Faith Collides

Emma Anderson is Head of Solutions Delivery at Planet, a payments company based in Ireland, that provides services to companies like Starbucks, Adidas and Kate Spade. It’s an industry we don’t often talk about - yet it’s played a vital role in enabling our ability to make online payments and digital transactions. Emma had several stops along the way to get to this point, but her original career goal had nothing to do with the payments industry. Her parents were missionaries, and that inspired Emma to pursue being a medical missionary. But Emma struggled to make it through the rigorous and demanding coursework of medical school at the University of Birmingham in the UK. So, she dropped out and started working as a sales and operations coordinator for a heavy machinery company. In 2007, Emma was introduced to the endless possibilities in the world of digital payments when she accepted a position at Barclays. And then pivoted to a Senior Marketing Manager role at Visa to promote digital payment products and serv