FinTech big hitter Adyen appoints former Barclaycard and Verifone exec Nicole Olbe as EMEA President
Adyen has announced the appointment of Nicole Olbe as President for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). She succeeds Alexa von Bismarck, who moves into the role of Senior Vice President of Global Account Management based in San Francisco.
Olbe brings over 20 years of experience in global payments and FinTech to the position. Prior to joining Adyen, she held senior leadership roles across merchant acquiring, payment acceptance, and strategic partnerships at Barclaycard and Verifone.
“Nicole’s extensive track record in global payments and her commitment to inclusive, team first leadership make her exceptionally well suited to helm our EMEA operations,” says Roelant Prins, Chief Commercial Officer at Adyen. “As we continue to expand, her ability to bridge regional needs with our global commercial strategy will be invaluable. We are also immensely grateful to Alexa for her leadership in EMEA and look forward to her driving enterprise wide impact in her new global role.”
“I am thrilled to take on the role of EMEA President and build upon the strong foundation our teams have established,” says Olbe. “Adyen’s success across EMEA relies on our deep local market understanding and close cross-functional collaboration. I look forward to working alongside our regional teams to scale our platform capabilities and solidify Adyen’s position as the gold standard for global enterprise commerce."
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
Payments will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and 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 Wednesday, 4th November.
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.
