
Our Leaders
The leadership team at Vanco has decades of experience building innovative payment solutions and technology. Our leaders are passionate about delivering unparalleled client service through a company culture that treats clients, partners and each other with the highest level of integrity and respect.
Meet Vanco’s Leaders
Jim McGinnis
CEO
Jim joined the Vanco team as CEO in January 2023. With more than 30 years under his belt as a leader, Jim has extensive knowledge and experience in directing all functions of a business including marketing, sales and product management.
Most recently, Jim was the President of Growth at AffiniPay, the parent company of LawPay. Prior to its acquisition by AffiniPay, he was CEO of MyCase, an all-in-one practice management solution for law firms. Earlier roles include Executive Vice President & General Manager of Wolters Kluwer’s Large Firm Accounting Division (CCH); Vice President, Professional Tax and Accountant Segment leader for Intuit’s Small Business Group, and Executive Vice President & General Manager for Activision’s Licensed Properties Business unit. Prior to that, Jim worked in Marketing leadership roles with PepsiCo and Procter and Gamble.
Jim earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Duke University and obtained his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He resides in Dallas, TX with his wife and two sons.
Jennifer Dorris
Chief Financial Officer
Jennifer Dorris joined Vanco in early 2016 as the Chief Financial Officer.
Jennifer has over 20 years of experience in executive management with building effective teams in high-growth environments. She is highly skilled at closing and integrating acquisitions, as well as driving strategic goals to maximize a company’s value.
Prior to joining Vanco, Jennifer held senior positions at several private equity-backed, start-up ventures serving as CEO of Ameriflight, President and CFO of Prommis Solutions, CFO of SmartMail and VP of Finance at WebMD.
Jennifer has an MBA in Finance and is an honors graduate of Georgia State University with a BBA in Accounting.
Jennifer resides in Atlanta with her family.
Bruce Stahl
Chief Information Officer
Bruce Stahl, our Chief Information Officer, is responsible for overseeing the product and technology teams at Vanco. Bruce brings deep experience in guiding teams creating market-leading solutions over his 30-plus years in the IT industry.
Previously, Bruce led product development, product management and technology groups for more than seven years at Transact Campus Inc., and earlier with Blackboard, where he worked on the divestiture of the Transact division. In addition to building cutting edge technology solutions, Bruce is experienced at effectively integrating acquisitions and combining technology teams.
Bruce resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife and dogs, where they enjoy lounging in his backyard.
Travis Prowell
Chief Product Officer
Travis Prowell, our Chief Product Officer, is responsible for technical innovation and product strategy. Travis fuses his commitment to alternative education and lifelong learning with his passion for creating powerful products that are easy to use. Prior to Vanco, Travis led the product and technology teams at ASA, played pivotal roles in the success of companies such as Esurance and Very Big Music, and built leading-edge technologies including the internet’s first streaming internet jukebox.
Louie Frank
Chief Marketing Officer
Louie joined Vanco in 2017.
Louie has more than 15 years of experience with SaaS-based companies and leadership roles. He joined Vanco as SVP of Marketing before moving over to the Chief Revenue Officer and then back to the role of CMO. Louie’s focus at Vanco is centered on leading our Go to Market Team, overseeing marketing strategies, sales enablement and generating new business to achieve our goal of serving those who enrich our communities.
Prior to joining Vanco, Louie worked at ABILITY Network. He was responsible for the company’s digital marketing efforts.
Louie graduated from the University of St. Thomas School of Business with a BA in Entrepreneurship.
Louie lives in St. Paul with his wife and two children.
Faton Gjuka
Chief Revenue Officer
Faton joined Vanco in February 2023.
Prior to joining Vanco, Faton was an Operating Partner at Sumeru Equity Partners where he focused on driving growth across the global portfolio of software companies with particular emphasis on Go-to-Market acceleration.
Before Sumeru, Faton co-founded LocateYourCare, a digital healthcare platform connecting patients and providers through a real-time mobile platform. Previously, Faton led the solutions team at C3.ai developing AI products, solutions and GTM strategies to help enterprises capture value from artificial intelligence deployed at scale. Prior to C3.ai, Faton was a management consultant at Bain & Company, advising companies on growth strategy, cloud computing and org design. Faton began his career at GE as part of the Commercial Leadership Program with subsequent sales and marketing roles.
Faton earned his MBA at the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business and his BS in Computer Science & Electrical Engineering at The University of Toledo. Faton lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife Allison and their three kids.
Abha DasGupta
General Manager, Education
Abha Dasgupta joined the Vanco team in 2021 as President and General Manager of the Education and Child Care business. Abha has over 22 years of experience for publicly traded, start-up, private equity-backed and VC-funded firms across corporate strategy, M&A, product strategy and business operations. She specifically has 9+ years of experience in EdTech and SaaS organizations.
Prior to Vanco, Abha was the Chief Strategy Officer at a SaaS AI/ML and cyber security start-up company QOMPLX Inc., where she led the strategic direction and M&A growth initiatives. Previously, she was instrumental in establishing and leading the telematics and fleet business for eDriving LLC., the leader in driver training and fleet risk management. Prior to eDriving, Abha was the General Manager and Vice President of the Private Schools and Consumer business at K12 Inc., a $1B publicly traded company where she led the end-to-end business strategy and operations for the business unit. Previous experience includes leading international expansion and M&A at AOL and government consulting for KPMG/BearingPoint Inc.
Abha holds a BS/BA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She also holds an MBA in Information Technology and Marketing from American University.
Jeffery McAlister
Managing Director, Australia
Jeff has held numerous successful posts throughout an accomplished professional career. After leaving Perth for London, he experienced the .com bubble before he went on to join Betfair, which has grown into a $5.5 billion company. While working at Betfair, he attained an MBA. He gained valuable experience while at Joost (founded by Skype founders). He then returned to Australia where he joined POLi Payments which was successfully sold years later to Australia Post. As the managing director at Trybooking, a Vanco company, Jeff enjoys seeing how active the community is and seeing the extremely broad range of events that actually occur.
Outside of work, Jeff is an avid cyclist. Aside from cycling, he enjoys spending time at home with his family and gardening (aquaponics) and has trekked across much of the globe—he’s been to 63 countries.
Deb Scheeringa
Vice President of Human Resources
Deb joined Vanco as the Vice President of Human Resources in the summer of 2018.
Previously, Deb spent more than 14 years at Cargill working in various capacities, including HR business partnering, project management, process design and organizational change management roles across multiple businesses and functions.
Deb has a BA in psychology from The George Washington University and a master’s degree in human resources and industrial relations from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. Deb is a hiker and enjoys travel and cheering on the Minnesota Twins. She lives in Eden Prairie, Minnesota with her husband.
Hillary Shaw
General Counsel
Hillary Shaw, the company's General Counsel, is responsible for all legal matters. Hillary counsels companies not just as an attorney, but as a partner who works to find practical business solutions. She has overseen numerous acquisitions and dispositions, and has structured and implemented strategic partnerships and customer relationships. Hillary began her career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. She later served as general counsel for a private-equity backed technology services platform and as an associate general counsel for the Smiths Group.
Hillary obtained her law degree from the University of Virginia, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Dartmouth College.