Global Payments Head Mike Farrell departs fast food giant Subway with paternity leave up next

Mike Farrell has announced his departure from Subway where he served as Senior Director, Global Payments Strategy.

In a LinkedIn post, he said: "After more than four years, my time at Subway has come to an end."

"While this chapter is closing, I am incredibly proud of the accomplishments we achieved during my tenure. Most notably, we built a world class global payments team from scratch. What started as a simple idea to bring incremental value to the brand grew into a powerhouse that transformed payments across nearly 30,000 stores in 15 countries."

He added: "What’s next for me? I was already scheduled to take paternity leave to spend time with the newest addition to our house, and I plan to do exactly that. I look forward to focusing on my family during this time, and I plan on coming out the other side ready for the next step on this payments journey."

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Payments will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards will open for entries in April. They celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 15th October.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.