Updated in October 2024
The payments and fintech industry is undergoing an extraordinary transformation, with global fintech investments expected to surpass $300 billion by the end of 2024. Digital wallets, embedded finance, and real-time payments are just a few of the innovations redefining how money moves. As a result, staying on top of the latest developments can feel overwhelming.
One of the fastest and most effective ways to stay informed is by following industry leaders on social media. These experts share real-time insights, market shifts, and emerging trends from the payments and fintech space, ensuring you’re always up to date. In fact, with over 60% of industry professionals turning to social platforms for breaking news, engaging with thought leaders online has become a key strategy for staying competitive.
Beyond updates, social media offers you the chance to connect with these experts, exchange practical advice, and build valuable relationships. Whether you’re just starting out in the payments and fintech ecosystem or looking to stay ahead of emerging trends like artificial intelligence, decentralized finance, and cross-border payments, following these influencers is essential.
So, get ready to supercharge your social feed! Here are 51 of the top payments and fintech experts to follow in 2025 and beyond (listed alphabetically):
1. Alberto Garuccio
Alberto Garuccio is the Head of Ecosystem at Reale Mutua Assicurazioni, as well as the Insurtech Thought Leader at Techstars, where he curates a dedicated digest and inspires and supports Techstars entrepreneurs in defining business models looking at new trends and players in Insurance sectors.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
2. Alex Jiménez
Alex Jiménez is the Lead Principal Consultant at Backbase and Awards Judge for the Finnovate Awards. Prior to his current role, he was the Chief Strategy Officer at Finalytics.ai and Extractable.
His other experiences include developing and managing Digital Banking and Payments Strategy at Rockland Trust, a community bank in Eastern Massachusetts. He also served as the Chair of the Consumer Bankers Association’s Digital Channel Committee. Recently, Alex served as a member of the American Bankers Association’s Fintech Committee, and was a Vice President and Senior Strategist at Zions Bancorporation, where he led the overall technology investment planning process for the office of the CIO.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
3. Alex Johnson
Alex Johnson is the founder of Fintech Takes, a media brand dedicated to exploring the dynamic crossroads of financial services, technology, and public policy. Through his twice-weekly newsletter and popular podcast, Alex delves into the innovations and companies reshaping how money moves, blending insightful analysis with engaging analogies and pop culture references.
With over two decades of experience in marketing, strategy, and market research, Alex has held key roles at organizations such as Cornerstone Advisors, FICO, Mercator Advisory Group, and Zoot Enterprises. As a recognized authority in the fintech space, his expertise has been featured in major publications and media outlets, including American Banker, The Wall Street Journal, and NBC Nightly News.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
4. Anne Boden
Anne Boden is the founder and former CEO of Starling Bank and the first woman founder of a British bank. In 2018, she received an MBE for services to financial technology. Anne sits on the FinTech Delivery Panel for UK tech network Tech Nation and is a keynote speaker at industry events such as Money20/20 and Wealth 2.0.
Anne is the author of Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry and Female Founders Playbook: Insights From the Superwomen Who Have Made It.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
5. Arin S
Arin is Vice President at a stealth mode start-up, and has over 21 years of experience in driving commercial goals, new market expansion, and leading and managing diversified financial services. He has in-depth knowledge of payments, payment methods, and the online gaming business.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
6. Bill Sullivan
Bill Sullivan is a globally recognized fintech influencer, with regular speaking appearances at leading industry conferences and numerous interviews with tier 1 and trade media. He is the Executive Vice President of Growth at Keeping Current Matters and prior to that was also the Vice President and Global Head of Financial Services Market Intelligence at Capgemini.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
7. Bradley Leimer
Bradley Leimer is the Executive Director and Head of Fintech Partnerships and Open Innovation at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation – SMBC Group. Previously, Bradley co-founded Unconventional Ventures, which connects founders to funders, provides mentorship to entrepreneurs, advisory to corporates, and broadens opportunities for diversity within the ecosystem. Bradley writes and speaks about banking and technology trends and advises corporates, startups, accelerators, and key industry conferences in the financial services space.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Blog
8. Brendan Miller
Brendan is the Chief Marketing Officer at Runa. Previously, Brendan was the Principal Analyst for Digital Business & Payments at Forrester Research. He writes mostly about retail, eCommerce, fintech, payments, and fintech innovation.
