WEX taps ex-Reuters Chief Digital Officer and ex-American Express Russia Chairman

Rick Steves

WEX first announced the reorganization of WEX’s Executive Leadership Team in October 2021 as the firm looks to bring complementary skills to the team.

WEX has made a series of senior appointments as 2021 comes to an end. Karen Stroup was appointed Chief Digital Officer and Carlos Carriedo was named Chief Operating Officer, International.

The newly created roles will have Stroup and Carriedo reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer, Melissa Smith.

Karen Stroup led Thomson Reuters’ digital transformation

As Chief Digital Officer, Karen Stroup joins the executive leadership team at WEX and will be responsible for furthering digital commerce and product development opportunities across the firm.

Bringing more than 15 years of experience leading innovation, product management, and digital software as a service offerings, primarily in financial services, Karen Stroup joins WEX from Thomson Reuters where she served as their Chief Digital Officer since 2019.

At Thomson Reuters, she led the company’s global digital transformation, focused on digital go to market and customer success, as well as product management for enterprise shared capabilities, product data and analytics, and product operations.

Prior to that, Karen Stroup served as SVP, Product and Innovation at Capital One Financial Services for two years and VP, Product Management at Intuit for nine years.

At Capital One, she led customer-driven innovation and digital transformation for Financial Services, including experimenting with emerging technologies to reimagine auto and home buying experiences, building strategic common capabilities to accelerate innovation and speed to market, and developing organizational capability, focused on top 300 leaders. The role also required her to lead Dealer services and the Product Management Community.

At Intuit, she led the product management team of 20 across three countries, creating end-to-end experiences for both accountants and taxpayers, representing $450M in revenue, 60+% margins. She revamped product strategy to set a bold vision & path for disruption and delivered three strong tax seasons, above plan.

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Carlos Carriedo served as Chairman of American Express Bank of Russia

As Chief Operating Officer, International, Carriedo will lead the company’s strategic growth internationally, overseeing WEX’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC).

The industry veteran has more than 20 years of experience, having most recently worked at American Express as the General Manager of Commercial Services for Europe. He also served as Chairman of American Express Bank of Russia.

During his time at American Express, Carriedo held various positions managing commercial services across international markets including Europe, Russia, Canada and Latin America. In addition, he led a global council to integrate best practices across international markets, focused on growth, scalability and productivity enhancements.

Melissa Smith, Chair and Chief Executive Officer at WEX, commented: “Looking ahead to 2022, Karen and Carlos will be instrumental in expanding our global footprint and optimizing digital solutions for customers around the world. As seasoned innovation and international professionals, both executives will enhance our global competitive position by focusing on WEX’s strategic growth and international collaboration initiatives. I look forward to partnering with them as we continue to grow our business.”

WEX first announced the reorganization of WEX’s Executive Leadership Team in October 2021 as the firm looks to bring complementary skills to the team and provide customers with solutions that maximize efficiency while the organization grows and streamlines integration across the company’s expansive payments and tech platform.

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