Digital payments firm Checkout.com taps Ashley Paulus to head up growth for UK and Europe

Payments big hitter Checkout.com has announced the appointment of Ashley Paulus to head up growth for the UK and Europe.

Having spent more than six years at Checkout.com, Paulus has held senior commercial leadership roles across the business, partnering with enterprise merchants to accelerate performance and unlock new growth opportunities across markets.

The FinTech has licences in the UK and France enabling direct acquiring across all 30 EEA member countries. The company also supports various consumer payment preferences in Europe, including digital wallets and local payment methods. 

“I’m excited to step into this role and continue building on the momentum we’ve created across Europe,” says Paulus. “Checkout.com is uniquely positioned to help enterprises grow by delivering high-performance payments and innovation across new payment models. I’m looking forward to working with customers and teams to deepen our partnerships and help merchants maximise the value of every transaction.”

“Ashley has been a driving force for our customers and our teams across multiple markets for more than six years,” says Antoine Nougué, Chief Revenue Officer at Checkout.com. “Her commercial instincts, global experience, and ability to build trusted enterprise partnerships make her ideally placed to lead our European growth strategy as we continue to scale and support businesses navigating an increasingly dynamic payments environment.”

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.