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.

Neil Graham, PayIt

Neil Graham, PayIt

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.

Alexandru Otrezov, John Thomson, and Mike Plunkett, PayIt

Alexandru Otrezov, John Thomson, and Mike Plunkett, PayIt

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.”

[adinserter block="4"]

2020 Startups to Watch

    stats here

    Related Posts on Startland News

    Wichita program drives highway of resources to more KC startups; founders tout who they met along the way

    By Tommy Felts | October 6, 2025

    Opening its doors to Midwest companies outside Kansas for the first time, a Wichita-based program that connects startups with the tools to better engage enterprise partners offered an added benefit to Kansas City entrepreneurs: a new ecosystem of support just a few hours from home. “The program’s Wichita location inspired us to broaden our outreach…

    Report: Tech drives nearly a 10th of Kansas City’s economy (and those employers are hiring)

    By Tommy Felts | October 6, 2025

    Advocates tout KC for top-tier tech talent; a new report affirms its status as an emerging market with potential for big impact A combination of economic stability, depth and skill of talent, and operational efficiency creates conditions for companies to grow and succeed in Kansas City, said Kara Lowe, detailing new data that suggests the…

    InvestMidwest back in KC ahead of World Cup rush; four new leaders join board roster

    By Tommy Felts | October 6, 2025

    A powerhouse quartet of venture experts are on board for the next wave of InvestMidwest impact, said Claire Kinlaw, announcing plans for the two-day summit’s bounce back to Kansas City this spring as organizers push to boost deal flow in a region outside the startup-dense coasts. New to InvestMidwest’s board as planning gets under way…