Sean Feeney grew up in a small town in New York, attended college at West Point, and served in the United States Army for six years. He spent the majority of his years of service in Europe and from 1983-1984 he commanded a nuclear-capable artillery unit in West Germany. After leaving the military, he started his career in technology, rising to his first CEO position in 2005.
Feeney earned a reputation for building companies and assembling world-class management teams in technology and financial services throughout his career and multiple CEO positions. After retirement, he was approached to serve as CEO of Cantaloupe Inc. in 2020.
“I saw a great market opportunity, industry-leading products and strong people, so I jumped at the opportunity,” said Feeney. “I’m passionate about developing young leaders and am proud when I see past hires ascend into leadership positions.”
Cantaloupe Inc. is a software and payments company that provides end-to-end technology solutions for the unattended retail market. The company’s enterprise wide platform is designed to increase customer engagement and sales revenue through digital payments, digital advertising and customer loyalty programs while providing retailers with control and visibility over their operations and inventory.
In 18 months as CEO, Feeney has redefined the legacy vending payments company as an innovator defining the “buy it and go” autonomous retail market. Feeney has overseen a successful rebranding of the company from USA Technologies to Cantaloupe, a successful settlement of a proxy battle, a relisting of the company on Nasdaq under a new ticker, a doubling of the company’s market cap, an increase in the company’s stock price around 100%, the closing of a $55 million private placement and the acquisition of Yoke Payments.
Throughout his career, Feeney said he has made every leadership mistake twice or more. “I believe that I have learned from all of them and can leverage that to help leaders in the Atlanta Tech Community,” he said. “I try to lead by example and help people when asked.”
Learning from these mistakes and showing his team that he cares is how he continues to lead. “My greatest lesson is that people want to know you care,” said Feeney. “You have to demonstrate to people that you have a vision and are confident, but they also need to know that you care about them. I hold the careers and families of my team in my hands and that is an awesome responsibility.”
