In the Year of the CEO, Convera Bets on Data and Discipline

Watch more: What’s Next in Payments: Convera’s Patrick Gauthier

Convera CEO Patrick Gauthier said 2025 has been a year of extremes. It has been a test of leadership in a world where global shocks, technological change and monetary policy have collided.

“It’s a year with a lot of uncertainty,” he told PYMNTS, adding that the job of a CEO is “to create clarity.”

Speaking with PYMNTS as part of the What’s Next in Payments “Year of the CEO” series, Gauthier said his focus this year has been on shaping that clarity and creating priorities that allow his teams to execute in an unpredictable environment.

The hardest calls are about resources, like how to balance the short-term pressures of the economy against the need to prepare for the future. That means building a foundation that keeps the company resilient while continuing to invest in transformation.

“The dynamic between navigating through uncertain waters all the while future-proofing the company is at the core of a lot of the tough decisions that we have to make,” Gauthier said.

Navigating Geopolitical and Economic Shocks

Those decisions have been complicated by a global backdrop of instability, he said.

“At the first part of the year, we were trying to figure out whether the second half we would have a recession,” he said. “By Q2, we were swinging through trade wars, and now we’re dealing with debt battles.”

Gauthier described these disruptions as part of a “hot brew” of factors from diverging monetary policies to digitalization driven by geopolitical competition. Technology has only added to that complexity.

“There is some technological innovation and disruption that is happening, in particular around AI, that happens really once in a generation,” he said.

Leading Within the Blast Radius

Making decisions amid this level of uncertainty requires accepting imperfection, Gauthier said. He used the term “blast radius” to describe how every decision a company makes affects multiple other parts of the business. CEOs must act even when they don’t have perfect information and must make sure their teams understand the trade-offs behind each choice.

“The most important thing to do is to explain those choices such that everybody in the organization understands them and aligns with them,” he said.

Technology, Data and the Limits of AI

Technology is central to how Convera operates and how it adapts to uncertainty, Gauthier said.

“A business like ours produces a lot of data,” he said.

How to properly use this data is a key component of success.

But for a regulated cross-border payments firm, data use comes with strict boundaries.

“Since we are a regulated business with some obligations having to do with how we manage data, you cannot just say, ‘Oh, we’ll just dump it all in ChatGPT,’” he said. “It doesn’t work. Regulators will not allow us to do that.”

That has forced Convera to make deliberate choices about where and how to use artificial intelligence. The company develops its own internal models and uses them to improve operations, compliance and risk management.

From Legacy Systems to an Agile Culture

Modernization is another constant focus. Convera is bringing legacy systems into a more dynamic, code-based architecture. The goal is to automate what can be automated, embed compliance into every process and increase the company’s ability to respond quickly, Gauthier said.

“If you are a company that wants to succeed in this high-change environment, you have to be highly agile and adaptable,” he said.

Convera has redesigned its product and technology strategy around that principle.

That effort extends to talent development. AI requires new skills and a culture that rewards experimentation, Gauthier said.

“The question becomes how do you create an environment where our team members can learn, can even create on their own, try new things, and if it works, really roll it out quickly?” he said.

AI Across the Enterprise

Convera now uses AI for nearly every function, from code generation and product documentation to marketing, sales and investor relations, Gauthier said, adding that the wave of AI innovation reminds him of other transformative moments in technology.

“I do believe that this is a once-in-a-generation moment,” he said.

“It’s going to deeply transform how we work,” he added.

Companies and individuals who fail to learn these tools will soon find themselves left behind.

“Any company, any function, any person who does not know how to understand AI would be as obsolete as somebody who does not know how to use a mobile phone,” he said.

Finding Time for Strategic Focus

Even as Convera modernizes, Gauthier said his biggest constraint is time.

“Not only is the environment around us changing a lot, but Convera itself has been on a massive journey of transformation,” he said.

With one of the largest portfolios of global payment licenses, the company has reach across every major market. That scale brings opportunity.

“The challenge often we have is to find the space and the time to pause, make sure we are where we think we are today, and adapt,” he said.