card

Our Team

The industry leaders driving Priority's business forward.

Executive Leadership

Thomas Priore
Thomas Priore
Chief Executive Officer
BIO

Thomas Priore has served as Executive Chairman and founding member of Priority since August 2005 and recently assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in December of 2018. Under Mr. Priore’s strategic direction, Priority has emerged from a start-up organization to become the 13th largest merchant acquirer in the US and a leading provider of commercial payment solutions to major global institutions. Prior to dedicating his full time to Priority, he founded ICP Capital, a boutique investment banking enterprise that became a market leader in structured finance reaching over $20 billion in assets under management. From 1999 until 2003, Mr. Priore was with Guggenheim Securities where he founded the Structured Finance Trading and Origination business and managed its Fixed Income Sales and Trading division. Previously, Mr. Priore spent eight years in PaineWebber’s Fixed Income Sales and Trading department, rising to Vice President. Mr. Priore is a graduate of Harvard University and holds an MBA from Columbia University. Thomas Priore is the brother of John Priore, Priority’s Vice Chairman.

Ranjana Ram
Ranjana Ram
Chief Operating Officer
BIO

As Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Ram provides company-wide leadership, team management and vision as she oversees the implementation of Priority’s forward-focused strategies. With over 18 years of experience in banking and payments, Ram has worked with nearly every aspect of Priority’s business, including payment operations in both SMB and B2B payments business units. Prior to her tenure at Priority, Ram worked at Institutional Credit Partners and at Credit Suisse focused on financial analysis, investment banking and structured credit securitizations. Ram is a CFA charterholder and graduate of the University of Michigan.

Tim O'Leary
Tim O'Leary
Chief Financial Officer
BIO

Tim O’Leary has more than 20 years of capital markets and banking experience primarily focused in the technology sector. He most recently served as Managing Director and group head of the Technology, Media and Telecom leveraged finance team at Truist Securities where he led financings for a number of payment and technology companies. O’Leary holds an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and a B.A. in Business Administration from Northern Arizona University.

Sean Kiewiet
Sean Kiewiet
Chief Strategy Officer
BIO

Sean Kiewiet co-founded Priority after serving as the Director of Technology for Cornerstone Payment Systems. He has served as Chief Technology Officer of Priority since August 2005. Mr. Kiewiet previously worked in software development and architecture for Hypercom and Syntellect. His technology development background drives his vision for Priority to develop high-performing teams that deliberately target technologies at areas where the industry has been complacent and customers have been under-served.

David Faupel
David Faupel
Chief Marketing Officer
BIO

With over 25 years of marketing experience across a wide array of industries, Dave has an extensive background building high-performing marketing teams to drive brand awareness and profitable growth at leading fintech, martech and healthcare companies. Before joining Priority, Dave was the VP of Marketing for North America for Sage, a global market leader for small and medium businesses to manage finances, operations and people. At Sage, Dave helped to increase marketing-driven revenue and launched the newest cloud portfolio for small businesses in the US. Previously, Dave served as Head of Worldwide Marketing for IBM Silverpop, leading the global launch of the IBM Marketing Cloud. Dave has also held senior marketing roles at McKesson and with some of the largest marketing and communications agencies worldwide. His passion for fusing marketing strategy with creative programs – while also connecting leadership and communications – has resulted in impactful marketing programs.

Brad Miller
Brad Miller
General Counsel +
Chief Risk Officer
BIO

Bradley J. Miller has served as Priority’s General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer since February 2020. Mr. Miller has over 25 years of legal and financial industry experience having served as EVP & General Counsel of United Community Banks, Inc. (UCBI), a $13 billion regional community bank, for over 12 years. Mr. Miller also served as Chief Risk Officer of UCBI for over five years while continuing to serve as its General Counsel, responsible for the oversight of all legal, compliance, and enterprise risk functions. Prior to UCBI, Mr. Miller began his career with the international firm of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP (now Kilpatrick Townsend LLP) focusing his practice on consumer and commercial litigation, privacy, and regulatory matters. Mr. Miller is responsible for all facets of Priority’s legal, risk and compliance functions.

Rajiv Kumar
Rajiv Kumar
Senior Vice President +
Chief Accounting Officer
BIO

Rajiv Kumar serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, leading Priority’s accounting and financial reporting functions. Prior to joining Priority, Rajiv was Director Advisory and Technical Accounting of McKesson Corporation, a fortune 7 company engaged in distribution of pharmaceutical drugs in North America and before that served as Assurance Senior Manager of EY. Rajiv is a CPA and has over 15 years of experience in accounting and auditing of large multinational corporations. Rajiv is also an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 2008.

