Airwallex builds out its leadership team with Stripe and Morgan Stanley execs

Global payments and financial platform, Airwallex announced senior appointments to its leadership team as they focus on expansion into 2023. 

Airwallex is a global financial and payment platform that helps entrepreneurs eliminate unnecessary costs and complexity associated with traditional financial systems. It offers an all-in-one platform for managing payments, treasury, and spending and is trusted by leading companies worldwide.

Justin Yek signed on in the newly created role of Head of Strategic Finance and Corporate Development, following more than ten years in banking, finance, and startups, including work for Morgan Stanley and Citi.

Jon Stona joined as Global Head of Marketing after working at Stripe in senior marketing roles and positions at Google and Nike. 

Both positions sit on Airwallex’s global leadership team, reporting to CEO and cofounder Jack Zhang. 

Zhang said the payments fintech has big ambitions for 2023 and while many others are cutting back on staff, they’re investing in growth and talent.

“Airwallex wants to help businesses grow, and to do that we’re supercharging our own workforce,” he said.

“Justin will be working closely with me and the Airwallex leadership team as we focus on our company strategy and potential M&A investments that align with our global ambitions.

“Jon will take our marketing function to the next level to help drive leads, convert and acquire new customers, and work to encourage repeated use of our different products. 

“We connect entrepreneurs, business builders, makers and creators with opportunities in every corner of the world and I’m looking forward to working with our new starters to bring that vision to life.”

Justin Yek said he wants to continue the fintech’s impressive growth trajectory.

“There are significant opportunities for Airwallex to work with more and more customers and businesses on everything from their payments, treasury, spend and embedded finance, and I’ll be focusing on how we can best achieve that,” he said.

• Editor’s note: The following day, the fintech announced the appointment of Antonio Thewissen as director of marketing for Australia and New Zealand, and Nick Creevey as Associate Director of Corporate Affairs for ANZ.  Thewissen was head of marketing for APAC for Uber for Business, while Creevey is a former press secretary for ex-PM Scott Morrison and former education minister Simon Birmingham.