My guest this week has a passion for people, payments, and Orange Theory? Yep, you heard me right! Orange Theory enthusiast and Elavon CEO Jamie Walker is a phenomenally empathetic leader with a fascinating journey in payments and almost 1,200 Orange Theory classes under his belt since 2013! And if you ask him where he gets his business advice from, he will be the first to tell you that one of his top advisors is his wife.

For those of you who may not know, Elavon is a payment processor and wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank. They offer payment processing to a wide array of customers including the smallest business to the largest airline, and all on a global scale. Their primary verticals are airlines, hospitality, healthcare, retail, and (most recently) mass transit. And they support all money movement needs for their customers via their embedded finance solution, Talech.

As for their competitive advantage, Jamie touts their breath of distribution, their industry specific solutions that uniquely service their customers, and the digital assets provided by their U.S. Bank relationship. And when asked what Jamie’s secret sauce is for running such a high performing team, he lives by the following: Be accountable, offer thought leadership, and do both with a sense of urgency.

Tune in this week to hear Jamie talk about his journey to the role CEO, including his 22-year tenure with U.S. Bank, the catalyst that fueled his empathetic leadership style, and where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to contactless, embedded payments, digital wallets, and a secure checkout experience.