Paysafe CEO Philip McHugh leaves

  • Push-out Score determined
  • After less than three years in the position
  • Praise and thanks for McHugh
  • Bruce Lowthers taking over
  • McHugh said 69 words

(exechange) — London, United Kingdom, April 7, 2022 — Philip McHugh, chief executive of Paysafe, leaves. As announced by Paysafe Ltd. in a news release on Thursday, April 7, 2022, Philip McHugh leaves his post as chief executive officer at the payments platform, after less than three years in the role.

The exact date of Philip McHugh’s departure from his post was not explicitly stated in the announcement.

Philip McHugh’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Bruce Lowthers, most recently President at FIS.

The fact that Philip McHugh’s successor is brought in from outside suggests that the board may seek to stimulate change with fresh ideas and new initiatives.

In general, an outsider does not have the constraints of an insider when it comes to leading painful changes or making unpopular decisions.

“Has driven transformation, innovated at speed and enhanced customer experiences”

Paysafe did not give an explicit reason for Philip McHugh’s departure from the CEO post. Paysafe said: “The CEO transition builds on the recent appointment of Daniel Henson as Non-Executive Chairman in March. Throughout his career, Lowthers has earned a strong reputation as a results-focused leader who has driven transformation, innovated at speed and enhanced customer experiences for multiple global organizations. He joins Paysafe after a 15-year tenure at FIS, one of the world’s leading fintech companies, where he modernized and accelerated the growth of the Fortune 250 company.”

Precise information regarding Philip McHugh’s future plans was not immediately available.

“Stepping down”

Paysafe said: “Lowthers, who will join the company by May 1, 2022, succeeds Philip McHugh, who is stepping down as CEO and as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors.”

Share price decline since April 2021

The announcement follows a decline in Paysafe Ltd.’s share price of 79% since April 2021.

In the position of CEO since 2019

Philip McHugh became CEO of the Company in 2019.

Philip McHugh has been the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Company Board since June 2019.

Before Paysafe, he worked for Total Systems Services Inc. (“TSYS”), a global payments provider, where he was responsible for leading their merchant solutions division from April 2017 until June 2019.

Prior to TSYS, McHugh spent over ten years working for Barclays in London where he held several senior roles, including Global CFO of Barclaycard and CEO of Barclaycard Business Solutions.

Before Barclays, he spent ten years with Citi (formerly Citigroup) working in both Latin America and the United States.

McHugh holds a BA from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and an MBA from the University of South Carolina.

Push-out Score determined

The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding Philip McHugh’s move on a scale of 0 to 10.

exechange reached out to Paysafe and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.

Read the full story in the exechange report 15.2022 ($).