Meet a WEXer: Kara Szostek

Kara Szostek’s path to her current role as manager of product portfolio management for our corporate payments division was hardly linear, and it instilled in her a passion for tackling tough challenges and “creating solutions that sing.” Armed with an undergraduate degree in theater and experience performing Shakespeare for school groups, she took a U-turn and signed up for a master’s degree program in computer science at DePaul University.

“It wasn’t until I got into the master’s program that I discovered what an extraordinarily good fit computer science was for me,” says Kara. “The concepts came easily to me, I enjoyed the work and I was successful at it. When I put my studies on hold after relocating to Florida, those skills set the stage for a career I could not have imagined at the time.”

Kara utilized her technology talents as a web development consultant starting in 2004, working with web design and marketing agencies that had emerged to serve a growing need. Her work building front-end layouts for marketing and ecommerce websites led to founding an internet marketing, web design and development company with a business partner. For almost four years, Kara kept busy managing the business, as well as doing technology development for client projects.

Making the Move to Product Management

A 2010 web application assignment that was focused on the user interface (UI) for a new payments platform had Kara collaborating with the technology team at 3Delta Systems. Within six months, this consulting engagement led to a full-time position for her as a senior web application developer. At that time, her primary responsibility was to help launch the new platform and make sure the UI was in top order. On the marketing side, she also found herself contributing to the company’s website where she could.

As the company developed a new secure portal that streamlined how suppliers receive payments, Kara moved into a new role as product manager. Three years into that work, she was promoted to product director at 3Delta Systems. After two years in that role, WEX acquired assets of 3Delta Systems, and Kara transitioned to become part of our corporate payments team in October 2017.

“My responsibility has been to make sure that the initiatives we undertake, and the way we execute them, have business value,” offers Kara about her role in product management. “I collaborate with customers and financial institutions, as well as internal stakeholders – like technology, business development, operations, marketing and fellow product managers – to make sure our initiatives are prioritized and that we bring solutions to our customers that are effective and easy to use.”

Collaboration is Key

Kara works in our Gulf Breeze, Florida, office which houses a holistic set of product development people with whom she maintains an “absolute partnership.” On the application side, she works with two agile development scrum teams, and this collaboration always starts with a conversation about what the common goals are and how they can work together to achieve them. On the customer side, Kara has worked with financial institutions throughout the product development cycle, vetting concepts and prototypes with these stakeholders and getting their feedback every step of the way. She also interfaces with colleagues who provide support and marketing services to merchants, getting their input on everything from customers’ hopes and pain points to industry trends.

All of this information for both of the product platforms she manages is distilled by Kara during regular meetings with internal stakeholders. Based on that collective participation, she can then update the ever-evolving roadmap for each of the products. It should come as no surprise, then, that Kara says the skills that serve her best in her job are the ability to process information, to set priorities with a diverse stakeholder group and to then drive the execution of those priorities.

“I like to solve tough problems really well – especially when it’s challenging, when there are real obstacles and when it’s of great importance – that’s what gets me up in the morning,” observes Kara. “I’m excited about being part of the WEX team and working with the product and technology groups and tapping in to their individual and collective insights and expertise.”