Jed Morley - Platinum Payment Systems
The payment processing industry is always moving forward. Technological advances and shifts in consumer behavior demand it to be as such. Even more so during times of economic distress — which the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be (and then some!)
And so, to answer some of our questions about what it is like to be in such a constantly evolving landscape, we invited Jed Morley, one of the founders of the payment processing company, Platinum Payment Systems!
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Please tell us a little bit about yourself to start us off.
Jed Morley: You’re welcome! My name is Jed Morley. I’m the CEO and one of the founders of Platinum Payment Systems (also called PlatPay or PPS.) I come from a very large family and, perhaps surprisingly, I grew up on a farm — nothing too big as far as lands go, the farms around us were definitely much bigger than ours, but it’s a big part of my history anyway, and usually something that people are surprised about when I tell them.
Have you always been interested in finance? Or was that something that you discovered later on in life?
Jed Morley: Definitely the latter. My first career was probably as far from finance as one can get. That is, I initially worked as a lumberjack, or a logger, in Alaska. This was when I was only 18, straight out of high school and everything. It was a very memorable experience for me. I can say, without a doubt, that the people I met at that job and worked alongside are some of the hardest working people I’ve ever known. I won’t lie, it was a tough job, we were exposed to danger and all sorts of life-threatening injuries on a daily basis, but it helped me grow as a man to see that level of commitment and passion up close.
What other industries did you experience during your early life?
Jed Morley: After Alaska, I moved to Argentina for two years. I served as a missionary for my church there while learning the value of open-mindedness as I got to know a diverse group of people and experience a culture that was incredibly different from what I grew up knowing.
Again, it was a good experience, but I wasn’t the type of person to stay still back then. So, I moved back to my home state, attended the Utah Valley State College, and then moved again to go to the University of Phoenix to study business. All while dipping my toes in running my own businesses on the side. I did eventually land into a semi-permanent career as a real estate broker. During that time, I must have sold hundreds of new and existing homes. Not to mention the buildings that I had a hand in developing myself — subdivisions, charter schools, hotels, even national credit buildings. That was definitely a big part of my career history. And, even now, I still own several tracts of land and a property management company to stay involved in that space.
Now, shifting our focus to your work with Platinum Payment Systems, how did you end up in the payment processing industry?
Jed Morley: As mentioned, I was a real estate broker and developer for a time, working on developing national products and properties all over the Western United States for major corporations. And, during this time, I got to get an up-close look at how businesses worked.
It didn’t take me long to realize that businesses ran on payments. And, when I was given the chance to get involved with Platinum Payment Systems, I took it, even without prior experience as a banker or anything like that. In fact, of all the partners that I have and the team we put together, none of us came from the banking world. We all had different backgrounds and different skill sets. But, we all came together anyway and decided, you know what? “Let’s put together a great system that will allow us and our clients to become partners.”
We built ourselves up with this philosophy, borrowing from our unique experiences to make payments an exciting part of our clients’ businesses that they can bend to their own needs.
What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
Jed Morley: As a company I want us to always be pushing our limits, not just within our own business, but also to help our partners and clients become more successful. When we’re reaching our own goals as a company, I want it to be with the intention of opening doors for our clients too.
I have an amazing, dedicated team that backs me up on this. We’ve been together for a decade now, and we’ve stayed strong. But I want us to continue being strong. Until every one of us becomes speakers, coaches, and leaders in our own right. Which brings us to my mission as a leader. That is, as a leader, the legacy I want to leave behind is to see my team’s dreams fulfilled. I want them to know that they can count on me while they continue to grow and push forward with their own goals.
John F. Kennedy once said that “A rising tide lifts all boats,” this is a saying that I hold very close to my heart. I want to be part of the tide that lifts the people that I work with. Whether it be my team, our partners, or our clients.
What can we expect from Platinum Payment Systems in the future?
Jed Morley: There’s much to look forward to in terms of innovation on our end. That’s something that we’ve always prioritized. But, especially so in the past year.
COVID has changed a lot of things in the business landscape, and we were not exempt from those changes. For example, our business marketing model has always been closely tied to traveling to events where we can get to know people and talk to them face to face. It’s a very personalized form of marketing that has worked very well for us. But, of course, that wasn’t at all possible last year, which meant that we had to look into digital marketing more.
As big of a change as it was at first though, we were able to make it work. We also streamlined our processes so that we could work faster and make things easier for our partners — which should, in turn, allow us to serve our clients better in the future as well.
Suffice to say, the changes, forced-upon as they were, ended up making us bigger and stronger than ever before and I’ve never been more excited about where we are today. There’s a lot of great opportunities for growth in our future, and we’re positioned in a way that should allow us to scale our efforts and grow even more! So, in short, what do I expect to see in our future? Great things!
