The achievements of Black women are often overlooked or forgotten. That is why the theme ‘Saluting our Sisters’ for this year’s Black History Month pays homage to Black women who have made huge contributions and achievements in their own space. The theme highlights the role that Black women have played in inspiring change, as well as building strong diverse and inclusive communities.

Black women have been phenomenal leaders, trailblazers that have resiliently contributed to the growth of the society – especially in the fintech space. To celebrate Black History Month, we are ‘Saluting our Sisters' by honoring the achievements, intelligence and contributions of eight exceptional Black women at the forefront of inspiring change in the finance industry and making a mark in history. We see you and salute you!

Kahina Van Dyke

Operating Partner, Advent International

Kahina has led at different financial institutions including MasterCard, Citibank, Facebook, Ripple and Standard Chartered Bank in the last 20 years and across 50 countries. Prior to joining Advent, she was the Global Head of Digital Channels & Data Analytics at Standard Chartered Bank, where she led the bank to building digital banking platforms for global trade, commerce and financial services. 

As the Corporate and Business Development team leader at Ripple, Kahina was instrumental in building strategic commercial partnerships to facilitate cross-border payments using blockchain technology. She also led the go-to-market strategies for MasterCard’s globally scalable payment solutions, including introducing digital micro-merchants and micro-payment options to Africa. 

At Meta, as the Global Lead of Financial Services and Payments, Kahina launched new financial solutions and consumer payments partnerships between Facebook and Citibank, PayPal and Visa, as well as Western Union, to give easy payments access on the platform to the users in Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and North America. At Citibank, she launched their first mobile wallet with national and international roll-out. 

Kahina has been an independent board director of Progressive Insurance, part of the board of directors of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum and also the Board Observer for MoneyGram International after leading the successful minority stake investment of the company in 2019. Kahina founded the Global Women Executive Leadership Council in 2008, has received multiple awards and was ranked the number one Global Woman in Fintech in 2019 by the Financial Technology Report.

Thasunda Duckett

President and CEO, TIAA

Thasunda Brown Duckett, the current – and first female – CEO of TIAA, is one of the most powerful women in US banking. Before her current role, she was CEO of JPMorgan Chase Consumer Banking for almost five years, managing a business unit with more than $800bn in deposits and investments that served 24 million US households. 

She launched Chase's five-year plan to open 400 branches in new markets across the US by the end of 2022 and led Chase's National Savings campaign, which promoted financial health for all consumers. As an advocate for diversity and financial inclusion, she was the executive sponsor of Chase's Advancing Black Pathways program that aimed to help Black Americans achieve economic success through post-graduation roles. 

Thasunda was the founding member of the Women on the Move initiative to advance women in their careers and she launched a financial literacy campaign in partnership with Essence called ‘Currency Conversations’ to promote financial knowledge in the Black community. She serves on boards including Nike, the National Medal of Honor Museum and the Economic Club of New York. 

Peggy Alford

Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Merchant Services, PayPal

Peggy currently serves as Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Merchant Services at PayPal. Previously, as the Senior VP, Core Markets for PayPal, she led PayPal’s commercial teams to develop scalable and effective solutions across North America, the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Australia. She also led the Customer Success and Go-to-Market teams that positioned PayPal as a leading digital payment method for consumers and businesses around the globe.

Prior to joining PayPal in 2011, Peggy served as President and General Manager at Rent.com, a former subsidiary of eBay, and also Marketplace Controller and Director of Accounting Policy at eBay.

Peggy Alford is the first Black woman to serve as director on the board of Facebook and is also on the Black Enterprise 2018 Registry of Corporate Directors for her role as a member of the board of The Macerich Co. She was described by Mark Zuckerberg as “one of those rare people who’s an expert across many different areas”. 

Paulette Rowe

CEO, Stax Payments

Paulette has more than 20 years experience across banking, payments and fintech, where she has been transforming businesses and driving market growth across Barclays, Meta, NatWest, Tesco Bank, NBNK, GE Capital and Paysafe. Currently working as CEO of Stax Payments, she is leading the platform’s growth and working to eliminate all forms of transactional friction.

Prior to her current role, Pauletter worked as MD of NatWest Retail Banking, where she managed about 1,600 branches and 20,000 staff while also boosting the company's gender and cultural diversity. As MD of Barclaycard Global Payment Acceptance, she managed Europe’s second largest acquiring business, handling more than one in three card payments in the UK. At Paysafe, she led acquiring and channel development for the global ecommerce company

Paulette is recognised as one of the most influential women in payments and in addition to her primary roles, works as an independent non-executive director of Global Processing Services. She was also part of a Mayor of London programme to increase the number of young Black men in the tech sector. 

Funlola Ayebae

Founder, Black Women In Finance; West Africa Coverage, J.P. Morgan

Funlola Ogunkoya founded Black Women in Finance (BWIF) in 2017 to help Black women progress in their finance career and shine their light unashamedly. A firm supporter of seeing more Black women in power, she focuses on widening access for Black women to enter the finance industry and provide the needed support to help them build their careers.

With BWIF, she has been paving the way and bridging the gap for other Black women. She was named on the Forbes 30 Inspirational Women of 2021 list. Over the years, she has worked at Barclays, Goldman Sachs and is now at J.P. Morgan as West Africa Coverage. 

Colleen Taylor

President, Merchant Services - US, American Express

Colleen Taylor is the President of US Merchant Services at American Express, where she manages the company’s relationships with merchants across the US. Prior to this, she held strategic leadership positions at Wells Fargo, Mastercard, Capital One, Wachovia Bank and JPMorgan Chase. At Mastercard, she led product development and growth across North America.

With over 30 years experience in banking, retail and B2B payments, she is a strong people leader who believes in allowing people to fill roles they are best suited for, irrespective of their level and hierarchy.

Kim Goodman

CEO, Smarsh

With over 25 years of experience in payments, software and business innovation, Kim Goodman is recognised as one of the most powerful women in corporate America. She is currently the CEO of Smarsh.

She previously served as CEO at Worldpay US, driving growth and leading innovation, before joining Fiserv where she managed innovative payments technology and ATM services, including credit and debit processing. She has also led teams at Dell and American Express.

Kim was elected to the board of directors of Charter Communications in 2016 and has served on the boards of Alcatel-Lucent, Brocade Communications Systems and National Life Insurance Company.

Sheena Allen 

Founder, CapWay

Sheena Allen is known for her passion for creating financial access and services for unbanked and underbanked communities in America. Growing up in a small town with one bank, Sheena was determined to set up a financial tech company that would fill the gap and help connect many to a cashless economy.

Sheena became the youngest woman in America to own and operate a digital bank in 2019 when she started CapWay, a fintech company focused on creating an inclusive, holistic financial system to help individuals and families build generational wealth.

Sheena has been featured in various publications, including as a 2018 Business Insider Under 30 Innovator, one of the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 and on Inc’s 2019 Female Founders 100 list. She is also the first Black woman to receive the PayPal Maggie Lena-Walker award.