Dearborn steps up as WEX's new president of corporate payments

Courtesy / WEX Inc. Jay Dearborn has been promoted to president of corporate payments at South Portland-based WEX Inc., which had sales of $1.25 billion last year.

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By Staff

WEX Inc., with $1.25 billion in annual sales and a business built around corporate payment solutions, has named a new president of corporate payments.

Jay Dearborn, a two-year veteran of the South Portland company, will oversee WEX's virtual card and other payments solutions. He previously served as WEX's VP of strategy.

Dearborn joins an executive team of nine people, led by president and CEO Melissa Smith.

Prior to joining WEX, Dearborn was a principal at McKinsey & Co., where he helped private and public organizations set their strategic direction, including technology deployment and process redesign to support long-term growth, according to WEX. Prior to that, at American Express, he was responsible for elements of the merchant marketing organization and corporate strategic planning.

Dearborn holds an MBA and a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. He also has a master's degree in law and diplomacy from Tufts University's Fletcher School. He is active with FocusMaine, Junior Achievement of Maine and the United Way.

Advice to his younger self

In a Q&A posted on the WEX website, Dearborn offers some hard-earned knowledge that might apply to anyone on a corporate career track:

“Probably the most salient piece of advice and the one that I always harp on when I talk with young people is to seek out those leaders whom you want to emulate and learn as much as you can from them. Learn how they think, learn how they see the world, and where they see opportunities and risks. Learn to analyze the way that they analyze the world. Learn to make relationships in the way that they make relationships, and then seek to emulate that as your career progresses. And on that concept of apprenticeship, it's not just about finding one or two mentors. It's about finding 10 to 20 so that you get the breadth of different approaches. You learn so much more quickly if you find people you want to emulate and then you work really closely with them.

“One other thing, too: Don't let your profession become a slog. When you figure out how to make it fun and you work with great people and you laugh deeply and you wake up in the morning excited to go to work, you tend to unlock opportunity, both within the teams that you work with and with customers and clients. So have fun. Keep a buoyant attitude.”