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One PC was available for the entire loan department, and it was a big deal. Roger Sosa remembers installing that computer. It was the late eighties, and he got to install cutting-edge technology within his bank. The accumulated processing power of that sole PC for the entire department couldn’t open an average image file today, but at the time it was incredible.

The chief operations and technology officer at Banco Davivienda International is a senior information technology and operations leader with decades experience, seeing the landscape change exponentially in that time and also being a catalyst of that change. He’s been at Banco Davivienda International since 2019, but his résumé is stacked with a long record of Miami-area banking and technology roles, driving innovation across the 305.

Sosa came of age when computers were just beginning to enter the mainstream, at least in the workplace. That first PC install occurred in New Jersey, where Sosa was raised after moving to the US from Cuba when he was just a year old. His early exposure to banking operations and nascent information technology set the stage for a career that would ultimately bridge those domains.

“In the eighties and nineties, operations and technology were often siloed within organizations,” Sosa explains. “Over the past fifteen years or so, we’ve really seen the walls come down between the two. We recognize the fusion of these disciplines and understand that successful companies treat technology as an integral part of their operational DNA.”

Along with his technological expertise, Sosa got significant grounding in leadership and has been instilled with principles and values like respect, honesty, and discipline. He recalls strong organizational discipline at international private bank Coutts. The tech leader says the bank’s focus on people as well as technology and operations became a hallmark of his own management and philosophy. Leadership development programs, including international training sessions in the UK that brought employees from all over the globe together under one roof, exposed him to a diverse array of styles and philosophies.

“It was fifty of us from different parts of the world,” Sosa remembers. “We’d stay in a castle as part of an executive training program, and it was just an amazing chance to interact with people from places you’d never imagined going to.”

Sosa put that interaction to good use, building out deep international experience, particularly in Latin America. He’s held key roles at Datapro and Temenos, both prominent banking software companies with global footprints. At Temenos, Sosa participated in leadership and team-building events across Europe and Asia. It’s given the leader a much broader cultural context from which to understand the global teams he works with today.

In his career, Sosa has had the opportunity to work for international banks from Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, as well as local Miami community and regional banks. His operational experience in wire transfers, deposit management, teller operations, and other areas provides the foundation to apply technology innovation in bank operations. This fusion of business and technology is where Sosa sees the added value that produces continuous efficiency improvements.

At present, Sosa leads teams based in Miami, Florida, Honduras, El Salvador, and Colombia. While everyone may speak a version of Spanish, the subtleties of regional dialects can still make it hard for international colleagues to understand each other. Sosa says it requires patience, empathy, and a willingness to build relationships over time.

Keeping that team feeling united and as one can be difficult when you’re crossing time zones and cultural lines. Sosa says he makes a serious effort to keep his team feeling together, even though the team is remote and separated. He holds regular meetings with his groups and works to drive a feeling of shared ownership across his organization.

“I had one fantastic mentor, and he taught me to always put myself in my team’s position. I want to be an inspirational leader, and I want to drive them to do their best work.”

Roger Sosa

The leader says his management philosophy can be distilled down into three core components: people, technology, and processes.

“It’s not technology that drives people,” Sosa explains. “It’s the people who drive technology and processes. People always come first, otherwise you’re going to have problems.”

That’s especially important with the current wave of artificial intelligence creating a mix of both positive and negative disruption. Sosa likens it to the early days of the internet in the nineties, noting that while technology is transformative, it is ultimately people who determine its application and impact.

“That may change in fifty years,” Sosa says, laughing. “But for now, people are the ones driving the technology.”

“People, technology, and processes” is a reflection of the strong mentors Sosa says he’s experienced during his career, particularly during his “growing up” period at Coutts.

“I had one fantastic mentor, and he taught me to always put myself in my team’s position,” the executive says. “I want to be an inspirational leader, and I want to drive them to do their best work. There’s the practical side where I just try and lead by example. But what I want to give my team more than anything is hope.”

Sosa’s inspiration has also paid off at home, though he won’t take credit for it. Both of his sons have pursued careers in technology, but the executive swears he never pushed them in that direction. If they follow Sosa, it is an organic occurrence, at least according to him.

The tech leader’s family is incredibly important to him.

“I have a beautiful and great wife, I have two wonderful sons,” Sosa shares. “My family definitely gives me my energy and my reason, my purpose.”