Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Ackerman thanked numerous partners, clients and service providers for their strong support over several decades. "This business has been good to us, and handing it off to the next generation is the right thing to do," he said. "We believe shared ownership will continue our people-first tradition, which will result in the continued success of not only our existing company, but the new one."
Travers agreed, stating, "At all levels of the company, customers will be working with an employee owner who is invested in the success of the company and the quality of service DigiPay Solutions has been built on and known to deliver."
Ackerman and Travers noted they are reviewing business models with legal counsel, CPA and advisory board, all of whom support a team-member concept for the new DigiPay Solutions, which they expect to fully launch in January 2023. Ackerman has observed a sense of excitement among team members as they step into expanded roles and responsibilities, which he said reminds him of his and Travers' early days in business. Travers started her recruitment business at age 24, he stated, and went on to become a business owner and job creator.
"My early years of working for Pepsi during the cola wars gave me extensive selling experience," Ackerman said. "And I gained my payments experience from early knuckle buster days to building a sales channel for the country's largest ISO."
Travers recalled launching DigiPay with Ackerman's wealth of payments experience and contacts and her understanding of successful small business practices. After growing and scaling the company, the husband and wife team decided to buck the trend of selling to a larger company and give their staff the opportunity to become business owners, she said.
"I hope others will consider joining us in reversing this trend, so young entrepreneurs can move off the endangered species list," Travers added. "Everyone hears the term of wealth transfer today, but this is the best way to teach a person to fish versus giving them the fish."
Connor Hackett, incoming co-founder and head of sales at DigiPay, thanked Ackerman and Travers for the opportunity, recalling his early days at the company. "When I first started at DigiPay I knew right away that this was a much different ISO than any of the others I had previously worked for," he said. "We learned that there are no secrets to success. Results come from preparation, hard work and learning from failure."
Hackett went on to say that DigiPay has always striven to find the right people and retain them by treating them right, nurturing a creative environment and helping them find ways to innovate. DigiPay had done all that and more, he stated, adding that he is beyond excited to continue keeping that culture and driving more success in the future.
Abby Rodriquez, incoming co-founder and COO, agreed that DigiPay's environment is welcoming. "I started working with DigiPay when I was five months pregnant with my second child," she said. "I've never felt so welcomed and appreciated in the 15 years I have been in the industry."
After serving for five years, Rodriguez said she still wakes up excited every day because work doesn't feel like work. Everything about DigiPay, she said, including the culture, environment and internal and external relationships, is amazing and unique. Mike and Sandy have been like parents, encouraging us to make tough decisions and treating failure as a learning experience, she added.
Mark Reid, incoming co-founder and head of operations and finance at DigiPay, thanked Travers and Ackerman for the opportunity, stating he joined the company shortly after graduating from college. "It started as an opportunity to utilize my degree in an environment where you could fail forward," he said. "Mistakes were OK if you learned from them and, as the stakes grow larger, DigiPay represents the same thing today: opportunity." 
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