Balaji Devarasetty

Chief Technical Officer

Balaji Devarasetty headshot - Vertafore
In our industry and in technology, having a thirst for knowledge is essential. When you lose that, you're done."

Balaji Devarasetty is a seasoned technology executive with over 20 years of experience in banking, crypto, and payments. As the CTO at Vertafore, he drives innovation and growth, overseeing product engineering, cloud infrastructure, and SaaS operations.  

Prior to joining Vertafore, Balaji was CPTO at Paya, Inc., leading platform transformation and ensuring competitiveness in the payments landscape. Under his leadership, Paya saw significant growth, with payment revenue growing from $247M to $353M in three years. He also played a key role in Paya's acquisition by Nuvei, solidifying its market position.  

Previously he held executive positions at Bakkt and Worldpay. At Bakkt as a founding member, led technology development and helped the company go public in 2021. At Bakkt, he bridged traditional finance and digital assets, positioning the company as a crypto industry leader. At Worldpay, as CTO for the integrated payments unit, he built high-performing teams and advanced integrated payment solutions, enhancing customer experiences and driving revenue growth.   

Balaji's strategic vision earned him a spot on the 2023 Constellation Research Business Transformation 150 list, recognizing his ability to leverage digital technologies for business transformation. At Vertafore, he shapes the product roadmap, drives platform development, and fosters key client and partner relationships.   

Balaji's 5 Fast Facts

1. What do you love most about your role at Vertafore? 

I love that our solutions support the entire insurance value chain, from quoting coverage to enabling the policy to managing premiums and supporting clients through claims and renewals.  We get to work with our agency customers through every stage of their business.  

I’m also excited about how innovation is reshaping the insurance industry and our vision for technology. We’re continuing our move to the cloud and we have tremendous opportunities to leverage artificial intelligence. The end goal is to bring value to our customers and make their work easier and more productive. 

 

2. How did you get into the InsurTech business? 

Vertafore is my first entry into Insurtech business. As I learned about the insurance value chain, there are a lot of similarities to the payments value chain where I spent the last 10 years. Both insurance and payments have common elements such as boarding, underwriting, risk monitoring, accounting & reconciliation, invoicing, commissions etc.

   

3. What are you most excited about for the future of InsurTech? 

Insurance is an important product for businesses and consumers to give them peace of mind and help them protect the things that matter most. The future of InsurTech is incredibly exciting because we’re at a pivotal moment of transformation. Existing insurance models are being disrupted and there’s a rising need to support new types of coverage—like cyber and gig-economy workers. This opens an opportunity to digitize and leverage AI for streamlining insurance processes and workflows.

  

4. What’s your idea of the perfect weekend? 

My idea of a perfect weekend is to chill out with family playing tennis, having good Thai food, reading a book and no chores. 😊  

 

5. I’m coming to visit you! What are your favorite/must-do things in your city? 

Atlanta is a great city that offers a variety of things. My favorite top 4 must-dos:  

  1. Visit Ponce City market to enjoy great food  

  1. Visit Jimmy Carter Presidential Library  

  1. Visit the Coca-Cola Museum  

  1. Catch a ball game at the newly built Braves stadium  

Education

  • UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business
  • Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
  • University of Akron
  • Sri Venkateswara University

Experience

  • Chief Product and Technology Officer, Paya
  • Head of Product and Technology, Bakkt
  • CTO of Integrated Payments/PayFac, Worldpay

Leadership at Vertafore