Brendan is passionate about developing strategy, positioning, branding, messaging, and campaigns that differentiate, demonstrate thought leadership, and result in revenue impact.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
9. Brett King
Brett King is a world-renowned futurist and speaker, an international bestselling author, and a media personality who covers the future of business, technology, and society. He has spoken in over 50 countries, at TED conferences, given opening keynotes for Wired, Techsauce, Singularity University, Web Summit, The Economist, IBM’s World of Watson, CES, SIBOS, and many more.
Brett has appeared as a commentator on CNBC, BBC, ABC, Fox, and Bloomberg. He previously advised the Obama administration on fintech policy and advises regulators and bank boards around the world on technology transformation.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website or subscribe to his Breaking Banks podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
10. Brian Billingsley
Brian Billingsley is the president of Credova, the fintech division of PublicSquare. With over 15 years of experience in the payments and fintech industries, and a background in payment consulting and strategic business development, Brian has held roles at companies such as Klarna, Alliance Data, and FIS.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
11. Brian Shniderman
Brian Shniderman is the CEO and Managing Partner of 99FinTech, a distinctive management consulting firm specializing in performance-based projects that drive growth and operational excellence across financial services, including commercial and retail banking, payments, lending, and fintech. With over 35 years of industry experience, Brian is dedicated to helping companies unlock revenue growth, launch new products and divisions, and expand into new markets.
A thought leader in payments and fintech, Brian has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, CNN, American Banker, the Business Standard, Dow Jones, HBR, Wired, CIO, Bloomberg, the Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
12. Christopher Danvers
Christopher Danvers has worked with credit unions focusing on payments, digital transformation, and financial technology for over 20 years. He is a regular speaker at industry events, a contributor of editorial content to industry publications, and is considered an innovator and thought leader. Christopher is currently Senior Director, Head of Client Solutions – Community Issuer & Fintech at Visa.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
13. Chris Gledhill
Chris Gledhill regularly ranks as the number-one top global fintech influencer and often speaks and writes about fintech, Banking, and the future of financial services. Chris was lead mobile architect and led the disruptive innovation labs at Lloyds Banking Group before becoming CEO and Co-Founder of the fintech startup Secco.
Chris has both a technical and business background with expertise spanning a wide range of disruptive technologies, including blockchain, AI, API, big data, deep learning, virtual reality, crypto-currencies, biometrics, and mobile and wearables.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
14. Chris Skinner
Chris Skinner is known as an independent commentator on the financial markets and fintech through his blog, theFinanser.com and as the author of the bestselling books Digital Bank, ValueWeb, and its new sequel Digital Human. In his day job, Chris is chair of the European networking forum The Financial Services Club, Chair of Nordic Finance Innovation, as well as being a Non-Executive Director of the fintech consultancy firm 11:FS.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
15. Clint Wilson
A successful fintech, software, and payments entrepreneur, Clint was Group Chief Executive of ParentPay from 2005 until March 2020. He was responsible for establishing ParentPay as the UK’s leading online payment service for schools. Clint is also the founder of nimbl, ParentPay Group’s youth banking service.
Clint was an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2018 UK winner and also was awarded the accolade of the “UK’s Most Ambitious Business Leader” in 2019 as part of the Daily Telegraph-backed LDC Top 50.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
16. Dave Heun
With over 30 years of experience in the newspaper business, Dave Heun currently works as an associate editor for Arizent, as part of the PaymentsSource group. Dave writes about the payments industry, credit card industry, mobile pay technologies, and others. Follow him to get all the input and learn top-notch best practices from the payment industry.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
17. Dave Maddox
Dave is blockchain’s go-to-market leader at IBM, where he is responsible for IBM Blockchain Business Development for the Financial Services Market in the US with a focus on blockchain enterprise solutions.
Dave has over 25 years of experience in the information technology industry, where he occupied executive roles in sales management, business development, and program development. In addition, he has deep knowledge of the credit card payment Industry and has written IBM papers analyzing the industry for IBM’s Client Certification Program at Harvard University.
Dave’s specialties are blockchain technology, payment processing systems, credit card systems, large systems technology, and transaction systems.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
18. David Brear
David is a fintech pioneer and thought leader with over 15 years of experience driving digital transformation and innovation for some of the world’s largest financial services companies. As the CEO of 11:FS, a trailblazing consultancy, David helps clients craft forward-thinking strategies, develop new propositions, and launch transformative ventures across the UK, US, Europe, and Asia.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
19. Denise Bahs
Denise Bahs is the President of Spark Corp, where she specializes in lead generation through social media cyber sleuthing and engagement. She has trained a significant number of salespeople in the tech and payments industry on how to use social media and digital marketing to nurture their prospects through the buyer’s journey.
