Alison Burns Schonk

Mrs. Schonk grew up in Destrehan, LA, where she attended Destrehan High School before moving to Clinton, MS, for a Bachelor of Arts (that stemmed from a triple major) from Mississippi College. Upon graduation, she moved to Baton Rouge with the hopes of completing a Master’s in Textile, Apparel Design, and Merchandising at LSU. However, once Katrina hit, she knew she needed to move back to the city she grew up in and help rebuild. She was soon offered the position as Entergy’s Corporate Events Planner, allowing her to showcase the city to non-local clients and help generate revenue simultaneously. Knowing that she wanted a Master’s degree to have that competitive edge in the marketplace, she returned to Mississippi College several years later and completed a Master of Business Administration.

Upon returning to New Orleans, Mrs. Schonk embarked on a path of outside sales, and has been in the payments processing industry now for almost a decade. In August of 2013, she founded her own company to be able to better serve the needs of local businesses. In 2017, Precision Payment Systems added a point-of-sale division to meet the ever-evolving demands of the marketplace. They offer several cloud-based, tablet POS systems to meet the various needs of different industries. PPS, which is head-quartered in New Orleans, recently opened a second office in St. Augustine, Florida, and serves clients throughout the country.

The company closed out 2019 handling approximately $33.5 million of small business revenue.

Mrs. Schonk was a finalist for 2016’s New Orleans Entrepreneur Week for the Woman Entrepreneur Fellowship. She is regularly featured in one of her industry’s largest publications, ISO & Agent, and was featured in Where Yat’s 2017 article entitled “Lady Bosses of New Orleans” alongside 2 other fierce boss babes. She also serves as a volunteer with Fore!Kids Foundation and is a member of both the New Orleans and Jefferson Chambers of Commerce. She is a small business advocate through her work with StayLocal NOLA as well as lobbies the capital on behalf of small business interests through her seat on the NFIB Leadership Council, and LABI’s Small Business Council. She even writes a bi-monthly column for small businesses in Inside New Orleans magazine. Mrs. Schonk and her company are also a member of the St. Johns County and JAX Chambers of Commerce in Florida as well as was selected to the 2020-2021 class of Lifework Leadership scholars.

She is deeply passionate about living a healthy and fit lifestyle, spending quality time with her husband and crazy dogs, and most of all, her personal walk as a Christ-follower.