Paysafe Group Appoints Philip McHugh as CEO

LONDON & MONTREAL, May 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Paysafe Group (“Paysafe”), a leading global payments provider, today announced the appointment of Philip McHugh as its CEO, effective June 24, 2019.  McHugh replaces Joel Leonoff who is taking up a new position as Vice Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors. 

McHugh, who will also sit on the Paysafe Board, brings extensive experience of the global banking and payments industries to the role, and an executive leadership career spanning more than 20 years.  He joins Paysafe from TSYS, a leading global payments provider, where he was responsible for heading up their merchant solutions division.  During his tenure in the position, McHugh played an instrumental role in growing TSYS’ revenues and profits by over 30%. 

Prior to TSYS, McHugh worked for Barclays in London where he was Global CFO of Barclaycard and CEO of Barclaycard Business Solutions.  During his time with Barclaycard, he was part of the leadership team that more than doubled the size of the business over a five-year period through the implementation of various strategic growth initiatives.ⁱ 

Stuart C. Harvey, Jr, Chairman of the Paysafe Board of Directors, commented: "We are delighted that somebody of Philip’s caliber has accepted the role of CEO for Paysafe. His relentless focus on serving the customer, and his proven ability to drive operational excellence within complex financial organizations, has led to strong results throughout his career.  This track record combined with his visionary approach will be invaluable as we advance the Company's corporate strategy."

Philip McHugh added: "I am truly honored to become part of the Paysafe story. Paysafe has built an incredibly unique payments business that is scaled, diverse, highly specialized and frankly hard to beat.  The opportunity to continue to invest in, and leverage Paysafe’s differentiated payments assets, as well as identify new areas of growth while working with a highly focused and energized team, is a very exciting one.  I look forward to meeting the team and helping to take Paysafe to the next level of growth and scale.”

Meanwhile, in his new role as Vice Chairman of the Company’s Board, Leonoff will continue to be closely involved in the development of Paysafe’s corporate strategy.  Leonoff founded Paysafe, originally Optimal Payments, in 1997 and has held the position of President and CEO since 2008. During his tenure as CEO, Paysafe has delivered consistent top and bottom-line growth and successfully introduced innovative new payments solutions to the marketplace including its range of digital wallets and online cash solutions.  In 2018 it achieved record global transactional volumes of US $85bn.

Stuart Harvey added: “Joel is a true entrepreneur and has taken this business from humble beginnings as a Canadian start-up to a global payments provider serving millions of merchants and consumers around the world.  We would like to thank him for his terrific contribution over the years and we look forward to continuing to work closely with him as Vice Chairman of our Board.”

Joel Leonoff said: “I congratulate Philip on his appointment and look forward to working with him on the transition. I am confident that under his leadership Paysafe will continue to prosper long into the future. It has been an incredible honor to lead Paysafe and I am very grateful for the commitment and hard work of our people and their passion for creating a truly pioneering payments company.”

Notes to Editors:

ⁱ Philip McHugh Biography in full

Philip McHugh has extensive experience of the global banking and payments industries and an executive leadership career spanning more than 20 years. 

He joins Paysafe from TSYS, a leading global payments provider, where he was responsible for heading up their merchant solutions division.  During his time at TSYS, McHugh played an instrumental role in growing TSYS’ overall revenues and profits by over 30%.  His specific achievements included the acquisition and full integration of two businesses – Cayan and iMobile3; and the creation of a more dynamic, results-driven product delivery and technology culture, including the upgrade of TSYS’ integrated platforms and the market launch of its Vital smart POS product lines.  

Prior to TSYS, McHugh spent over ten years working for Barclays in London where he held several senior roles, including Global CFO of Barclaycard and CEO of Barclaycard Business Solutions.  During his time with Barclaycard, he was part of the leadership team that more than doubled the size of the business over a five-year period through the implementation of various growth initiatives.  These included the rapid expansion of the US business, and the transformation of the UK payments businesses through new platform investments and the introduction of virtual credit card and contactless solutions, ultimately helping Barclaycard to regain its position as the number one card issuer in the UK.

Before Barclays, McHugh spent ten years with Citi (formerly Citigroup) working in both Latin America and the U.S.  His accomplishments while at Citi included leading multiple card portfolios in Brazil (Diners, Platinum, AAdvantage), running the company’s data analytics and successfully leading the finance function for Citi’s International Personal Banking division.

McHugh has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and an MBA from the University of South Carolina.

About the Paysafe Group
Paysafe Group (Paysafe) is a leading global provider of end-to-end payment solutions. Its core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallet, card issuing and online cash solutions. 

With over 20 years of online payment experience, an annualized transactional volume of over U.S. $85 billion, and approximately 3,000 employees located in 12+ global locations, Paysafe connects businesses and consumers across 200 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world.

Delivered through an integrated platform, Paysafe solutions are geared toward mobile-initiated transactions, real-time analytics and the convergence between brick-and-mortar and online payments.

Visit us at www.paysafe.com.

For Media Inquiries:
Kate Aldridge: SVP, Corporate Communications, Paysafe Group
Phone:  +44 750 079 754/Email: kate.aldridge@paysafe.com

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