Women in Technology: PrintMail Solutions’ Gretchen Renaud

In the latest installment in our “Women in Technology” series, we visited with PrintMail Solutions’ Vice President of Customer Success and Strategic Partnerships Gretchen Renaud.

With more than 200 banks, credit unions, and enterprise clients, the Newtown, Penn.-based company bills itself as helping organizations simplify the delivery of critical documents such as customer statements, notices, compliance communications, tax forms, invoices, among other services.

By W.B. King

Audrey Hepburn once said, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” As a former horticulturist, Gretchen Renaud embodied this ethos in 2006 when she pursued Microsoft Certifications to cultivate a career in technology.

“I had previously worked for 10 years in the horticulture industry, where the advent of the ‘Box Store’ was quickly changing that industry’s growth trajectory, and I did not see a viable future there,” she told Finopotamus.

Gretchen Renaud

Since beginning her journey with PrintMail Solutions nearly 20 years ago as a data center manager, she has held numerous positions, including operations manager and director of operations. In 2024, she was named vice president of customer success and strategic partnerships.

“The biggest shifts I have seen in technology departments is the embracing of ‘best of breed’ standard software solutions, rather than a heavy focus on individual and ‘custom’ code and solutions,” she recounted. “Companies who have not standardized on modern, effective and ever-improving software solutions are being left behind by their competitors.”

Not the Norm Yet

As it pertains to the financial services industry, Renaud shared that while she has seen an uptick in women working in technology, there hasn’t been a “significant” shift in senior leadership roles.

“There is a large percentage of women working in FIs [financial institutions] in operational and marketing roles—far more than men—but not nearly as many in key technology roles,” she shared. “I have started to see some changes in larger and more progressive FIs, but it is not yet the norm.”

Early in her career, a boss-turned-mentor told her, “You can learn to do anything you want to,” which inspired her to test the limits of what was possible. “He encouraged me to try new things almost daily,” she said. “We worked together to open two new facilities for our company. He managed the business side, and I was onsite in each location hiring new teams, training, installing equipment, and more.”

During this time, she faced operational challenges she had never encountered—technology integration, budget issues, electrical problems, damaged equipment, “people situations,” and many others. “He encouraged me to approach each one practically and logically, always believing I could find a solution.”

These learned lessons not only fortified Renaud’s skillset, but inspired her to help others. “I try to pay it forward through mentoring opportunities, encouraging my teams to seek creative solutions, think for themselves, and pursue anything new they want to learn without doubting their abilities,” she told Finopotamus. “Try and fail—that’s okay. Then try again. That’s life, learning, and ultimately the path to success.”

Stay Focused on Core Competencies

Among trends exciting Renaud are artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that are being applied to creative problem solving, especially for initiatives previously “tolerated or accepted as mediocre.” Many community FIs, she added, are dealing with outdated technologies. As a result, new technologies, like AI, offer proactive solutions to legacy systems.

“Seeing how teams use the technology to create extreme efficiencies, save time, and develop new ways to work is both fun to see and rewarding to be a part of,” she continued. “Having vendors who can understand and integrate with this older technology is critical—taking it off their plates and ensuring their critical, regulated communications go out to consumers on time and error-free.”

PrintMail Solutions, which supports 160 employees, 40 of whom are tech-facing, partners with FIs to support their “ever-changing and critical regulated communications,” Renaud noted. “It’s important to ensure their consumers have a modern, secure, and easy-to-navigate solution for essential documents like bank statements and loan documents,” she continued. “These partnerships also help banks [and credit unions] achieve maximum cost savings and stay focused on their core competencies.”