Skipify Names Airbnb and PayPal Vets to Top Exec Roles

Checkout-focused FinTech Skipify has named veterans of Paypal, Visa and Airbnb to two executive positions.

Sam Shrauger has been appointed as the firm’s chief operating officer, while Lucy Morse is Skipify’s new vice president of enterprise sales, the company announced in a news release provided to PYMNTS Tuesday (July 9).

“Both executives bring extensive payment industry experience from some of the world’s most influential companies across finance, technology and consumer sectors,” the release said.

“This milestone marks a pivotal moment as Skipify continues to expand, following a series of strategic partnerships with major financial institutions including Visa, Synchrony and American Express, and a rapidly expanding network of merchants transforming their shopper experience and driving revenue growth,” the release added.

Shrauger joins Skipify from Airbnb, where he served as global head of payments and CEO of Airbnb Payments, overseeing the strategy, design and development of that company’s global payments platform.

Before that, he was senior vice president of digital and consumer products at Visa, playing a key role in designing the card company’s “entire digital product and services portfolio.”

Morse comes to Skipify from PayPal, where she headed enterprise-level revenue strategies and focused on growing strategic merchant relationships. She also spent a decade as a senior sales leader for Microsoft, “contributing to significant year-over-year revenue growth.”

The new appointments come at a time when consumers are increasingly expecting retailers to simplify their checkout processes.

In the recent PYMNTS report “What’s Next in Payments: Payments Modernization,” a group of payments and financial services executives examined the necessity of bringing payments up to date. Among them was Justin Downey, vice president of product at Maverick Payments, who noted how providing more frictionless checkout experiences can be crucial to ensuring a positive consumer experience.

“Businesses that can adapt to very convenient ways for customers to pay are going to win in the long run … so staying on top of offerings for a streamlined payment and checkout approach is a heavy focus,” Downey told PYMNTS.

For example, there’s eCommerce. Research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that 50% of consumers weigh the ease of a merchant’s checkout process when deciding where to shop.

“Anything that makes processes quicker and easier with less obstacles for customers, that’s where the excitement is,” Downey said.