Board of Directors

Thomas Priore
Thomas Priore
Chief Executive Officer
BIO

Thomas Priore has served as Executive Chairman and founding member of Priority since August 2005 and recently assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in December of 2018. Under Mr. Priore’s strategic direction, Priority has emerged from a start-up organization to become the 13th largest merchant acquirer in the US and a leading provider of commercial payment solutions to major global institutions. Prior to dedicating his full time to Priority, he founded ICP Capital, a boutique investment banking enterprise that became a market leader in structured finance reaching over $20 billion in assets under management. From 1999 until 2003, Mr. Priore was with Guggenheim Securities where he founded the Structured Finance Trading and Origination business and managed its Fixed Income Sales and Trading division. Previously, Mr. Priore spent eight years in PaineWebber’s Fixed Income Sales and Trading department, rising to Vice President. Mr. Priore is a graduate of Harvard University and holds an MBA from Columbia University. Thomas Priore is the brother of John Priore, Priority’s Vice Chairman.

John Priore
John Priore
Director
BIO

John Priore is the co-founder of Priority and served as Chief Executive Officer of Priority from August 2005 until assuming the role of Vice Chairman of the Board in December of 2018. He has over twenty-five years of experience in the payments industry. Prior to founding Priority, he was the Executive Vice President of Financial Systems at Ingenico, and also served in a variety of positions at other firms, including NOVA, First Data and American Express. Mr. Priore is a member of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), a legacy member of the Alpharetta Technology Commission and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Electronic Transactions Association. His commitment to the industry has helped propel Priority to be a leader in payments technology. John Priore is the brother of Thomas Priore, Priority’s Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman.

Michael K. Passilla
Michael K. Passilla
Director
BIO

Michael K. Passilla has served as a director of Priority since June 4, 2019. Mr. Passilla served as Vice Chairman for JP Morgan Chase & Company from July 2016 until his retirement in June 2018, after serving as Chief Executive Officer of Chase Merchant Services from May 2013 to June 2016. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Elavon – US Bank, Inc. from August 2010 to April 2013, after serving as Executive Vice President of Global Business Development since August 2007. Mr. Passilla received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame in 1989 and an MBA from Northwestern University in 1995.

Christina Favilla
Christina Favilla
Director
BIO

Christina (Chris) Favilla is an experienced independent board member responsible for guiding and supporting the strategic direction of public and private companies in the financial services sector. She is a seasoned banker with a proven track record of growing business platforms in a volatile regulatory environment. In several companies, Chris has successfully led large strategic shifts to meet the demanding needs of today’s financial markets. She served as Chief Operating Officer for GE Capital America from February 2012 to June 2017, with direct responsibility for $100 billion in served assets across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. She led a diverse team of 2500 people across 33 locations and interacted with over 20,000 vendors. She previously served as the President of Discover Bank from 2006 to 2012. With both an IT and Operational background she has the ability to quickly assess and implement the necessary changes in anticipation of positive outcomes. Chris is a graduate of Marymount College for International Finance and received her MBA from Fordham University.

Marietta Davis
Marietta Davis
Director
BIO

Marietta Davis is an accomplished technology sales executive and currently serves as IBM’s Vice President and Managing Director for the global Accenture relationship. She leads a worldwide team growing business in IBM Public Cloud, Red Hat Hybrid Cloud and Artificial Intelligence solutions in collaboration with Accenture, IBM’s largest Global Service Integrator. Prior to IBM, she served as Vice President of U.S. Dynamics at Microsoft. As the highest-ranking African American executive in North America and Latin America, Davis led an organization of more than 400 sales, marketing and technical experts serving Microsoft’s business customers with Dynamics ERP and CRM Solutions. While at Microsoft, Davis successfully managed and grew multiple businesses to $1B and triple digit growth milestones. She has held high impact positions at Lotus Development, Ameritech, and Tata Consulting. Her diverse leadership portfolio extends to mentoring strong leaders into key roles and acting in an advisory capacity to incubation and small startups.

Marc Crisafulli
Director
BIO

Marc Crisafulli is an experienced executive in legal, compliance and regulatory governance, having served in multiple C-suite roles over the course of his 30-year career. In his most recent role, Crisafulli served as Executive Vice President, Government Relations, Legal and Regulatory at Bally’s Corporation. During his tenure, Marc forged a powerful, three-way partnership between Bally’s, IGT and the State of Rhode Island, a deal requiring legislative approval which resulted in The Marc A. Crisafulli Economic Development Act being signed into law. Before Bally’s, Marc was President of Global Device Protection for Brightstar Corporation, a wireless services company owned by SoftBank; EVP of Suffolk Construction Company; Managing Partner of Hinckley Allen & Synder LLP; and President of the Gaming Solutions Division for GTECH Holdings Corporation. Crisafulli received his bachelor of arts degree from Boston University and his juris doctrine from Georgetown University. He will serve on the audit, compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees of the Board.

