Interview with Piers Gorman - Managing Director APAC at TreviPay

I had the pleasure of catching up with Piers Gorman, Managing Director APAC at TreviPay, during a recent industry event in Sydney. Piers brings a rare blend of global experience, strategic clarity, and cross-sector perspective that’s particularly valuable as B2B payments evolve at pace. Our conversation covered everything from mission-driven leadership and market complexity to the role payments play in creating real business value. It was a timely and thoughtful discussion, one that reinforces why voices like Piers' matter as the APAC payments landscape continues to mature.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and what drew you to the payments and fintech space?

I’m originally from the UK, though left the UK shores in 2001/2. My early years included 8 years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which instilled an interest in living and working with other cultures. Since 2001/2, I spent 15 years in the UAE where I met my wonderful wife and where our three children were born. Since then we have lived in Africa (Cape Town), Asia (Singapore) and for the past 5 ½ years in Melbourne. My journey hasn’t just been geographic diversity- I’m also working in my fourth industry after time in the armed forces, consulting and downstream oil and gas.

What I’m loving most about the payments industry and the fintech sector is the genuine differentiation that each party brings to the table. The sector is also very dynamic, embracing modern technology (warts and all) and fast moving- requiring adaptability and an appetite for change, which are all things I’m passionate about.

Tell us about your career path, it is always interesting to understand how people get into Payments.

I was working for a Fortune 80 downstream oil and gas company, leading their market entry into Africa, including a strategic M&A initiative into the South African market. Luckily for me, TreviPay (called MSTS at the time) was acquired by this company and, through the annual sales kick off forums, I had the opportunity to connect with the TreviPay CEO and leadership team. My role in Cape Town at the time was to be a connector between the various business units and the local market which gave me an opportunity to get to understand the TreviPay solution and market-test it.

Ultimately, we wanted to build out our team and presence in the APAC region and so I was invited to jump-ship internally and join the TreviPay team- initially in Singapore.

How did your early career shape who you are as a leader today?

I think there have been a number of influences over the years that have shaped my approach to leadership. Foundationally, my year at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst – the UK’s army officer training academy- was a massive building block for the values I try to apply to leadership. Along the way I have tried to pick up ideas, techniques and ways of thinking from leaders I have worked under or with or observed from a distance. So it’s been more a case of adding layers to a strong foundation.

A core tenet of British Army leadership is ‘mission command’, which is fundamentally about empowerment. In essence it is about giving your team members the goals you want them to achieve and the boundaries which they need to consider and let them determine the best way to achieve the aim. It’s the direct opposite of micro-management. It’s a methodology that means that there may be mistakes along the way (which are ok so long as the lessons learnt are not repeated), but ultimately it should enable a more productive organisation and one where individuals feel they have a larger stake in the outcome.

What guides you when making the inevitable tough decisions?

A great saying that I was told when I was part of my first start-up was “nothing is ever as good or as bad as it first appears”. It’s uncanny how true that saying is when applied to any positive or negative situation. I find it helps me to lessen the emotion in decision making and be more rational. Where possible, obtaining quantitative data to support the decision and explaining the decision to affected parties is an imperative. Lastly, ensuring that the impacts of a tough decision are delivered through an empathetic lens.

On the personal side is there a book our readers should read that has had a big impact on you personally or professionally?

I’m a huge fan or Erin Meyer’s book, The Culture Map. It’s a fairly short read but includes a great framework for assessing the cultural differences we should be aware of as we work in an ever more connected and diverse world.

What has shaped your approach to work and life?

Until joining TreviPay, I had always worked in male-dominated industries with very limited exposure to working with females and certainly not a female leader. I hadn’t had to think about equality until our first two (female) children arrived on the scene and it started to make me think more deeply about the topic. My current boss is female and a fantastic leader and role model and so it’s been another great benefit of joining TreviPay and this industry, to try to support a level playing field.

What’s a key piece of advice you would give someone starting out (or innovating) in payments, and where do the biggest opportunities lie?

Nostradamus, I am not! Every sector of payments seems to be growing but looking closer to home, B2B payments are the most complex and have historically lagged behind B2C by ~10 years. We feel that now is the time for B2B payments time to shine.

The most exciting thing for the industry is that more and more companies are seeing the value of what a strong payments experience can bring to their business. Embedding payments expertise into their ecosystem to improve customer experience is becoming more and more mainstream- but there is a massive runway to look forward to, which can only be good for our industry and individuals within it.

TreviPay Contact Details

💡 More Info: TreviPay Website
👉 Follow: TreviPay LinkedIn

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