Barbara J. Negron is a senior banking and fintech executive with deep experience building and scaling embedded finance and technology platforms across banks and fintech ecosystems. She currently serves as SVP and Managing Director of Embedded Finance and Partnerships, where she leads the development of modern financial infrastructure and strategic partnerships. Barbara is known for bridging innovation with execution in regulated environments and for helping organizations turn complex ideas into scalable, market-ready solutions. She is a strong advocate for women in leadership and mentors emerging leaders across technology and financial services.
1. Are you excited to speak at the Women in Tech Global Conference and what motivated you to join our community of 200 000 women in tech, and allies?
Absolutely. I’m genuinely excited and honored to be part of the Women in Tech Global Conference. What motivated me to join this community is a deep belief that representation truly matters, not just in leadership roles, but throughout the entire technology pipeline.
Throughout my career, I’ve been intentional about creating space and visibility for underrepresented voices. I was one of the founding members of the FIS Latinx and Hispanic employee network, Adelante, and had the privilege of chairing the network for several years. Through that work, I participated in college fairs and partnered with Latinx and Hispanic student organizations to highlight opportunities at global technology companies like FIS.
Beyond corporate advocacy, I’ve also been involved in initiatives such as Girls Who Code, visiting elementary schools to help open young minds to the idea of a future in STEM. Those early moments of exposure matter. They shape confidence, curiosity, and a sense of belonging.
The Women in Tech Global Conference represents everything I value: innovation paired with inclusion, leadership grounded in community, and a commitment to lifting others as we build the future of technology together.
2. Share with us about your background, your journey in tech, and what inspired you to develop your career in this direction?
My career has spanned financial services, payments, and embedded finance, with a consistent focus on building and launching innovation inside highly regulated environments. I began my journey working closely with banks as they modernized legacy systems and adopted new digital capabilities. A formative chapter of my career was at Finastra, where I partnered with banks and fintechs on core banking and payments transformation.
I later worked with FIS, where I was directly involved in launching innovation through embedded finance initiatives, helping bridge fintech product vision with bank execution. That experience reinforced an important lesson: innovation only succeeds when governance, risk ownership, and operational readiness are designed in from day one.
Today, I serve as the SVP and Managing Director of Embedded Finance and Partnerships at Cogent Bank, where I lead a multi-year embedded finance and side-core strategy. My work focuses on turning emerging technologies into bank-ready solutions by building the risk frameworks, compliance structures, and operating models that allow innovation to scale responsibly.
What ultimately inspired my career path was seeing how often great ideas fail not because they lack vision, but because they lack execution discipline. That realization continues to guide how I approach technology leadership today.
3. Why is the topic “From FinTech Vision to Bank-Ready Execution: How Women Leaders Scale Innovation in Regulated Tech” important to you?
This topic is deeply personal and professional for me. I’ve had the privilege of partnering with and working alongside many female founders in the fintech and regtech space, and I’ve seen firsthand their ingenuity, resilience, and drive to succeed in highly regulated environments.
I’ve also seen how innovation stalls when the realities of regulation are underestimated. Women leaders are uniquely positioned to bridge that gap by balancing creativity with structure, speed with risk awareness, and ambition with accountability. These qualities are essential when trust, compliance, and governance are non-negotiable.
This topic is also about creating pathways for future female founders and leaders. I want to help demystify what it takes to move from a compelling fintech vision to a bank-ready, scalable solution so more women feel empowered to build and lead confidently in regulated tech.
4. Who would you advise to attend the Women in Tech Global Conference and why?
I would recommend this conference to anyone who is building, leading, or consuming technology in any capacity. While it’s an incredible forum for founders, engineers, and product leaders, it is equally valuable for bankers, financial professionals, and business leaders who partner with technology companies and rely on these products to drive innovation inside their organizations.
These conferences aren’t just for those who build technology, but also for those who implement it, govern it, and use it every day. The Women in Tech Global Conference creates space for meaningful dialogue between builders and consumers of technology, fostering collaboration, insight, and community for anyone serious about shaping the future of tech.
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