Millicent Tracey

Connector

Millicent is an accomplished financial services product strategy executive, fintech advisor, and board member with 20 years of experience leading digital payments strategy. She has strong expertise in financial services technology, product management, and launching successful teams and programs that support strategic growth initiatives and create a competitive advantage. She led the launch of Wells Fargo’s API Gateway in 2016, processing 1.5 billion transactions in 2019 alone. Currently she is on the boards of three fintechs and works with Afinis, NACHA’s innovation arm, on Phixius, a hub for the sharing of payment information via APIs & blockchain. Millicent is also very passionate about inclusion & empowering women. Her clients are female-led businesses that she works with to help them succeed: one provides a platform to allow unbanked individuals (those who don't have bank accounts or credit cards, etc.) to pay their bills digitally; another allows parents to crowdfund their children's educational savings accounts; and another leverages a female-only sales force to sell payment services to local small businesses. She is also executive producer for the documentary film Bias (https://www.finishlinefeaturefilms.com/bias/) that highlights the nature of implicit bias, the grip it holds on our social and professional lives, and what it will take to induce change. As a Tech2Empower Advisor for the Wake Foundation that connects female-led nonprofit businesses with aspiring women leaders, she uses technology tools, trainings and mentoring to help these women and their organizations expand their fundraising base, more efficiently manage limited resources, run effective awareness and advocacy campaigns, and better connect beneficiaries with critical services. In 2019, Millicent was selected to be part of the Rise Up Academy Class of 2019 (https://www.money2020.com/rise-up/). Rise Up is a curated leadership academy for aspiring female talent in the financial services sector that provides a four-day programme in personal leadership and development. Millicent is an active member of the Park City Community Foundation where, most recently, she played a key role in the development of a Community Response Fund that raised over $1.5M within 3 weeks, in response to the needs of those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences. She is also on the Executive Committee of Summit County Communities That Care (https://ctcsummitcounty.org) which is a prevention coalition that serves as the hub for all local youth-serving organizations. They offer effective youth substance-prevention programs, education, and systems that attract and engage both youth and parents who are curious, and for those in trouble.

Building solutions to solve problems

Educating young girls can slow down climate change. From Project Drawdown: https://drawdown.org/solutions/health-and-education: Education lays a foundation for vibrant lives for girls and women, their families, and their communities. It also is one of the most powerful levers available for avoiding emissions by curbing population growth. Women with more years of education have fewer and healthier children, and actively manage their reproductive health. Educated girls realize higher wages and greater upward mobility, contributing to economic growth.

My story is about a girl who grew up with little self-esteem, wanted to always please her parents but always fell short, went to law school (to please my parents), but decided after practicing for one year that I didn’t like it so tried out different careers (tax consulting, director of operations/product management at a dot com, and then took a temporary project manager position at a large bank to keep me busy until I figured out what I really wanted to do. I then took a full time position there and then realized product management was my passion. During my 19 yr career there, we lost our middle daughter after she was diagnosed with an incurable malignant brain tumor, and that’s when it feels like my life really changed. She has given us so many gifts, including my strength to pursue things that I’m truly passionate about and to engage in opportunities that are interesting and uncomfortable. I know it’s a cliche, but the saying, “life is short” is really true and should be changed to “life is short, so don’t waste time.” It’s allowed me to pursue opportunities that I never would have otherwise, vocalize my opinions I never would have before, and put things in perspective in a way that allows me to learn from what I perceive to be disappointments or setbacks. Lila has allowed me to write my obituary that has become my life roadmap - now I'm living out my obituary and don't fear death.

connecting people