Executive Leadership
Thomas Priore
Thomas Priore
Chief Executive Officer
BIO

Thomas Priore has served as Executive Chairman and founding member of Priority since August 2005 and recently assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in December of 2018. Under Mr. Priore’s strategic direction, Priority has emerged from a start-up organization to become the 13th largest merchant acquirer in the US and a leading provider of commercial payment solutions to major global institutions. Prior to dedicating his full time to Priority, he founded ICP Capital, a boutique investment banking enterprise that became a market leader in structured finance reaching over $20 billion in assets under management. From 1999 until 2003, Mr. Priore was with Guggenheim Securities where he founded the Structured Finance Trading and Origination business and managed its Fixed Income Sales and Trading division. Previously, Mr. Priore spent eight years in PaineWebber’s Fixed Income Sales and Trading department, rising to Vice President. Mr. Priore is a graduate of Harvard University and holds an MBA from Columbia University. Thomas Priore is the brother of John Priore, Priority’s Vice Chairman.

Ranjana Ram
Ranjana Ram
Chief Operating Officer
BIO

As Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Ram provides company-wide leadership, team management and vision as she oversees the implementation of Priority’s forward-focused strategies. With over 18 years of experience in banking and payments, Ram has worked with nearly every aspect of Priority’s business, including payment operations in both SMB and B2B payments business units. Prior to her tenure at Priority, Ram worked at Institutional Credit Partners and at Credit Suisse focused on financial analysis, investment banking and structured credit securitizations. Ram is a CFA charterholder and graduate of the University of Michigan.

Tim O'Leary
Tim O'Leary
Chief Financial Officer
BIO

Tim O’Leary has more than 20 years of capital markets and banking experience primarily focused in the technology sector. He most recently served as Managing Director and group head of the Technology, Media and Telecom leveraged finance team at Truist Securities where he led financings for a number of payment and technology companies. O’Leary holds an MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and a B.A. in Business Administration from Northern Arizona University.

Sean Kiewiet
Sean Kiewiet
Chief Strategy Officer
BIO

Sean Kiewiet co-founded Priority after serving as the Director of Technology for Cornerstone Payment Systems. He has served as Chief Technology Officer of Priority since August 2005. Mr. Kiewiet previously worked in software development and architecture for Hypercom and Syntellect. His technology development background drives his vision for Priority to develop high-performing teams that deliberately target technologies at areas where the industry has been complacent and customers have been under-served.

David Faupel
David Faupel
Chief Marketing Officer
BIO

With over 25 years of marketing experience across a wide array of industries, Dave has an extensive background building high-performing marketing teams to drive brand awareness and profitable growth at leading fintech, martech and healthcare companies. Before joining Priority, Dave was the VP of Marketing for North America for Sage, a global market leader for small and medium businesses to manage finances, operations and people. At Sage, Dave helped to increase marketing-driven revenue and launched the newest cloud portfolio for small businesses in the US. Previously, Dave served as Head of Worldwide Marketing for IBM Silverpop, leading the global launch of the IBM Marketing Cloud. Dave has also held senior marketing roles at McKesson and with some of the largest marketing and communications agencies worldwide. His passion for fusing marketing strategy with creative programs – while also connecting leadership and communications – has resulted in impactful marketing programs.

Brad Miller
Brad Miller
General Counsel +
Chief Risk Officer
BIO

Bradley J. Miller has served as Priority’s General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer since February 2020. Mr. Miller has over 25 years of legal and financial industry experience having served as EVP & General Counsel of United Community Banks, Inc. (UCBI), a $13 billion regional community bank, for over 12 years. Mr. Miller also served as Chief Risk Officer of UCBI for over five years while continuing to serve as its General Counsel, responsible for the oversight of all legal, compliance, and enterprise risk functions. Prior to UCBI, Mr. Miller began his career with the international firm of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP (now Kilpatrick Townsend LLP) focusing his practice on consumer and commercial litigation, privacy, and regulatory matters. Mr. Miller is responsible for all facets of Priority’s legal, risk and compliance functions.

Rajiv Kumar
Rajiv Kumar
Senior Vice President +
Chief Accounting Officer
BIO

Rajiv Kumar serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, leading Priority’s accounting and financial reporting functions. Prior to joining Priority, Rajiv was Director Advisory and Technical Accounting of McKesson Corporation, a fortune 7 company engaged in distribution of pharmaceutical drugs in North America and before that served as Assurance Senior Manager of EY. Rajiv is a CPA and has over 15 years of experience in accounting and auditing of large multinational corporations. Rajiv is also an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 2008.

