Women Leaders in Payments: The Future is Human with Kim Molinaro, Fiserv | Episode 508

Payments are not just transactions anymore. They are software experiences, API connections, and full business operating systems, and that shift changes what leadership looks like across fintech. We sit down with Kim Molinaro, Head of ISV at Fiserv, to trace her path from fashion-focused marketing and early sales roles into 24 years in payment processing and partner growth, and to unpack what makes the ISV channel such a powerful engine for scale.We get specific about embedded payments: why modern merchants rarely want a standalone terminal, how software platforms bake payments into the product, and how ISV partnerships can reach thousands of businesses at once while lowering churn. Kim also shares how ecosystems like Clover reflect a broader move toward bundled commerce: payments plus banking tools, lending, apps, and value-added services that keep businesses running in one place.Then we go straight at the big tension in the industry: automation and AI. Kim explains what “the future is human” means to her as a leader, including where AI tools like copilots help teams move faster and where human thinking still has to stay in the driver’s seat. We talk about trust, transparency, accountability, and the emerging impact of agentic AI that can find and buy on behalf of people, raising new questions about authorization and confidence in what machines choose.If you care about fintech leadership, embedded finance, ISV strategy, and building trust in modern payments, this conversation will give you practical ideas you can use right away.