About Us

Duayne Haskett has been a driving force in merchant acquiring since leaving the issuing side of the business in 2001. After working for large financial institutions such as Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo early in his career, Duayne entered the Merchant Acquiring arena. Duayne served as a leader in Credit Underwriting and Operations for Sage Payments (Now PAYA) through September 2005.

Mr. Haskett departed to become a founding member of the management team at Priority Payment Systems (Priority) where he proceeded to develop and manage one of the merchant processing industries premier ISO/Agent and VAR/SAS channels for 11 years. Since his departure from Priority and the founding of Defyne Payments, Duayne is determined to bring back a customer centric infrastructure to the new era of payment technology. Duayne strives to help his clients grow by listening intently to their needs and delivering solutions.

Stephen Palazzo has been a critical management team member for many payment industry providers over the past 30 years. He's built industry-leading operational infrastructure in roles at some of the worlds largest acquirers. In addition to his operations expertise and experience, Stephen has also been tasked with leading important growth and technology orientated programs within First Data, Chase Bank, Global Payments, Elavon, WorldPay, and most recently Sage Payments.

As the leader of Sales within the ISO and Agent channel of Sage he pushed forth several integrated technology initiatives into the channel. He's received a Bachelor of Science degree in business from The University of the State of New York. As a founder of Defyne Payments, Steve is looking to bring a new and fresh take on the operational environment to lead change and revolution within the electronics payments space.

Bryan Hinkle has developed several back-office management and web based platforms since 2002. Bryan’s college consisted of GCSU MIS degree and Auburn University LA/CS. Bryan has spent time as part of a production development team servicing multiple aspects of Total Systems (TSYS), including issuing card production and share-point dashboard systems for management reporting.

Mr. Hinkle then joined Scientific Games in Alpharetta Georgia as their Senior Programming Analyst and Web Services Product Manager. For eleven years, Bryan and his team designed and programmed the accounting and customized ERP and CRM systems that manage all state lottery tickets being produced. He's spent time internationally implementing his systems providing global leadership in ticketing software. As a Founder of Defyne Payments, Bryan is determined to build payments software that is unparalleled in the market today to lead the new electronic payments eco-system.

With over 25 years of sales and marketing experience across both retail and wholesale in the credit card processing industry, Thad has a proven track record as an innovative and top-performing Business Development Executive with extensive experience in all facets of operations management including organizational and market expansion, building high performing teams, developing strong partner networks, and employee empowerment. Prior to co-founding Defyne Payments, Thad was the Director of Business Development East for Priority Payment Systems and National Sales Director of Merchant Lynx Services. Mr. Sheffield has been part of and continues to serve on several committees for the Electronic Transaction Association. He has a commitment to continue to grow and shape the future of the payments industry to assist each of Defyne Payments partners for future success.