Follow Denise on Twitter | LinkedIn
20. Devie Mohan
Devie is a fintech marketing strategy and research professional with years of experience working with industry giants and startups. She has worked in strategy, marketing, and has held analysis roles in firms like Goldman Sachs, Thomson Reuters, Ericsson, IBM, USAID, and SunTec.
Devie is a consultant and researcher for several fintech startups, banking innovation groups, and investors, and has a keen understanding of the trends and activities of startups, banks, and investors in the space.
Follow her on Twitter | Website | LinkedIn
21. Efi Pylarinou
Efi Pylarinou is a seasoned Wall Street professional and ex-academic who has become a leading fintech and tech thought leader, trusted by global brands in tech and financial services. Efi is a domain expert with a Ph.D. in finance, a prolific content creator, a host, an author, and a speaker focused on innovation in financial services. Efi also served on the faculty at The Fast Future Executive, lecturing live on the future of finance and money.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
22. Erin McCune
Erin is a partner at Bain & Company, where she contributes to payments-related projects for a variety of Bain clients.
Erin has over 20 years of experience leading increasingly complex payment initiatives for corporate clients, as well as advising financial institutions and payment technologists on the development of their payment capabilities. Before joining Glenbrook, Erin was the founder of Forte Financial, a consulting firm.
Erin’s specialties are payments strategies, financial process improvement, opportunity assessment, build-buy-partner analysis, market sizing, competitive intelligence.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
23. Florian Graillot
Florian is a VC investor and Founding Partner at astoryaVC and has invested in early-stage startups in Europe with a focus on technologies that could build the next insurance generation. He is an engineering graduate from Telecom ParisTech and a business school graduate from HEC Paris. Florian regularly writes and tweets about InsurTech, AI, and startups.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
24. Gareth Lodge
Recognized globally as an expert in everything related to payments, Gareth Lodge provides his clients actionable insights and analysis through his research, consulting, and speaking.
He is currently a payments Senior Analyst and Global Lead at Celent, a research and advisory firm, specializing in financial services. He often shares insights into how a bank processes payments (payment hubs and engines), and how they move and settle payments (ACH, wire, real-time payments, Swift).
Gareth is also a well-known speaker and contributor in the payments space, including retail, corporate, and card payments, having spoken at events such as Sibos, EBAday, Nacha, and Money2020.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
25. Ghela Boskovich
Ghela is a self-proclaimed fintech fanatic and Founder of FemTechGlobal™, a network dedicated to challenging the status quo, and improving the inclusiveness and diversity in financial services. Frequent keynote speaker and editorial contributor, Ghela focuses on how to fast-track internal innovation, focusing on the practical application and commercialization of fintech/bank collaboration.
An advocate of nurturing Customer Lifetime Value for both banks and those they serve, Ghela is a confirmed evangelist for adopting technology to transform the financial services industry for the greater good.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
26. Ian Rutland
Ian Rutland is the Strategic Advisor at Advantio, one of Europe’s leading cyber security specialists operating from office locations in the UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, and Sweden. With over 30 years of experience, Ian is a renowned voice in the payments and fintech industries with global experience across the payments value chain.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
27. James Wester
James Wester is a research and strategy analyst with more than three decades in research, product management, and marketing for a variety of technology and payment companies.
He is currently leading research coverage of cryptocurrencies and digital assets for Javelin Strategy and Research, including topics like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), stablecoins, tokenized assets, and more. James is a frequent international speaker quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Marketplace, CNBC, the Economist, and many others.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
28. Jason Mikula
Jason Mikula is consultant specializing in early stage fintech companies, as well as a seasoned investor and advisor. With a wealth of experience spanning both startups and traditional financial institutions, Jason leverages his deep industry knowledge and network to publish a weekly newsletter and podcast covering the latest in fintech, cryptocurrency, and banking.
Jason is the Head of Industry Strategy, Banking and Fintech at Taktile and the Founder of Fintech Business Weekly, a weekly in-depth analysis of trends and business models in banking and fintech.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
29. Jim Marous
Jim Marous is considered one of the top five most influential people in banking and also known as one of the best keynote speakers at industry and corporate events. Known for his understanding of the disruption in the banking industry, Jim is the co-publisher of The Financial Brand and owner and publisher of the Digital Banking Report. Jim speaks on innovation, digital transformation, customer experience, marketing strategies, channel distribution, payments, and change management.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
30. Jordan McKee
Jordan McKee is the head of the fintech research and advisory group at S&P Global Market Intelligence. He leads a team of analysts based in North America, Europe, and Asia that provides guidance on financial technology market opportunities and strategies. His main interests include digital transformation strategies for payment networks, issuing and acquiring banks, payment processors, point-of-sale providers, and other payments industry stakeholders.
