The D. Inez Andreas School of Business recently hosted the thirteenth lecture in the Executive Leadership Forum featuring Licenia L. Rojas, Vice-President of Technology at American Express.
The Executive Leadership Forum was created to serve as a venue for sharing practical business knowledge. Select leaders from the business community are invited to engage in a dialogue regarding their perspectives on leadership and the everyday challenges they face.
Rojas, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from Barry in 1994, spoke to several dozen business students about the importance of leading organizational transformation.
As Vice-President of Technology at American Express, leading the Delivery Transformation Program, Rojas is responsible for establishing a new, best-in-class technology delivery model for American Express. The Delivery Transformation Program is a multi-year, strategic initiative that cuts across three strategic pillars: organization and operating model; skills and roles; and tools and processes. It is driving faster time to market, higher productivity, reduced costs and higher-quality delivery, with increasing speed to innovation.
Rojas joined the company in August 1998 as a Lead Architect. She was named Chief Architect in 2004 for the Consumer and OPEN Technology organization and was promoted in 2007 to Chief Architect for Consumer, OPEN, World Service, and Interactive Technology. In 2011, Rojas assumed the role of Vice-President of Risk Technologies, then was promoted in 2012 to Vice-President of Risk and Global Card Member Remittance Technology, where she was responsible for mission-critical platforms that support Credit Authorizations, Card Member Remittances, Risk Assessment, Fraud, New Accounts, Customer Privacy, Customer Information, Underwriting, Collections, Cryptography, Credit Bureau Reporting, ATM and Customer Research & Development across all business units. She assumed her current responsibilities in September 2013.
As the Senior Technology Leader in South Florida and a member of the South Florida Senior Leadership Team, which spans all American Express business units operating in the region, Rojas leads a team of local leaders to drive a culture across the campus that is focused on a growth mindset, collaboration, and innovation. She also serves as the sponsor for several employee events and diversity networks promoting the company’s Blue Box Values. In addition to her local leadership responsibilities, Rojas serves as the Global Development Committee Chair for the Women in Technology network at American Express. Rojas lives in Miami with her husband and their three children.