Payoneer hires Webster Bank's Bea Ordonez to be its new CFO

Bea Ordonez, who until recently was chief innovation officer at Webster Bank, has joined payments and digital commerce provider Payoneer and will be its chief financial officer.

Ordonez brings more than 20 years of experience in C-suite roles at fintechs to the Payoneer post. 

Ordonez was named deputy CFO on Monday, and will become sole CFO in March when current CFO Michael Levine steps down. Levine will stay on with the company in an advisory role until next January. 

The C-suite change comes about a year and a half after Payoneer, which provides payments and digital commerce solutions to small businesses globally, hit the public markets in a $3.3-billion merger with a special purpose acquisition company. Ordonez said in an interview that the breadth of her experience in innovation and operations at the intersection of traditional finance and technology was compelling to Payoneer.

"As we think of the the next stage in Payoneer's growth, and continue to scale our capabilities and continue to build on that impressive track record, the thinking was that a broad experience across a range of industries and across a range of functions would position us to really deliver on our strategic initiatives," Ordonez said.

Ordonez added that her long-term priority is to help deliver on continued revenue growth and drive operating leverage to scale. She said there are "a number of opportunities across a range of functions" to help Payoneer scale, and that the team will have to determine the right path moving forward.

Ordonez has worked at Webster Financial since spring 2021, when the company bought Sterling Bancorp, where she had been CFO. She said in an interview that the CFO role has evolved over years to incorporate a number of functions, including business strategy, accounting, innovation and operations. Payoneer's website says current CFO Levine leads financial operations, treasury, accounting, financial planning and analysis, investor relations and internal audit. 

"Bea is a proven leader with diverse expertise in the financial technology industry and has experience as CFO of multiple publicly traded companies," said co-CEO John Caplan in a prepared statement. "I am confident that she will be an impactful leader as we continue to evolve our broader executive team and execute on our strategic priorities."

The deputy CFO will report to Caplan, who was tapped as co-CEO with Scott Galit last year. Caplan will become sole CEO at the end of 2023. Ordonez said in an interview that diversity of experience is key to evolving the fintech's model going forward, and that evaluating the C-suite and ensuring the right leadership is an iterative process at any growing company. 

Payoneer also brought on SoFi and Amazon alumnus Assaf Ronen as the company's first chief platform officer in September. Ronen leads the platform division, which connects the company's technology, product and high value service units.

The company also announced Wednesday that it expected to exceed full year 2022 guidance of $605 million to $615 million in total revenue and $40 million to $43 million in adjusted EBITDA. Payoneer will announce its results for the fourth quarter and full year 2022 on Feb. 28.