1114: Building a Smarter Funnel at Speed | Kevin Wall, CFO, Stax Payments

When Kevin Wall first stepped into industry from public accounting, it wasn’t by accident—it was through a client he already knew well. The company, in the midst of an ERP conversion and preparing to go public, saw in Wall someone who understood both their numbers and their needs. “They were familiar with me. I was familiar with them,” he tells us. That early pivot from audit into operational finance set the tone for a career defined by depth over speed. Wall spent 13 years at Alcatel-Lucent and a decade at FIS, climbing steadily while broadening his remit from general accounting to pricing, FP&A, and global finance operations. His longevity at these firms, he tells us, allowed him to “move and see new things under one roof” while growing his leadership footprint. Today, as CFO of Stax Payments, Wall is again stepping into transformation. The company, which serves over 40,000 SMBs and processes more than $20 billion in volume annually, is preparing to launch its own end-to-end processing engine. Wall’s priorities reflect a blend of commercial focus and operational precision: “It’s the top of the funnel,” he says, referencing lead generation, “and speed to revenue.” A self-described servant leader, Wall believes in “clearing obstacles” so teams can grow. That mindset also drove a past strategic move—reorganizing finance functions like billing and AP to other departments. It was a bold step, but one grounded in clarity: “Let’s really define what we want finance to be,” Wall tells us.