Chief Executive Officer – Butter Payments
[LinkedIn Profile](http://www.linkedin.com/in/sofya-pogreb-8876b7)
Executive Summary
Sofya Pogreb is the Chief Executive Officer of Butter Payments, an advanced payments optimization company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Appointed in 2025, Pogreb brings over 20 years of executive leadership experience in financial technology, payments, and operational scale. She is jointly leading Butter Payments alongside Founder and President Vijay Menon, tasked with accelerating Butter’s trajectory in the subscription payments space.
Professional Background and Experience
Prior to her role at Butter Payments, Sofya Pogreb was Chief Operating Officer at BILL (formerly Bill.com), a public company specializing in financial automation software. During her tenure, she was instrumental in scaling operations and product delivery for the fintech leader. Before joining BILL, Pogreb served on the executive team and board of Next Insurance, a high-growth insurtech that reported a revenue of $548 million in 2024.
Her career in the payments sector began at PayPal, where she managed payment recovery and risk management—functions critical to loss prevention and revenue maximization for online transactions. This early experience fostered a long-term commitment to innovation in payment systems and customer retention across digital business models.
Educationally, Pogreb has a robust technical and business foundation:
- Master’s Degree in Computer Science – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
- Bachelor’s Degrees in Computer Science and Finance – MIT Sloan School of Management
Key Strategic Focus for Butter Payments
1. Payments Technology and Innovation
- Butter Payments positions itself as a market leader in reducing payment failure and involuntary churn, primarily for subscription-focused brands.
- The company’s proprietary AI and machine learning platform is central to its value proposition, delivering tangible improvements in payment recovery.
- Innovation remains a core priority under Pogreb's leadership, with sustained investments in R&D and the expansion of the flagship Recover product.
2. Growth and Market Differentiation
- Pogreb is emphasizing product innovation aimed at small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), with a clear articulation to strengthen Butter’s leadership in the payments ecosystem.
- Integration simplicity, ongoing value delivery, and customer-aligned pricing models are identified as levers for deepening customer relationships and market share.
3. Customer-Centric Culture
- Pogreb champions a customer-obsessed ethos, focusing the organizational mission on helping Butter’s clients retain end-users and minimize payment-related disruption.
- Internal culture is described as highly collaborative, with a leadership objective to further ingrain customer-centric thinking throughout all teams.
4. Industry Trends and Vision
- Monitors retention strategies and the customer lifecycle within subscription businesses, underlining the shift toward retention as a driver of revenue and profit.
- Recognizes the impact of involuntary churn mitigation, and positions Butter as a backend solution for seamless payment continuity.
- Sees the maturation of AI in subscriptions—predictive analytics for churn, personalized marketing, and payment optimization—as now being "table stakes" for leading vendors.
Leadership Style and Talent Strategy
- Pogreb is actively building a stellar executive and engineering team to drive Butter’s next phase of growth.
- Described as an empathetic leader and structured thinker, her management approach is rooted in collaboration and leveraging deep data analysis for operational improvement.
- Mentorship and cross-team synergy are prioritized to sustain high performance and rapid development cycles.
Professional Recognition and Insight
- Recognized for structuring resilient organizations and scaling operational capabilities in both fintech and insurtech domains.
- Advocates for holistic payments stack analysis for merchants, and strongly recommends granular review of decline/failure codes for data-driven optimization.
- Encourages all clients and partners to scrutinize data accuracy, as discrepancies are frequent causes of operational inefficiency and missed revenue opportunities.
Personal Interests and Motivation
- Pogreb is personally invested in the “3Bs”: babies (family), backpacking (outdoor activity), and ballroom dancing (competitive sport). She has competed in the U.S. Dancesport National Championships and remains engaged in the arts and athletic community.
- Leverages her interests to draw parallels in teamwork and leadership, reinforcing partnership and shared responsibility principles in Butter’s culture.
Company Context
- Butter Payments is recognized for its ROI-driven solutions, client roster comprising leading B2C, B2B, SaaS, and ecommerce subscription companies, and commitment to cutting-edge technology powered by patented AI and machine learning.
- The company recently achieved Great Place To Work Certification and successfully completed a $22M Series A fundraise led by investors such as Norwest Venture Partners, positioning it for ambitious growth.
Contact and Further Information
- LinkedIn: [Sofya Pogreb](http://www.linkedin.com/in/sofya-pogreb-8876b7)
- Company: [Butter Payments](https://www.butterpayments.com/company/about-us)
In summary, Sofya Pogreb is a senior payments and fintech executive with a track record of organizational leadership, operational excellence, and innovation in high-growth environments. Her priorities at Butter Payments directly align with major trends transforming the subscription economy, particularly around retention, AI-driven optimization, and customer lifetime value.
