Pelican AI taps Maria Papas, Doug Drummond to lead sales and partner push

Pelican AI is framing the two appointments as execution rather than a change in direction. At its September 15, 2026 investor webinar, management pointed to partnerships and sales team expansion as the main routes to extending the company's reach, and the addition of a VP of Sales for the Americas plus a Head of Channels and Alliances follows that plan directly.

The backgrounds of the two hires map onto those two routes. Maria Papas brings payments-industry experience from Mastercard and Interac, as well as enterprise relationship management at Fiserv, while Doug Drummond's channel, alliance and strategic-partnership background includes information security work at the Central Bank of Ireland.

CEO Nino Di Teodoro's comment frames the logic: the company says its solution is proven in the industry and that the remaining task is making more financial institutions aware of it, both directly and through partners. Pelican describes more than 30 years of proprietary AI expertise, trust by major financial institutions across more than 55 countries, and more than 2 billion transactions representing approximately $10 trillion in value.