More Leadership
arrow
arrow
Board of Directors
Thomas Priore
Thomas Priore
Chief Executive Officer
BIO

Thomas Priore has served as Executive Chairman and founding member of Priority since August 2005 and recently assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in December of 2018. Under Mr. Priore’s strategic direction, Priority has emerged from a start-up organization to become the 13th largest merchant acquirer in the US and a leading provider of commercial payment solutions to major global institutions. Prior to dedicating his full time to Priority, he founded ICP Capital, a boutique investment banking enterprise that became a market leader in structured finance reaching over $20 billion in assets under management. From 1999 until 2003, Mr. Priore was with Guggenheim Securities where he founded the Structured Finance Trading and Origination business and managed its Fixed Income Sales and Trading division. Previously, Mr. Priore spent eight years in PaineWebber’s Fixed Income Sales and Trading department, rising to Vice President. Mr. Priore is a graduate of Harvard University and holds an MBA from Columbia University. Thomas Priore is the brother of John Priore, Priority’s Vice Chairman.

John Priore
John Priore
Director
BIO

John Priore is the co-founder of Priority and served as Chief Executive Officer of Priority from August 2005 until assuming the role of Vice Chairman of the Board in December of 2018. He has over twenty-five years of experience in the payments industry. Prior to founding Priority, he was the Executive Vice President of Financial Systems at Ingenico, and also served in a variety of positions at other firms, including NOVA, First Data and American Express. Mr. Priore is a member of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), a legacy member of the Alpharetta Technology Commission and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Electronic Transactions Association. His commitment to the industry has helped propel Priority to be a leader in payments technology. John Priore is the brother of Thomas Priore, Priority’s Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman.

Michael K. Passilla
Michael K. Passilla
Director
BIO

Michael K. Passilla has served as a director of Priority since June 4, 2019. Mr. Passilla served as Vice Chairman for JP Morgan Chase & Company from July 2016 until his retirement in June 2018, after serving as Chief Executive Officer of Chase Merchant Services from May 2013 to June 2016. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Elavon – US Bank, Inc. from August 2010 to April 2013, after serving as Executive Vice President of Global Business Development since August 2007. Mr. Passilla received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame in 1989 and an MBA from Northwestern University in 1995.

Christina Favilla
Christina Favilla
Director
BIO

Christina (Chris) Favilla is an experienced independent board member responsible for guiding and supporting the strategic direction of public and private companies in the financial services sector. She is a seasoned banker with a proven track record of growing business platforms in a volatile regulatory environment. In several companies, Chris has successfully led large strategic shifts to meet the demanding needs of today’s financial markets. She served as Chief Operating Officer for GE Capital America from February 2012 to June 2017, with direct responsibility for $100 billion in served assets across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. She led a diverse team of 2500 people across 33 locations and interacted with over 20,000 vendors. She previously served as the President of Discover Bank from 2006 to 2012. With both an IT and Operational background she has the ability to quickly assess and implement the necessary changes in anticipation of positive outcomes. Chris is a graduate of Marymount College for International Finance and received her MBA from Fordham University.

Marietta Davis
Marietta Davis
Director
BIO

Marietta Davis is an accomplished technology sales executive and currently serves as IBM’s Vice President and Managing Director for the global Accenture relationship. She leads a worldwide team growing business in IBM Public Cloud, Red Hat Hybrid Cloud and Artificial Intelligence solutions in collaboration with Accenture, IBM’s largest Global Service Integrator. Prior to IBM, she served as Vice President of U.S. Dynamics at Microsoft. As the highest-ranking African American executive in North America and Latin America, Davis led an organization of more than 400 sales, marketing and technical experts serving Microsoft’s business customers with Dynamics ERP and CRM Solutions. While at Microsoft, Davis successfully managed and grew multiple businesses to $1B and triple digit growth milestones. She has held high impact positions at Lotus Development, Ameritech, and Tata Consulting. Her diverse leadership portfolio extends to mentoring strong leaders into key roles and acting in an advisory capacity to incubation and small startups.

Marc Crisafulli
Director
BIO

Marc Crisafulli is an experienced executive in legal, compliance and regulatory governance, having served in multiple C-suite roles over the course of his 30-year career. In his most recent role, Crisafulli served as Executive Vice President, Government Relations, Legal and Regulatory at Bally’s Corporation. During his tenure, Marc forged a powerful, three-way partnership between Bally’s, IGT and the State of Rhode Island, a deal requiring legislative approval which resulted in The Marc A. Crisafulli Economic Development Act being signed into law. Before Bally’s, Marc was President of Global Device Protection for Brightstar Corporation, a wireless services company owned by SoftBank; EVP of Suffolk Construction Company; Managing Partner of Hinckley Allen & Synder LLP; and President of the Gaming Solutions Division for GTECH Holdings Corporation. Crisafulli received his bachelor of arts degree from Boston University and his juris doctrine from Georgetown University. He will serve on the audit, compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees of the Board.

More Leadership
arrow
arrow