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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 15 M A R C H 9 , 2 0 1 5 Express Corp. "Going public was clearly one of those pivotal points. It gave us a lot more freedom to allocate capital and acquire businesses. For us, it gave us the ability to have independence and cre- ated more surety around the business itself [since] we'd gone through several ownership changes prior to the IPO. It opened up our options as a company and has led to diversification." Since , WEX's trajectory has been a steep and steady rise in every way. Total revenues have grown from million in to . million in . Adjusted net income for the same period went from million to . million. e number of employees has jumped from to ,, with almost two-thirds now working out of WEX offices located in nine countries (soon to be , with the opening of an office in Singapore this year). All told, WEX does business in countries around the world. Major acquisitions Smith says her optimism about being able to con- tinue the company's double-digit yearly revenue and net income trajectories is based, in part, on two stra- tegic purchases completed in : the . million cash purchase of Evolution, a cloud-based technol- ogy and health care payment services company based in Fargo, N.D., and the purchase of ExxonMobil's European commercial fuel card program for an undisclosed sum that closed late last year. "It's a huge pipeline," Smith says regarding the purchase of ExxonMobil's ESSO Card program through a majority owned joint venture, WEX Europe Services Ltd. "e European market has great potential for us, and the ExxonMobil brand is very well respected. It puts us in a very strong posi- tion in that marketplace." e purchase gives WEX a customer base in nine European countries, with physical offices in five countries. Noting there are more than million commercial vehicles in the European market, Smith sees great potential in expanding the ESSO Card's share by taking advantage of WEX's well-established fleet card expertise. As the leading fleet card provider in the United States, WEX has a market share of million commercial vehicles. By comparison, she says, Exxon's ESSO Card only has a share of its marketplace — which leaves plenty of room for expansion. To get there, Smith says WEX plans to spend this year transferring ESSO's portfolio onto the WEX platform, working with vendors to identify opportunities for improvement and working on creating back office efficiencies. She expects that "migration" to be completed by . A key player in that transition is Stephen Crowley, WEX's senior vice president of shared services and chief information officer. Hired in August , Crowley is responsible for WEX's global information technology, program management office and client operations. He brings to that assignment more than years of experience in those areas, including senior leadership positions at Bank of America, NCR Corp. and General Electric. "ink of WEX in terms of competencies," Crowley says. "What we do is get rid of complexity, we get rid of paper and we give our customers access to more information quickly. ose competencies are very real and very adaptable … Customers are our partners: ey want to do what they do really well. ey help us by telling us what they want our technology to do for them and then it's our job to accomplish that." Crowley says the technology platform that WEX brings to its new fleet market in Europe delivers three basic solutions to commercial customers: secu- rity in the form of driver IDs and real-time updates; purchase controls that can be customized and are able to flag unusual items; and reporting tools that capture essential information, such as the vehicle ID or odometer reading, which lowers the risk of fraud. He's confident the company's fleet-card technology, coupled with its focus on / customer service, will expand WEX's share of the European market, as well as the Asia Pacific market of million commercial vehicles, which WEX now serves through a Shell pre- paid product that has gained a market share. e company is opening an office in Singapore this year to facilitate the expansion of its business in Asia. Smith says the Evolution acquisition, which closed last July, opens up the huge and complex health care payments market for WEX, which had been slowly expanding its footprint in that business sector. e purchase delivers, in one fell swoop, three elements that immediately strengthen WEX's health care vertical: A large and growing market, industry-leading innovation and an innovative partner network. "We see health care as an important part of the future growth of our company," she says. "ere's a huge amount of upside to that investment." First and foremost, she says, is the fact that Evolution already has a share of what is now a billion market in the growing sector of health savings, You matter more. At Bangor Savings Bank, we work hard to find the perfect mortgage for your goals and lifestyle. We'll be there when you need us (not just banking hours), offer flexible financing options, and can even process and service your loan locally. We are experts at guiding you through the mortgage process – whether you are a first time homebuyer or have financed many times before. So call 1.877.Bangor1, stop by, or visit BangorMortgage.com to see the difference it makes when you matter more. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender YOUR MORTGAGE IS AN IMPORTANT MATTER. GET IT AT THE BANK WHERE YOU MATTER. C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E »

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