About Us
Handle Financial is led by a team of experts from the payments, mobile and retail IT worlds. We exist to build affordably-priced, innovative products for businesses
We help consumers thrive in their financial lives, and help businesses operate and service those consumers more effectively.
PayNearMe started as a cash payment network, enabling businesses and government agencies to collect cash payments from their consumers at retail stores. Today, that network reaches more than 27,000 stores, including 7-Eleven, ACE Cash Express, Casey’s General Store and Family Dollar.
The 2018 launch of PayNearMe’s debit, credit and ACH payment capabilities expanded our offering beyond cash, allowing businesses and government agencies to securely accept and manage all types of payments. With our mobile-first design, consumers get a simple and intuitive user experience that makes paying with any form of tender faster and more convenient.
Leadership Team
Danny Shader founded Handle Financial in 2009 after a long history of building innovative, high-growth companies. Prior to Handle Financial, he led Good Technology, Inc. a wireless software company that was acquired by Motorola in 2007. Before Good, Danny co-founded Accept.com, one of the first person-to-person payments providers, which Amazon acquired in 1999.
As CTO of Handle Financial, Kurt Thams ensures that our payment system is both innovative and reliable. He has architected and built numerous electronic payment systems at startups and for Fortune 500 companies. His works include systems for international money transfer, electronic checking, credit, and prepaid debit. As CISO, Kurt ensures our enterprise is secure. Handle Financial is an ISO 27001 organization, SSAE-16/SOC 1 compliant, and meets the security and reliability requirements of multiple state and federal agencies.
Steve Capps is our chief innovator. As an expert in user interface design, he is relentless about making our products and services easy to use. He was a member of the original Macintosh team, key designer of Apple Newton, and an Apple Fellow. Steve is named on 65+ patents that span toys, musical instruments, hardware and software.
Kristina Campbell is Handle Financial’s Chief Financial Officer, and she oversees finance, human resources, legal and compliance functions. Prior to joining Handle Financial, she was an executive at Green Dot Corporation where she served as the General Manager of GoBank, a mobile and online checking account, and in a variety of other roles. Previously, Kristina was a management consultant at Bain & Company and an investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Stanford University.
John Minor leads the product and support teams at Handle Financial. Prior to Handle Financial, John managed network products for Jasper Wireless and worked at Motorola, where he helped the company launch its first Android phone. He began his career at Good Technology, where he served as director of technical account management and escalations.
Michael Tibbott leads the engineering team at Handle Financial, and was one of the company’s first developers. Michael has a track record of pushing the envelope. From GRiD (first laptop computer) to Apple’s Newton (helped define the PDA), Classifeds2000 (profitable e-commerce web site sold to Excite in 1998), and LivePlanet (integrating web, TV and reality with Project Greenlight), Michael is known for building and managing engineering teams that ship fast, reliable and accurate software.
Michael Kaplan leads Handle Financial’s merchant processing business (PayNearMe). Michael has over 20 years of experience in mobile and payments technology. Prior to Handle Financial, he led teams at Good Technology, Motorola, and most recently, Jasper Wireless, where he was responsible for strategic partnerships, solution engineering and carrier integrations globally.
Christian Solomine leads Handle Financial’s sales, account management and merchant services teams. Most recently, he directed the North America Global Partner Program at Telefonica Digital, focusing on Machine-to-Machine(M2M)/IoT solutions and helped lead global business development initiatives. Prior to Telefonica, Christian ran M2M worldwide sales for Rogers Communications in Canada and directed sales at Jasper Wireless for their fleet management and consumer electronics practice. Christian holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Information Technology from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business.
Kunal Kumar oversees Handle Financial’s entry into new business & product lines and execution of strategic partnerships. Prior to leading Business Development at Handle Financial, Kunal served as GM of PayNearMe’s loan repayment business. Previously, he focused on clients in the financial services sector as a strategy consultant at Booz & Company and has served as a domestic policy fellow at the Clinton Foundation.
Lauren Brown is Handle Financial’s Vice President of Legal. Prior to leading Handle Financial’s legal department, Lauren served as the company’s Associate General Counsel and Chief Regulatory Counsel, as well as AML Compliance Officer of the company’s licensed money transmitter subsidiary. In law school, Lauren completed an externship for the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of California and served as an Editor for the Santa Clara Law Review. She holds a JD from Santa Clara University School of Law and a BA from University of California at San Diego.
Board Members
Board Advisors
Investors
Our investors are diverse, but one common theme is their track record of building successful companies. They've given us the resources to achieve our vision as a payments technology company and we're thrilled to have them with us on this journey.
