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
Events Preview: Innovation Exchange, the Sales Series and April Tech Talk
There are a plethora of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter, or curious community member — we recommend these upcoming events for you. Are you hosting a relevant community event? Feel free to add it to the FWD/KC calendar for increased exposure. Once your event…
With data pouring in, leaders discuss what’s next for the Smart City
As Kansas City’s Smart City initiative wraps up its first phase, advisory board members on Monday began looking to the future of the public-private project. Since the initiative’s launch in 2016, the City of Kansas City, Mo. has established itself as a leader in smart city infrastructure, KCMO innovation analyst Kate Garman said. But while…
Athlete Network adds hall-of-famer Warren Moon to its roster
It’s not everyday that you add a hall-of-fame quarterback to your team. In establishing a new, high-impact advisory board, Athlete Network has landed former NFL superstar Warren Moon as a team member that will help guide the startup moving forward. Moon previously played for the Houston Oilers, Minnesota Vikings and other pro teams, racking up…
2017 Sprint Accelerator class makes its KC introductions at 1 Million Cups
Less than two weeks into the program, the 2017 Sprint Accelerator cohort introduced themselves to the community on Wednesday at 1 Million Cups. The accelerator recently welcomed seven startups representing its two tracks — ag tech and digital — that arrives from all around the country. Hailing from states like Texas, New York, Florida, Georgia…


