Leadership Team
Meet Our Team
Carey O'Connor Kolaja
Chief Executive Officer
As CEO, Carey O’Connor Kolaja is responsible for the day-to-day operations and strategic direction of Versapay. Throughout her career, Carey has been known as an innovator, disrupter, and operator who can drive from start-up to scale-up. She brings over 25 years of executive leadership experience in the financial services and payments industry. Prior to her role as CEO at Versapay, she was the chief executive officer of AU10TIX, the global leader in automated identity intelligence and cyber fraud prevention. She has also held positions at Citi Fintech as the global chief product officer and PayPal as the vice president of global consumer products. Carey holds a B.S. from Indiana University and is a graduate of the Stanford Executive Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Barrett Smith
Chief Payments and Customer Operations Officer
Barrett joined Versapay in 2021 leading the Analytics and Pricing teams and was promoted to Head of Payment Operations and Optimization in 2023. With over 20 years in payments, analytics, and fintech, his success revolves around using data as a cornerstone for decision-making and ensuring that each choice made is grounded in concrete information and insights. He has proven he is adept at navigating challenges and opportunities with a well-informed perspective. Barrett’s prior tenures at WorldPay (now FIS) and Global Payments, Inc, have provided a breadth of leadership and experience across functional areas within the payments industry covering FP&A, analytics, pricing, operations, sales support and strategy. As a payments leader, Barrett is dedicated to translating data-driven insights into actional strategies to shape Verspay's future achievements and efficient operation.
Barrett holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from The University of Alabama and an MBA from The College of William and Mary.
Christy Johnson
Chief Product Officer
Christy brings to Versapay over a decade of experience in product strategy, product design and end-to-end product delivery, with specialized experience in payments and financial services. Christy has been a successful product transformation agent at Capital One, Ernst & Young, and Dell. Most recently, Christy served as the Growth Product Leader at Capital One, where she led a large product team responsible for the bank’s strategic acquisitions, onboarding & deposit growth product experiences agenda. Prior to Capital One, Christy worked as a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young digital consulting, where she was part of the founding team for their digital business line. Outside of work, Christy spends a lot of her time with her husband and son, and their Labradoodle. In what spare time she has left, she enjoys running, skiing, and cheering for her alma mater, the University of North Carolina.
Ed Neumann
Chief Financial Officer
Ed brings to Versapay over 30 years of financial and operations experience, serving for almost 20 years in Fintech, eCommerce, and cloud-based SaaS organizations. He has built high performing teams focused on driving revenue growth and delivering operational scale and financial results to industry-leading business models. He has also successfully overseen initial public offerings, debt and equity-based fundraising transactions, as well as several acquisitions, divestitures and integrations of venture capital and growth equity tech startups.
Ed holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from West Chester University in Pennsylvania, and currently resides with his family in both Scottsdale, AZ and Long Beach Island, NJ
Gaby Kozakov
Chief Technology Officer
Gaby Kozakov brings to Versapay more than 25 years in the tech industry in various tech leadership roles. With experience delivering products and services across industries such as Telco, Identity, and Retail (physical and virtual), Gaby has demonstrated his leadership and execution abilities working in large enterprises as well as small and medium-sized SaaS companies. Recently, Gaby has focused on scaling Engineering teams and acting as a change agent in fast-growing start-ups. In the past 10 years, Gaby worked at Amdocs and Trax, and carried the roles of VP R&D and CTO at AU10TIX. Gaby holds a B.A. in Computer Science from the Israeli Open University.
Greg Stivers
Chief Revenue Officer
Greg has more than 25 years successfully leading and scaling go to market revenue teams (Sales, Customer Success, Sales Development, Channel Partners, and Revenue Operations). He is known for his ability to build high performing teams with a winning and “got your back” culture. Prior to joining Versapay, Greg held leadership positions at ADP, Concur/SAP, and most recently at Avalara. At Avalara, he was an integral part of the Senior Leadership team during a period of significant growth, a successful IPO in 2018, and then sale to go private in 2022 for $8.4B. Greg earned an MBA from Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Santa Clara University.
Katie Holden
Head of Transformation and Business Acceleration
Katie spearheads high-impact initiatives aimed at synchronizing and scaling our business ambition. With over 20 years of experience leading cross-functional teams to tackle business challenges, she is known as a strategic partner and change catalyst. Her career spans various industries and organization types, providing a breadth of inspiration for fostering a culture of experimentation, creativity and possibility. Before joining Versapay, Katie held business development roles at renowned institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art; led transformative programs for brands like PwC, Citibank, and Nintendo; and most recently, consulted with executive teams at businesses undergoing change. Katie holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.
Orit Kendal
Chief People Officer
Orit has spent the past 20 years working as a People Leader with high-growth companies focused in Technology, Software, and Management Consulting. Orit's expertise is in Human Resource strategy that supports the company's overall business and culture objectives. Her focus has been in architecting and implementing HR initiatives across global organizations. Orit is a hands-on leader who has built out and led all aspects of the People Operations function which encompasses the hiring, training, and development of employees worldwide, while creating and implementing an environment and programs that help to develop and engage our people. As a HR leader, Orit supports operational excellence and is a strong supporter and implementer of diversity principles.
Orit holds a BA in English from Rutgers College, Rutgers University and a BA in Communications from the School of Communication, Information and Library Science at Rutgers University.
Spencer Robinson
General Counsel
As General Counsel, Spencer leads Versapay’s legal, compliance, and enterprise risk management functions.
Prior to joining Versapay, Spencer was Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN; S&P500; Fortune 500), where he reported to the company's General Counsel and lead a team of 30 legal professionals located around the world. He received the highest awards given by Global Payments, including the President's Club Award for outstanding contributions to the company's growth, the Partner Appreciation Award, and the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Prior to Global Payments, Spencer was an associate in the Financial Services and Products Group at Alston & Bird LLP, where he focused on transactions, M&A, product development and regulatory issues related to retail and wholesale payment systems.
Spencer received a B.A., M.B.A., and J.D., with high honors, from the University of North Carolina, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. He is a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the University of North Carolina’s highest honor society.