Flute
TEMPE, AZ, UNITED STATES, May 6, 2025 — Flute, a full-service payment technology provider, today announced that Derek Dean has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Dean succeeds Brian Goudie, who will transition to the role of Executive Chairman after nearly a decade leading the company’s rapid expansion.
Since joining Flute as Chief Revenue Officer, Dean has expanded the company’s direct sales organization, strengthened marketing, and advanced Flute’s SaaS-focused go-to-market engine. As CEO, Dean will accelerate organic growth and position the company as the end-to-end financial-technology partner of choice across multiple verticals.
“Handing the CEO reins to Derek is the natural next step in a leadership transition we put into motion a year ago,” said Brian Goudie, Executive Chairman of Flute. “Derek’s energy, customer focus, and ability to scale high-performance teams have already advanced our mission, and as CEO, he will propel Flute even faster while I concentrate on long-term strategy and strategic partnerships—including targeted M&A.”
As Executive Chairman, Goudie will guide board governance and long-range strategy while cultivating key relationships with processing partners, sponsor banks, and ISOs. He will also lead Flute’s M&A agenda to complement Dean’s organic-growth initiatives.
“Flute combines a powerful technology platform with an unwavering commitment to merchant and partner success,” said Derek Dean, Chief Executive Officer of Flute. “Brian built an exceptional foundation. My focus now is to unlock the next wave of growth by deepening our fintech capabilities and delivering even more value to our partners and customers.”
Dean brings more than 25 years of go-to-market leadership in enterprise software, data management, and service-commerce platforms. He joined Flute from Syndigo, an enterprise SaaS data-management company, where he served as President and Chief Revenue Officer. Before that, he was Senior Vice President of Sales and Customer Success at EverCommerce, a service-commerce platform that provides vertically tailored SaaS solutions.
“Flute’s leadership transition underscores both the strength of its bench and its commitment to long-term value,” added Jeremy Schein, Flute’s board member and Partner at Corsair. “We are excited to continue supporting Derek, Brian, and the entire team as they accelerate the company’s fintech journey.”
Dean’s appointment as CEO continues a series of strategic moves Flute has recently made to position the company for further growth, including the launch of its flagship cloud-based payment solution, which empowers small to midsize businesses to manage their payments through one seamless customized tech solution.
Flute is the payments platform for the everyday economy. Every merchant gets a dedicated account, transparent pricing, a modern dashboard, and a service team that knows their business. Backed by Corsair Capital, Flute has supported merchants across the United States since 2005. Learn more at flute.com.
Corsair is a specialist investment firm offering opportunities for investors and solutions for companies across its private markets Buyouts and Infrastructure businesses. The firm’s buyouts business is a financial services investor focused on making control investments in three verticals: payments, software, and business services. The infrastructure business operates as a strategic partnership with Investcorp as of December 2023. Investcorp Corsair focuses primarily on value-add opportunities in transportation, logistics, and associated infrastructure subsectors, blending operating platforms and deep sectoral expertise with equity sponsorship. Corsair has invested $13.6 billion in capital across buyouts and infrastructure since inception. For more information, please visit www.corsair-capital.com and follow us on LinkedIn.