Park Place Payments is a women-owned company fundamentally changing the experience businesses have with their payment processor.
Our Story
A pivotal thing happened when Samantha Ettus toured the country speaking to rooms full of women.
She realized they face the same challenges: they struggle to be taken seriously or to re-enter the workforce after time off; they want to leave their corporate positions for more flexibility; they want to take control of their future finances; and they crave community. She wanted to provide more than advice.
Meanwhile, a payment processing conference opened Sam’s eyes to the lack of diversity, questionable sales tactics, and poor customer service rampant in the industry.
She left the event having made a decision to disrupt this industry by building a company rooted in intention, integrity and extraordinary customer service. Park Place was born to provide a career path to those who care to see their community businesses thrive while at the same time offering a new experience to small business owners eager to have a payments partner that means what it says.
Our Story
A pivotal thing happened when Samantha Ettus toured the country speaking to rooms full of women.
She realized they face the same challenges: they struggle to be taken seriously or to re-enter the workforce after time off; they want to leave their corporate positions for more flexibility; they want to take control of their future finances; and they crave community. She wanted to provide more than advice.
Meanwhile, a payment processing conference opened Sam’s eyes to the lack of diversity, questionable sales tactics, and poor customer service rampant in the industry.
She left the event having made a decision to disrupt this industry by building a company rooted in intention, integrity and extraordinary customer service. Park Place was born to provide a career path to those who care to see their community businesses thrive while at the same time offering a new experience to small business owners eager to have a payments partner that means what it says.
Our Mission
In an industry first, we have a single-minded commitment to service, from the Payment Checkup™ through the life of your account. With a professional sales force and an award-winning, in-house service team, Park Place will show you what it’s like to have a payment processor you can count on.
Founder & CEO
Samantha Ettus
Sam is an entrepreneur who has devoted her career to guiding women to financial independence. Hundreds of thousands from C-level leaders to administrative assistants have benefitted from her unique guidance. Sam was named one of 2021’s 100 Women of Impact by Entrepreneur Magazine.
Sam is a best-selling author of five books, a renowned speaker and co-host of iHeart’s leading women in business podcast What’s Her Story With Sam & Amy. Her most recent book is The Pie Life: A Guilt Free Recipe for Success and Satisfaction featuring Sam’s positive and comprehensive take on living a thriving professional and personal life at the same time. Sam spent eight years as a Contributor to Forbes and now writes a popular weekly work/life newsletter. Sam hosted 75 episodes of leading Internet talk show, Obsessed TV, which she created and produced with Gary Vaynerchuk.
She makes regular appearances on shows including the TODAY Show, Access Hollywood, NBC News, Dr. Phil, The Doctors, and Good Morning America. She has been featured and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Inc., Entrepreneur and Fast Company. She has spoken on hundreds of stages across America from TEDx to Fortune 500 companies.
Sam co-founded the Los Angeles Women’s Collective, aimed at supporting women to run for office and win. She currently serves on the advisory board of the Forbes School of Business and Technology, Sparks and Honey and Inspiro Tequila. She is a member of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sam lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.
General Manager
Tim Ettus
Tim brings twenty years of experience in early- and growth-stage ventures to his role as General Manager of Park Place, where he leads strategy and operations. Before joining Park Place, Tim served as the Chief Marketing Officer for The Crown League, a venture-backed startup at the intersection of cryptocurrency and fantasy sports that was acquired by Hall of Fame Village (NASDAQ: HOFV) in 2020.
Prior to The Crown League, Tim was employee #1 and Managing Director at Omnicom’s sparks & honey, a cultural consultancy that applies data and social sciences to drive innovation for Fortune 500 companies and disruptor brands. He launched the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, securing a diverse roster of clients including Visa, Wells Fargo, Disney, HP, ABInBev, Sony Pictures, Hyatt Hotels, Airbnb, Red Bull, EA and Vans.
A former corporate litigator, Tim earned a JD/MBA from New York University and a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He and his wife live in Los Angeles with their two children and rescue dogs.
Chief Product Officer
Jeffrey Punzel
Jeffrey Punzel is an electronic payments industry veteran with over 25 years of payment gateway experience, 30+ years of business and technology management expertise, and a background in Retail POS systems, ERP system development, and advanced manufacturing applications. As the founder of AssureBuy in 1995 (acquired by BluePay Processing in 2006), he was the primary architect of the company’s payment processing gateway, virtual terminal, fraud management system, and online bill payment platform, including the development of embedded processing solutions for software developers and ERP software vendors. Jeff has recently held key product roles in financial technology companies, including First Data and Fiserv. He holds a BSEET degree from DeVry University and a Masters of Business Administration from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois.
