Convera appoints Craig McDonald to global partnerships role

Convera has appointed Craig McDonald Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships and Channels, adding to its recent senior leadership changes.

McDonald joins the cross-border payments group's leadership team under Meaghan Riley, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. He will oversee strategic partnerships and channel relationships across several markets, including software and embedded payment partners, payroll and pension providers, financial institutions, fintech groups and education.

He will lead efforts to expand partner-led and channel-led growth worldwide, including developing commercial models and working with product and technology teams to bring services to market.

The appointment follows Convera's strengthening of its product, technology and operations leadership under Mike Cahill, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. The company has linked those internal changes to a broader push to align execution across its commercial, technology and partner teams.

McDonald brings more than 20 years of experience across payments, fintech and software-as-a-service businesses. Most recently, he was Chief Revenue Officer at identity verification company Trulioo.

Before that, he worked at Trustly, where he built the company's North American business from launch to nearly USD $200 million in revenue, according to Convera. The business also grew to about 140 staff across sales, business development, account management, marketing, implementation and customer success.

Earlier in his career, McDonald worked in Prague, Warsaw and Moscow, gaining exposure to cross-border markets in Central and Eastern Europe, the company said.

Growth focus

Convera is seeking to deepen existing partner relationships while opening new routes to customers through external channels. Its network covers more than 140 currencies and 200 countries and territories, with nearly USD $200 billion in annual payment flows.

Riley said the appointment supports the company's wider commercial plans.

"Craig's appointment is the next step in strengthening the leadership and execution behind Convera's growth strategy. Our partners and channels extend our reach into markets and customer relationships where Convera's global payments network, FX expertise and regulatory infrastructure can create real value. Craig has a proven record of turning complex opportunities into scalable businesses. He will shape a more connected global strategy, develop new commercial models and work across our commercial and technology teams to bring solutions to market with greater focus and pace," said Meaghan Riley, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Convera.

McDonald said the company had an opportunity to address practical problems for partners handling international money movement.

"Convera has a differentiated opportunity to help partners solve more of the complexity of moving and managing money across borders. The foundation is strong: trusted relationships, global reach and teams with deep expertise. I'm looking forward to working across the business to build scalable partner propositions, create new commercial models, accelerate solutions to market and open new avenues for sustainable growth," McDonald said.