Marie D. Velez brings her best to work every day, making her a valuable team member at Crawford. As Vice President of Finance for Latin America, Marie is well-regarded as a confident, no-nonsense leader who produces results. This year, she will celebrate eight years at Crawford.
Originally from Puerto Rico, Marie has had an interest in finance and accounting since her undergraduate years. She earned her bachelor’s from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and received her MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, one of the most competitive programs in the nation.
Since then, Marie honed her business acumen through consistency and perseverance in her career choices. Her breadth of knowledge and experience is global and her perspective is focused on high values and integrity, enabling her to have successfully supported some of America’s largest publicly traded companies including Exxon Mobil, Johnson Controls, Jarden Consumer Solutions and now, Crawford & Company.
Marie’s ability to seamlessly navigate between accounting, finance and business strategy is akin to that of a seasoned executive. Her expertise is an asset relied upon globally at Crawford. Processes that she created within Latin America have been implemented throughout the company by teams in Australia, Europe and the U.S.
When Crawford acquired WeGoLook, Marie was entrusted to spearhead the realignment of its finance and accounting processes, a project she successfully led to completion over the course of two years.
Marie’s international competency makes her a flexible, well-rounded leader at the company. A testament to her commitment to global engagement, Marie speaks four languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
Beyond Marie’s professional role at Crawford, some of her greatest contributions to the company are rooted in her ardent support and advocacy for women. Marie, a single mother, made it her goal to advance the development and promotion of women within the company. In 2016, she took the initiative to launch a mentorship program at Crawford to help women build their professional skillsets, find their voice and be more assertive in pursuing advancement opportunities.
“I see the program as a spirited call-to-action, and I’m excited to do my part as a leader through coaching and mentoring women in finance in the US and Latin America to push ahead and break down the walls of age bias and gender inequality,”
Velez said.
Since the establishment of this program, Marie has helped four women developed or achieve promotions within Crawford from book-keeping roles to professional accountants and from accountants to managers, a point of pride for her. “I look forward to soon seeing an increase of women in leadership positions.”