Jordan was listed on the Electronic Transactions Association‘s Forty Under 40 list in 2018. He is frequently engaged by the media to share his insights and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, TIME, Businessweek, and The Financial Times, as well as a fintech contributor at Forbes.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
31. JP Nicols
JP Nicols is a trusted advisor to companies ranging from startups to the Fortune 500 as well as a popular writer and top-rated speaker.
He is the Co-Founder of Alloy Labs, an ecosystem of community and mid-size banks working together to develop insights that drive partnerships, product development, and strategic investments to better serve evolving customer needs and help them compete and win in a rapidly changing world. JP is often quoted in the media, and his name regularly appears on multiple lists as an influential thought leader, but what really drives him is helping people turn ideas into results.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
32. Karen Webster
Karen Webster is one of the world’s leading experts on emerging payments and a strategic advisor to CEOs and boards of multinational players in the payments and commerce space. As the CEO of Market Platform Dynamics, she works extensively with the most innovative players in the payments, financial services, mobile, B2B, digital media and technology sectors to identify, ignite, and monetize innovation.
Karen serves on the boards of several emerging companies, helping innovators develop and implement business strategies that drive market adoption for their products and services. She’s also the founder of PYMNTS.com, the industry’s leading B2B marketing platform.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
33. Kate Fitzgerald
Kate Fitzgerald is a business journalist with vast experience in financial services and retail, particularly payments, emphasizing emerging digital and mobile payment technology, apps, chatbots and related innovations.
She is a senior editor at American Banker, where she shares news and analysis regarding the digital payments revolution. Prior to her experience at American Banker, Kate held the role of Emerging Payments Editor at FinTech Futures.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
34. Marcel van Oost
Marcel describes himself as an advisor, investor, and connector within the fintech industry. He began his career at an acquiring bank before founding his own payment service provider. Marcel is well-known for his daily fintech newsletter, FinTech Europe, and podcast, Connecting The Dots, where he shares insights and connects the dots across the industry.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
35. Matt Oppenheimer
Matt is the co-founder and CEO at Remitly, a mobile payments service that enables consumers to conveniently make person-to-person international money transfers. The company’s vision is to transform the lives of millions of immigrants and their families with one of the most trusted financial services products in the world.
Previous to his experience at Remitly, Matt was the Head of Mobile and Internet Banking Initiatives at Barclays Bank Kenya, where he led the launch of the first internet banking platform for Barclays Bank Kenya.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
36. Michael Diamond
Michael Diamond is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Digital Banking at Mitek Systems. Michael has been in the tech industry for most of his career and has worked through various arcs of interactive banking technology, including interactive voice response, online banking, mobile banking, mobile payments, and finally, mobile check deposit.
When he is not working, Michael enjoys writing and public speaking, and he is passionate about leadership and innovation, which he writes about on his blog, michaeldiamond.com.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
37. Nadja Bennett
Nadja has over 13 years of experience in the payment and fraud industry, both in acquiring and gateway processing. Her expertise lies in payments, eCommerce, fraud, fintech, unified commerce, omnichannel, and multinational commerce.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
38. Neira Jones
Neira Jones has more than 25 years of experience in financial services and technology. She is regularly invited to advise organizations of all sizes on payments, cyber-crime, crypto-currency and blockchain, information security, regulations (e.g. PSD2, GDPR, etc.) and on digital innovation, where she strives to demystify the hype surrounding technology today.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
39. Nick Bilodeau
Nick Bilodeau is a financial services executive and a recognized industry influencer with over 20 years of leadership experience. His work has included heading marketing and product development across the payments, banking, insurance, and wealth management industries. He is currently the Executive Director of Quantum.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
40. Nicole Baxby
Nicole Baxby is the Vice President of Customer Success at Quantifind, the AI-powered risk intelligence company that helps organizations detect and mitigate risk with greater accuracy and speed. Nicole has 20 years of experience in the fintech industry, and her area of expertise includes customer success, payments, and global fintech.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
41. Nik Milanović
Nik Milanović has spent most of his career in financial technology and microfinance, leading strategy and partnerships at several fintech companies. He is now the founder of the popular fintech newsletter This Week in Fintech, an advisor, and the founder of The Fintech Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
42. Oliver Bussmann
Oliver Bussmann is a Senior Technology Executive with 30+ years of influential leadership in different high-tech and finance services industries with UBS, SAP, Allianz, Deutsche Bank, and IBM.
