John Macilwaine

CEO Highnote

John MacIlwaine is the CEO and Co-Founder of Highnote, where he leads the company’s mission to power the future of embedded finance through a unified platform for card issuing, acquiring, and credit. With over two decades of leadership experience at global financial technology companies, John brings deep expertise in building and scaling innovative payments infrastructure. 
 
Before founding Highnote, John served as General Manager of Braintree, a global payments platform powering some of the world’s most dynamic companies, including Uber, Airbnb, and Dropbox. Prior to that, he was Chief Technology Officer at LendingClub, where he helped establish the company’s technical foundation and drive product innovation during its early hypergrowth. 
 
John is passionate about helping companies deliver differentiated, branded payment experiences that unlock new revenue, engagement, and growth.