"It is my honor to share that our CEO, Mary Gilmeister, will be retiring from PaymentsFirst effective December 31st, 2025. Mary planned her retirement with our Board and the team earlier this year, and this is the formal announcement of that plan. Effective January 1st, 2026, I will add the role of CEO to my responsibilities.

Mary has been a pillar of the payments industry for over 30 years, and the impact she has had cannot be understated. Mary has been at the forefront of growth and innovation of the ACH network, from her service on the Nacha Board and many Nacha and other industry Advisory groups and Committees, to her role as the Dean of The Payments Institute, and to her leadership of PaymentsFirst (formerly Macha and Wacha). Mary has left an amazing legacy across the industry, but especially at PaymentsFirst. Her encyclopedic knowledge of payments, coupled with her dynamic personality have made her a sought-after resource for speaking engagements and consulting activities. We have recognized Mary’s career across the entire PaymentsFirst footprint – at each of our Solutions Conferences in Maryland, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, as well as in Hawai’i at our most recent Payments University. Additionally, Mary has been recognized by Nacha at both the Chairperson’s Reception at Smarter Faster Payments 2025 and at the Fall Meeting of the Payments Innovation Alliance. She will be sorely missed by many.

We wish Mary a happy, healthy, and long retirement to share time with her husband, Paul, at their lake home outside of Milwaukee. She will continue to spend time with her church and all her other family and friends across the country. We know that she is only a phone call away if we need her."

- Rich Leary

President, PaymentsFirst