Sunbit Scales Leadership with Top Fintech Hires from PayPal, Affirm, and LendingClub

Sunbit has appointed three new Vice Presidents with leadership experience from PayPal, Affirm, and LendingClub to scale its platform partnerships, consumer marketing, and strategic finance functions. For fintech professionals, these high-profile hires signal a transition from a niche point-of-sale lender to a broader financial services provider aiming for deeper consumer wallet share and platform integration.

What was announced

Sunbit has expanded its leadership team with three key appointments designed to bolster its financial infrastructure and market reach. Becca Zoller Stone joins as Vice President, Platform Partnerships; Jessie Garton Szymanski as Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Card and Loan Products; and Anthony Suzara as Vice President, Strategic Finance. These hires arrive as the company seeks to deepen relationships with its existing base of more than six million customers and expand the platforms through which merchants can offer its financing technology.

Becca Zoller Stone will lead the Platform Partnerships organization, focusing on integrating Sunbit’s technology directly into the workflows of commerce and technology platforms. She brings two decades of experience, having recently led SMB payment products at PayPal. Her background includes a tenure as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Affirm, where she managed growth across major platforms like Stripe, Shopify, and Apple Pay, as well as leadership roles at SoFi and American Express.

Jessie Garton Szymanski is tasked with leading consumer marketing across Sunbit’s card and loan portfolio. Her objective is to transition the company’s user base from single-transaction users to long-term "top-of-wallet" customers. She previously held marketing leadership roles at LendingClub and BlackRock’s iShares, where she managed go-to-market campaigns for over 30 exchange-traded fund products.

Anthony Suzara will oversee long-term financial strategy and planning. With nearly 20 years in financial services, Suzara most recently served as Senior Vice President at LendingPoint, leading corporate finance and M&A. His career also includes a role as Director at Citi Investment Banking, covering the consumer finance and banking sectors.

"Becca, Jessie and Anthony each bring deep expertise, but what stood out to us was their ability to build. They’ve led teams, developed new businesses and helped scale some of the most recognized companies in financial services and technology. They're joining at a moment when we're expanding both what we offer and how we reach customers, and each of them will play a significant role in what comes next."

Britt Provost, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Sunbit.

The companies involved

Sunbit is a fintech firm that positions itself as a personalized financial partner, specializing in point-of-sale financing for essential, in-person services. While many buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) providers focused initially on discretionary retail and e-commerce, Sunbit carved out a significant market share by targeting "needs-based" sectors such as automotive repair, dental care, and eyewear. The company’s technology is designed to provide high approval rates and transparent terms at the point of service.

The company has evolved from a pure lending technology provider into a multi-product financial institution, now offering a credit card alongside its original installment loan products. Sunbit’s growth has been defined by its ability to embed credit into the existing workflows of service-based merchants, a strategy that requires deep integration with vertical software platforms. By hiring veterans from established giants like PayPal and Affirm, Sunbit is reinforcing its position as a major player in the embedded finance landscape, moving beyond its initial niche to compete for broader consumer loyalty in the highly competitive card and loan markets.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has followed Sunbit’s steady expansion into the broader financial ecosystem. In late 2024, the company reached a major milestone by securing a $355 million debt warehouse facility led by J.P. Morgan, Mizuho Bank Ltd., and Waterfall Asset Management, providing the capital necessary to scale its lending operations. The firm has also focused on technical efficiency, reporting a 6% lift in acceptance rates through a partnership with Checkout.com’s AI-powered technology.

More recently, Sunbit has aggressively pursued platform integrations and co-branded opportunities. This includes a strategic move to integrate with Stripe, bringing BNPL financing to in-person service businesses via service ads. The company also demonstrated its move into the rewards space by partnering with Hollywood Feed to launch a World Elite Mastercard co-branded rewards program, further signaling its intent to become a primary payment method for consumers.

What this means

The fintech sector is witnessing a consolidation of talent as specialized lenders attempt to become full-stack financial partners. Sunbit’s decision to hire leadership from Affirm and PayPal indicates that the "point-of-sale" category is no longer enough; the battle has moved to platform integration and "top-of-wallet" status. By targeting vertical software platforms, Sunbit is challenging traditional merchant acquirers and legacy banks that have historically struggled to integrate credit deeply into service-sector workflows. The industry question now is whether specialized lenders can successfully transition into broad-based consumer brands without losing the underwriting discipline that allowed them to scale in niche, essential-service markets. This move puts immediate pressure on traditional credit card issuers to modernize their point-of-sale offerings.