of our industries heaviest hitters such as American Express, Capital One and PayPal, Kathleen has truly been a trailblazer for women everywhere – not just in payments. Tune in this week to hear her talk about her guiding principles of integrity, excellence, compassion, and happiness, as well as what it takes to be a change agent and what every woman leader should possess.
