Explore insights from Carmen Donnell, MD at PayByPhone, on how integrated payments are reshaping urban mobility, leadership, and innovation.
Carmen, could you start by sharing a bit about your professional journey and what led you to the mobility and payment infrastructure space?
I started my career in sales and genuinely loved it. I was drawn to the pace, accountability, and direct link between effort and results. Building relationships, understanding client pain points, and closing business deals gave me a strong commercial foundation early on.
But I realized I wanted to move beyond individual contribution and into leadership. I deliberately positioned myself for that path by taking on broader responsibilities, mentoring team members, getting involved in strategic planning, and developing a deeper understanding of operational delivery and financial performance.
Today, as Managing Director for North America, I oversee growth, retention, and strategic direction across Canada and the United States, which includes securing new partnerships, expanding existing relationships, and ensuring consistent execution.
I was drawn to mobility and payment infrastructure because it sits at the intersection of public policy, technology, and consumer behavior. Payments are the foundational layer that enables mobility services to function at scale. The opportunity to modernize legacy systems and deliver both measurable commercial and operational outcomes for clients made this sector a natural fit.
Urban mobility is rapidly shifting from a car-centric model to a more multimodal ecosystem. From your perspective, how has this transformation changed the role of payment infrastructure in the mobility sector?
As mobility becomes multimodal, payment infrastructure has moved from a back office function to a strategic integration layer. Users expect a seamless experience across parking, transit, micro mobility, and EV charging. That requires interoperable systems, real time processing, unified reporting, and flexible pricing capabilities.
Payments now enable integration across services rather than simply facilitating individual transactions. The infrastructure must support multiple operators, funding sources, and regulatory environments while maintaining a consistent user experience.
You’ve spoken about how current payment infrastructures are no longer sufficient for present-day mobility demands. What are the key gaps or limitations you see in the systems that cities and mobility providers rely on today?
Many cities still operate on legacy systems designed for single asset types and static pricing models. These systems often lack interoperability, advanced analytics, and real time settlement capabilities.
There is also limited visibility across fragmented vendors, which reduces strategic flexibility. Procurement cycles can lock cities into infrastructure that cannot evolve with user expectations. This creates long term cost inefficiencies and slows innovation.
The mobility industry still operates with fragmented payment systems. What are some of the hidden costs that arise from this fragmentation?
Fragmentation increases operational complexity. Multiple vendors require separate contracts, separate reconciliation processes, separate reporting structures, and separate support models. This all drives administrative cost and increases the risk of error.
There are also customer experience costs. Separate platforms and payment flows reduce adoption and increase churn. In addition, fragmented data limits the ability to optimize pricing, utilization, and infrastructure investment, which has direct financial implications.
As mobility services diversify, what challenges and opportunities does this create for transaction processors?
Diversification increases technical and regulatory complexity. Processors must support dynamic pricing, subscriptions, cross border transactions, fraud management, and evolving compliance requirements.
At the same time, diversification creates opportunity for processors that can provide a scalable, unified infrastructure layer. Those that can integrate multiple services, aggregate data, and support flexible commercial models become strategic partners rather than commodity providers.
Increasingly, the payment layer is being viewed as strategic infrastructure rather than just a transactional tool. How can integrated payment systems help build a more connected and flexible mobility ecosystem?
Integrated payment systems create a unified user identity and consolidated transaction environment. This enables bundled services, subscription models, loyalty programs, and coordinated demand management.
For cities and operators, integration simplifies settlement, improves reporting accuracy, and enables data-driven decision making. It allows new mobility services to be layered onto existing infrastructure rather than built independently, which improves scalability and reduces long term cost.
The mobility sector is constantly evolving. What have been some of the biggest innovation challenges in building client confidence and demonstrating commercial viability for new payment technologies?
One of the main challenges is balancing innovation with operational stability. Public and enterprise clients require demonstrated security, compliance, and uptime before adopting new technologies.
Another challenge is proving measurable ROI. New payment technologies must show clear revenue uplift, cost reduction, or efficiency gains. Structured pilots, transparent performance data, and disciplined commercial modeling are critical to building confidence.
As Managing Director for North America, how would you describe your leadership style, and how has it shaped the way you approach growth and innovation in the mobility technology sector?
My leadership style is both commercially disciplined and execution focused. Growth must be sustainable as well as tied to operational performance. Signing contracts is only part of the equation. Retention, client satisfaction, and measurable outcomes are equally important.
I prioritize clear metrics, accountability, and alignment between strategy and day to day execution. Innovation initiatives must have a defined commercial pathway and be supported by rigorous reporting and performance management.
In an industry that has traditionally been male dominated, what has your experience been as a leader, and how important is representation and mentorship for women entering the mobility and tech sectors?
Mobility and infrastructure have historically had limited female representation at senior levels. While progress is being made, visible female leadership remains important.
Representation strengthens decision making by broadening perspective. Mentorship and sponsorship accelerate development and create clearer pathways to leadership. Access to experienced female leaders helps women navigate complex, cross-functional industries such as mobility and payments.
Finally, what advice would you give to young professionals, especially women, who aspire to build careers and leadership roles in mobility technology and innovation?
Develop strong commercial literacy early. Understand how revenue models work, how margins are managed, and how contracts are structured.
Seek cross-functional exposure across product, finance, operations, and client management. Mobility technology requires integrated thinking.
Focus on delivering measurable results. Credibility and leadership opportunities are built on consistent execution and demonstrated impact.
