PayIt rings in new year with expanded executive team, repeat GovTech 100 honors
January 13, 2020 | Startland News Staff
GovTech leader PayIt continues its rapid growth after a massive 2019 funding year, thanks to the hiring of another key C-suite executive — a 20-year veteran in enterprise software sales and leadership.
The move puts Neil Graham in the role of PayIt’s first chief revenue officer, and brings the executive team of the industry award-winning Kansas City startup to six. Graham began work Monday, arriving most recently from San Diego-based Tealium, where he served as vice president of Americas, helping scale and grow company revenue from $18 million to more than $100 million.
“As we got to know those that have worked for and with Neil, we grew more confident that Neil was someone of high aptitude, high integrity, highly competitive, and a leader that excels at delivering highly-valuable, digital transformation solutions to clients,” said John Thomson, PayIt CEO and co-founder.
Graham is expected to drive PayIt’s continued scaling and expansion of digital government solutions within the U.S. and abroad throughout 2020 and beyond. The startup already has doubled in size since December of 2018, according to Thomson.
Before his five years at Tealium, Graham ran the western sales territories for Jive Software and spent nine years with Salesforce, both in a sales leadership role and as a top performer in the enterprise sales space.
In addition to Thomson and Graham, PayIt’s leadership also includes Mike Plunkett, COO and CFO; Richard Garbi, chief technical officer; Alex Otrezov, chief marketing officer; and Mike Wons, chief client officer.
Otrezov, a former Uber marketing head, was hired in 2019, a few months after PayIt secured a more than $100 million investment from New York-based Insight Partners.
Click here to read more about PayIt’s 2019 investment news.
Graham’s hiring comes on the heels of PayIt earning a fourth-consecutive spot on the GovTech 100 list — “a compendium of 100 companies focused on, making a difference in, and selling to state and local government agencies across the United States.”
Click here to check out the full GovTech 100 list.
“The PayIt platform brings the potential to transform how government delivers secure, omni-channel, and easy-to-use experiences to hundreds of millions of citizens like you and me every day,” said Graham. “After spending time evaluating new market opportunities, PayIt became clearly differentiated for me due to its rock solid technology, rapid disruptive growth, and it’s world-class team. I’m elated to join the company and help significantly build, scale and grow the go-to-market operations.”
Featured Business

2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
KCultivator Q&A: Pedro Zamora percolates on chupacabra, HEDC, Mom’s slow-drip Folgers coffee
Editor’s note: KCultivators is a lighthearted profile series to highlight people who are meaningfully enriching Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Check out our features on ‘fashionpreneur’ Jordan Williams, Plexpod founder Gerald Smith, innovation coach Diana Kander, Victor & Penny’s Erin McGrane, SEED Law’s Adrienne Haynes, Code Koalas’ Robert Manigold, Prep-KC CEO Susan Wally and community builder Donald Carter.…
Contract Canvass develops tool for future dominated by freelancers
Chris Brown is working to put his law firm out of business. The Kansas City attorney — who for years has served creative professionals across the metro — recently created a contract automation tool for freelancers, eliminating a part of his business at Venture Legal. But while Contract Canvas might disrupt a facet of his…
Five inspiration points in Westport’s new Freedom design showroom (Photos)
Carol Espinosa bears a striking grin as she bounds up the steps to the rejuvenation area at Freedom Interiors. Palpable excitement beams through her voice. “This is possibly my favorite part of the showroom,” she says, pointing out the lush green carpeting, comfy seating and 360-degree view of the renovated space at 4000 Washington St.…
Brazil to KC: Carol Espinosa showcases path to creativity, opportunity
She arrived in the United States with just two suitcases and her own creativity, but today Carol Espinosa fills a 7,000-square-foot Westport storefront with enough modern workplace designs to unpack for weeks, she said. “This company was built from nothing,” said Espinosa, founder of Freedom Interiors. “It started with no customers, no product offerings —…


