About Us

The White-Label Payment Platform Built for Credit Unions

PayOnward is an AI-powered, white-label digital payment platform that helps financial institutions reclaim that ground by offering real-time payments, accounts receivable automation, bill pay, P2P and A2A payments under their brand.

We exist to strengthen community institutions through smarter payments, reducing costs, increasing deposits, and deepening engagement with both small businesses and individual members.

Deep Credit Union Roots

PayOnward was founded by the original visionaries behind Payveris, a team with a decades-long track record of serving the Credit Union movement. We understand that Credit Unions aren’t just financial institutions; they are member-owned cooperatives built on trust. This continuity from Payveris to PayOnward ensures that our platform is not just technologically advanced, but also deeply aligned with the institutional values and regulatory requirements unique to Credit Unions. We bring the same commitment to reliability and innovation that has defined our careers in fintech.

Leadership

An experienced team with deep fintech expertise with credit union and financial institutions.

Cary Strange

CEO

Cary is a seasoned fintech executive with more than two decades of leadership across payments, SaaS, and financial services. He has guided multiple companies to successful exits, driving growth, forging strategic partnerships, and building resilient organizations positioned for long-term success.

Stephen Lapp

COO

Stephen is a fintech and payments leader with 15+ years across sales, operations, and delivery. He led divisions at QRails and Credit Human serving credit unions through operational excellence, analytics, and member experience.

Michelle Bateman

VP Product

Michelle Bateman is a veteran product management leader with more than 25 years of expertise driving innovation in the payments industry. Known for revolutionizing payment systems through cutting-edge digital solutions, she has led the development of mobile, omnichannel, and cross-border payment processing, multi-network execution, and payments-as-a-service platforms that empower both consumers and businesses.

Severino Ferreira

CTO

With over 30 years of experience in the IT sector, Severino Bento Ferreira has successfully led the development of large-scale, complex systems across various industries, including banking, insurance, investments, healthcare, and communications. Recognized for his innovative contributions, Severino has received three awards for innovation from Unisys Corporation and MuleSoft.

Jeff Spinabella

Vice President of Sales

Jeff is a seasoned technology and payments executive with nearly three decades of leadership across fintech, SaaS, software, and integrated payments. He has driven growth through strategic partnerships, channel development, and go-to-market execution, helping organizations scale revenue, expand market reach, and build sustainable competitive advantage.

Scott Kaplan

VP, Sales & Business Development

Scott Kaplan brings over 15 years of fintech sales leadership experience, helping banks and credit unions adopt innovative technologies and payment solutions that improve customer experiences, deepen member engagement, and accelerate growth.

Board Advisors

Expert guidance from across the financial and technology landscape.

Louis Hernandez Jr.

Founder, Managing Partner, CEO Black Dragon Capital

Louis Hernandez Jr. is the founder, Managing Partner, CEO, and major investor of Black Dragon Capital. Mr. Hernandez is an award-winning entrepreneur, successful investor, philanthropist, advocate, and recognized speaker and author.

Harry Gunsallus

Board Member

Harry Gunsallus is a financial and information technology innovation leader with over 30 years experience in banking, credit unions, and fintech partnerships. He has won many awards for innovation and creativity, including industry trade recognition as a CEO of the year as well as Chief Information Officer of the year.

Joe Lockwood

Board Member

Joseph D. Lockwood led the sixth-largest core-banking platform to groundbreaking technical achievements, particularly centered around electronic payment channels, digital banking platforms, extensive virtualization and state-of-the-art business intelligence and risk management platforms.

Drew Hyatt

CEO VEEP

Drew Hyatt is a FinTech Executive with experience in Digital Banking, Mortgage, Cloud, Core Banking, Payments, Blockchain, Mobile Apps, and Artificial Intelligence solutions. He has a proven record of product innovation, new product launches, sales management, partnership development, P&L management, extending product life cycles, project management and M&A.

Nate Dudek

Board Member

Nate Dudek has scaled technology organizations at several growth-stage companies to successful exits, including Payveris, Clarus Commerce, and Oakleaf Waste Management. His expertise includes technology org design, payment technology, platform architectures, sales engineering, implementations, infrastructure/cloud, and security/compliance.

Kirk Kordeleski

Board Member

Kirk Kordeleski is an accomplished financial leader with an unmatched track record of growing retail financial institutions, winning national acclaim, and creating the strategic organizational direction. As CEO of Bethpage Federal Credit Union (BFCU), Kirk grew the organization to one of the largest credit unions in the U.S., doubling assets every five years.

Mark Bashforth

Mark Bashforth is an internationally recognized technology executive, investor, and Investment Partner at Black Dragon Capital with more than 35 years of experience building and scaling software and technology businesses globally. He specializes in fundraising, investment strategy, AI, digital transformation, and M&A, partnering with leadership teams to drive growth, innovation, and value creation across high-growth technology sectors.