Joanne (Cooper) DewarFounder

United Kingdom - London, England

I am Vice Chair of Global Processing Services (GPS), the trusted and proven go-to payments processing partner for today’s leading fintechs, including Revolut, Starling Bank and Curve. GPS has to-date issued over 190 million physical and virtual cards, enabled in over 48 countries, and last year processed over 1.3 billion transactions on its API-first cloud-based platform.

Since joining the company in 2013, I have spearheaded the transformation of GPS from start-up to private equity-backed scale-up, cementing the business’ position as the bedrock of the fintech ecosystem, as it continues to accelerate the delivery of better financial experiences for every customer. Under my leadership as CEO, GPS has grown the business across 4 continents and recently announced a $400m fundraise led by Advent International, Viking Global, Temasek Holdings and Mission OG.

Under my stewardship, GPS has won 12 industry awards in the space of 12 months, including securing the highly coveted titles of Best Processing Programme at the Card and Payments Awards and Leading Emerging Payments Organsiation at the Emerging Payments Awards.

I am a recognised leader and influencer in the payments industry, having been selected as one of the Payments Power 10 for 2019, 2020 and 2021, which recognises payments industry leaders with an ongoing commitment to pushing boundaries in the payments sector (industry voted). and FIntech Director of the Year at the 2022 UK Fintech Awards.

I am a proud ambassador for UK fintech and was named Export Champion by the Department for International Trade (DIT).

I am an active ambassador for diversity, inclusion and belonging. I was recently called out as the Most Inspirational Woman in Fintech (UK) by Fintech Times (public voted), Great British Businesswoman of the Year in Technology and Best Diversity and Inclusion Strategy at the Engagement Excellence Awards (across all industries).