Co-Founder & VP of Account Executive Success
Nancy Decker Lent
Nancy helped establish Park Place and has played many roles since inception. In her current role, Nancy trains, motivates and supports Account Executives. She helps manage the deal lifecycle ranging from pricing assessments, product solutions analysis, client boarding, activation and launch. Nancy works closely with 3rd party partners to ensure seamless technical integration and business operations. Nancy also coordinates support escalations, commission compensation, compliance, legal administration and contracts.
Nancy has over 15 years of experience in Commercial Real Estate Law. She received her BA from Notre Dame College and her JD from Massachusetts School of Law. She serves on the Board of Directors for Interfaith of The Woodlands and is Chair of the Development Committee and Secretary of the Executive Committee.
Nancy is an avid endurance athlete and has completed 11 marathons, including the Boston Marathon, the New York City marathon, and the original marathon course in Athens Greece. In 2015 Nancy conquered a full Ironman race.
Nancy lives in The Woodlands, Texas with her husband, two sons, and two rescue pets.
VP of Client Success
Narce Cardenas
With over twenty years of payments industry experience leading merchant support and technical teams, Narce runs our award-winning, in-house customer service department. Her mission is to provide personalized care so that every client has an elevated experience, which has led us to hold the lowest churn rate in the industry.
Prior to Park Place, Narce managed the client support team at North American Bancard. She began her career at Superior Bancard and has worked at Intuit, Innovate Merchant Solutions and Total Merchant Services(TMS). She is ETA CPP certified.
Client Success Manager
Fil Bitton
A seasoned industry professional, Fil brings more than 20 years of payments experience to Park Place. Customer care is her number one priority. She manages new and existing merchant relationships and oversees efforts to streamline operations for the entire merchant lifecycle. Before joining Park Place Payments, Fil was the Marketing Administrator at Credit Card Industry, Inc. and Director of Marketing at Pace Payment Systems, where she drove brand growth, marketing and communications initiatives to support sales and operations.
Manager of Account Executives
Sadie Ingan
With experience in both non-profit and commercial organizations, Sadie supports our national independent sales force and the executive team. She is particularly focused on streamlining the proposal and application process while identifying technology integration solutions for prospective clients. Sadie joined Park Place from The Boys & Girls Club, where she was the Events and Volunteer Coordinator. Originally from a small town on the central coast of California, Sadie has a passion for kayaking and hiking but has more recently fallen in love with city life.
Senior Marketing Manager
Irma Prishker
Irma is an innovative marketer and digital content creator with 10+ years of experience helping FinTechs, nonprofits, luxury retailers, real estate firms, startups, and small businesses reach and expand their target audiences. Her passion for social media and creating memorable experiences has led her to connect and impact audiences across the globe, who not only follow the brands she promotes but become ambassadors that love and learn from the content that is shared. Prior to joining Park Place, Irma managed events and influencer campaigns for Splitit, a startup in the Buy Now, Pay Later space.
Originally from Texas, a proud Mexican-American and native Spanish speaker, Irma is passionate about helping merchants to leverage social media and content marketing to grow their businesses.
WE’RE HIRING!
Interested in joining our team?
“Knowing that everything was taken care of financially made my personal circumstances easier to deal with. I had a very dramatic summer and had to take time off from Park Place. I felt (and still feel) really lucky and grateful that I could take those months off but still get paid my residuals.”
“Park Place has lived up to my expectations. “I came to the company because I believed in the vision, the extraordinary enthusiasm of the leadership, the opportunity to sell something that is going to benefit a business, and the objective to put honesty into the sales cycle.”
“I didn’t have the confidence before that I do now. I’ve gained an overall education that I wasn’t expecting. I’ve learned I’m a lot stronger than I knew and I don’t think I’d have realized this without the challenges of facing a new career in business to business sales.”
“It’s really fulfilling to feel so successful and supported in this venture. It’s very gratifying to become an expert and to use that knowledge to whatever extent you have the time. If intermittently, it’s a side-hustle, it’s allowing you to supplement your income so the other parts of your life are less stressful.”
“If you take the initiative to step out of your realm, and you make long term decisions, you can do anything. I’m Indian and I know those local businesses because they are part of my community. I’m educating them, helping them with something they don’t understand.”