Oliver is a thought leader in fintech, blockchain, enterprise mobility, and cloud computing, as well as a pioneer in spotting trends and employing business-building social media strategies from the CXO role.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn | Website
43. Patricia Hines
Patty Hines has over 20 years of experience in financial services across business, technology, and operations. Her areas of expertise include corporate-to-bank integration, online cash management, delivery channels, and customer relationship management, along with end-to-end commercial and small business lending.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
44. Ron Shevlin
Ron is the Chief Research Officer of Fintech Research at Cornerstone Advisors. A sought-after keynote speaker, he is widely regarded as a thought leader in banking and fintech. Ron is a regular contributor to Forbes and has authored several books on fintech.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
45. Sebastien Meunier
Sebastien is a strategy consultant and expert in the management of global transformations in financial institutions. His two key areas of focus are business efficiency and innovation in finance, and he helps banks transform their businesses, be more efficient at every level while adapting to the fintech boom.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
46. Simon Taylor
Simon Taylor is the Founder of Global Digital Finance and Fintech Brainfood, as well as the Head of Strategy and Content at Sardine. Simon has been immersed in the technology of financial services for his entire career and is consistently voted one of the most influential people in banking, insurance, and fintech by banks, his peers, and a number of industry bodies.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
47. Spiros Margaris
Venture capitalist and advisor Spiros Margaris is the founder of Margaris Ventures, and one of the foremost global thought leaders and experts in the fields of fintech and insurtech. He is the first international influencer to achieve “The Triple Crown” of influencer rankings by being ranked the global No. 1 fintech, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain influencer by Onalytica in 2018.
Having launched two startups in New York, including a pioneer in what would now be termed fintech, Spiros believes that his banking, money management, and entrepreneurial experience help him better understand the challenges that the financial industry faces and thus able to devise and support innovative solutions for them. He is a frequent speaker at international fintech and insurtech conferences, and publishes articles on his innovation proposals, inspirations, and thought leadership.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
48. Susanne Chishti
Susanne Chishti is the Chair of FINTECH Circle, Europe’s first investor network focused on fintech investments and a leading fintech innovation, learning, and communications platform. She is also a Non-Executive Director at Crown Agents Bank (CAB Payments PLC) and the Chair of the ESG Sub-Committee. In 2024 Susanne was selected among the Top 100 Women in fintech globally.
She is also the Co-Editor of the bestseller The FINTECH Book, which has been translated into ten languages and is sold across 107 countries.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
49. Theodora Lau
Theodora Lau is a public speaker, writer, and advisor whose work aims to ignite innovation in both the public and private sectors, with a focus on uplifting underserved demographics and fostering a more inclusive society. Theodora is the founder of Unconventional Ventures, an initiative dedicated to building and nurturing an ecosystem of financial institutions, corporations, startups, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and accelerators to address the unmet needs of consumers, especially women and underrepresented founders.
Follow her on Twitter | LinkedIn
50. Todd Ablowitz
Todd is a globally acknowledged and sought-after authority on payment technology, mobile payments, and emerging payments trends. For over 20 years, he has helped hundreds of software companies, sponsors, and banks across the globe navigate the complexities of the payments industry. Todd has developed strategies based on trends and market demands, created and launched new products, and built and led successful sales organizations. As a result, investors, analysts, and industry watchers frequently rely on Todd for expert advice, trend insights, and consulting on payments and payments innovations.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
51. Zilvinas Bareisis
Zilvinas Bareisis is the Head of Retail Banking and Payments Research at Celent, where his research is focused on retail banking technologies with a particular emphasis on consumer and card-based payments and identity and authentication. Zilvinas has over 20 years of experience advising senior executives at leading financial institutions and their technology and service providers.
He has a keen interest in payments innovation and how the “perfect storm” of competitive, regulatory, and technology developments shapes consumer payments in the present and future.
Follow him on Twitter | LinkedIn
We hope this carefully curated list of payments and fintech experts serves as a valuable resource on your journey through the dynamic world of payments. Whether you’re embarking on new ventures or simply looking for fresh insights and strategies, following these thought leaders will keep you informed of the latest trends, industry best practices, and emerging innovations.
But we want to hear from you, too! Are there other experts you’re following who should be included on this list? Share your recommendations in the comments below.
And if you’re eager to dive deeper into the world of online payments, don’t miss our comprehensive Online Payment Processing Guide, packed with essential tips and insights to optimize your eCommerce payment strategy.
