Pupils and payment

challenging new role with Ex-PayPal UK chief takes on school payment platform

MARK Brant, the former managing director of PayPal UK, has been announced as CEO of the ParentPay Group, a payment platform for schools.

The company is looking to expand, and Clint Wilson — the outgoing CEO who has led the business for 15 years — will become the group corporate development director.

ParentPay, used by more than half of all British schoolchildren, was launched in 2004. It was the brainchild of former teacher and founder Lynne Taylor. Wilson, who spotted an opportunity to pioneer a new market and transform the way payments were made within schools, became CEO soon after launch.

Under his leadership, the group saw rapid growth, returning a compound annual growth rate of 61 percent in EBITDA since its first profit in 2007. It has developed its offering by acquiring Schoolcomms, Cypad and the Netherlands-based WIS, the latter marking the business’ first foray into Europe. The group also launched two new businesses: Just Education and nimbl. ParentPay’s sustained growth

has caught the attention of the industry, with Wilson winning a host of awards. The company was recently named by Megabuyte as the UK’s fifth-best performing privately-owned technology company.

Brant, who played a key role leading PayPal, will oversee a similarly ambitious growth plan for ParentPay. The group plans further European acquisitions and the development of a suite of new products.

These plans include the creation of a new platform to expand ParentPay’s services Mark Brant

ParentPay aims to go outside the school gates... Clint Wilson

outside the school gates in a move that will open up the platform to a far wider audience, challenging traditional payment providers.

Wilson said: “When I took the helm in 2005, we had a firm belief that we could make life easier for schools and parents and we set about building a platform capable of supporting schools across the UK. “We now serve over 15,500 schools and for many, ParentPay has become a household name, with families paying schools securely online as a part of normal daily life. Our ambition is for this to be true right across Europe.

“Over the last 15 years, ParentPay has helped to shape the industry.”

Wilson said Brant was “the ideal successor”. Andrew Neubauer, ParentPay Group executive chairman, said Brant’s experience and skill-set “closely matched the requirements that Clint and I identified for this role”.

“Our future growth plans are ambitious,” said Brant, “but we have the right team and platform… I’m excited about what lies ahead.”