PayTech firm Sionic appoints Shashi Varma as CTO and Head of Product and Joe Ciranni as EVP, Client Services
Sionic, a specialist in real-time, bank-to-bank payments at the Point of Sale, has announced two senior leadership appointments: Shashi Varma, CTO and Head of Product and Joe Ciranni, EVP of Client Services.
"Shashi and Joe have a rare combination of deep industry expertise, technical leadership, and a proven track record of driving growth at scale," says Sionic CEO and founder Ronald Herman. "Their leadership strengthens our capabilities, accelerates our roadmap, and positions Sionic to capitalise on the significant opportunities ahead.”
Varma (pictured below) spearheads product strategy, technology, and engineering for Sionic's Instant Bank Pay platform, including instant payments, AI powered fraud detection, and agentic commerce initiatives. He says: "Sionic has an opportunity to bring instant payments, intelligent risk, and emerging agentic experiences together on a platform that can fundamentally change how consumers, retailers, and financial institutions transact. I'm excited to lead the product and technology organisation as we turn that vision into scalable capabilities that our customers and partners can build on."
He spent more than two decades at Shift4, progressing from Director of IT, where he led the company's shift to hybrid cloud and built an automated underwriting platform, to Vice President of Enterprise Architecture, overseeing architecture across onboarding, underwriting, CRM, billing, and integrations. He most recently founded Velocity Solutions, where he helps payments and fintech companies build the operational and technology capabilities needed to scale through growth and acquisition.
Ciranni oversees Sionic's client success and account management teams. "Joining Sionic during this defining time for both the company and the instant payments industry is exciting," he says. "I look forward to working with our customers and partners so they can derive maximum value from all our services and capabilities."
He has 30 years of enterprise sales, customer success, and operational leadership experience, including two decades at Hewlett Packard followed by executive roles at Verint, NICE, eGain Corporation, and ServiceNow. Most recently, he was VP of Customer Experience at Talitrix.
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.
