Who are the faces of October?
Let’s continue our serie “Faces of October” with two new portraits: Sarah Setti, Chief Product Officer, and Julien Ramezani, Head of Clients Operations.
Sarah Setti, Chief Product Officer
What do you do at October?
I am the Chief Product Officer. I am in charge of the product strategy and oversee all elements of the product, from conceptualization to launch performance.
The CPO is a Product Management specialist. He is responsible for structuring and professionalizing this practice. The idea is to empowered the product teams : Product designers, Product managers,.. to create the best possible digital product.
What did you do before joining October?
I was Head of Product at Wynd, a software editor where I used to manage with an Engineering manager a Tribe (Team) of around 50 people dedicated to supply chain management product. I have been working on Product management for 7 years and I am passionate by this subject.
What aspect of your work are you most passionate about?
- user centricity : empathy to our users, identifying their problems and find the right solution – which they may not even thought about- and see the product used and appreciated. At the product team, your first goal is to serve users by creating a product that they really love (design team UX/UI) and is yet useful for the business.
- empowering my team : many managers see their job as driving their team’s tasks list, and it results to short terms tactical successes. In this way of thinking product management, we could never reach the full potential of the product. I love the idea to create an environnement where my team can own outcomes and not just tasks. So, the organization (inter-squad synchronization, Prioritization processes, Product OKRs, …) and the implementation of the best environnement for the product and tech teams is one of thing I really love about my job.
- be the interface between tech, design and business
What are the 3 skills that you definitely need in your role?
- Communication
- Empathy coupled with data-centricity
- Have strategic vision
What does diversity and inclusion mean to you?
Our world will continue to globalize. With remote work becoming the new normal, cultural awareness will no longer be just a “nice to know”. It will be a necessity for any good company. Diversity and inclusion is nowadays normality for me.
What was your first touchpoint with the digital world?
I think it was with my old brother who was playing on his first computer when I was 6years old. As engineer, my first real link with development was at my engineering school. I was keen on the idea of building something from scratch.
How do you think technology will impact the industry in the next years?
The automation of processes and the new user experiences that allow borrower to have easy, fast and smooth flow will imply the renewal of the conception of the banking & lending service
What do you do in your spare time?
In a period without covid, and being a fan of opera and classical music, I spend a lot of time enjoying the living arts at the philharmonic, the theaters or the opera. I love to discover new artists in art galleries and museums.
Otherwise, I am a dancer in my spare time (far from being a professional, it is more like a happy free style) and a yoga fan ( ashtanga mostly).
I love travelling more in an adventurous way, learning about new cultures and appreciate various new landscapes to contrast the city life I live in.
What kind of job would you do if you were not in Fintech?
I would have been a doctor in medicine, which was one of my dream job when I was a child. My empathy may have been a real problem in this area that is why I choose to become an engineer.
Julien Ramezani, Head of Client Operations
What do you do at October?
I am the Head of Client Operations.
I am in charge of the whole process of granting credit to companies as soon as they get an approval from our Credit Committee, from the edition of the contractual documentation, to the repayment of loans, including compliance, anti-fraud and recovery. I am supported by an awesome team of 6 people.
What did you do before joining October?
Prior to joining October, I was a Financing Operations Manager at a leasing company, and then an Operations Support Manager at a leasing broker. I have spent my entire career in the leasing industry, both in commercial support functions and in risk management/anti-fraud functions.
What aspect of your work are you most passionate about?
I am passionate about working in a team, passing on my knowledge on specific topics such as fraud, continuously striving to improve our knowledge and processes, and above all, doing everything possible to make our clients’ lives as simple as possible and to offer them the quickest possible exchange and signature process while protecting the interests of our investors, whether they are private individuals or institutions.
What are the 3 skills that you definitely need in your role?
Rigour: The slightest mistake on our part can have devastating effects on the company’s reputation and on our investors. We are the last checkpoint before funds are potentially sent to a fraudster.
Simplicity: We have to keep in mind that we are dealing with people who either don’t have the time because they have a business to run, or are not used to digital tools, and that our mission is also to simplify the process for them.
Keep an open mind: Our process is always perfectible, it is not because something works well for several months that we should not change a detail of the process to make it work better.
and most of all, Be Happy to go to work every morning !
What does diversity and inclusion mean to you?
Everyone can bring something to the other because everyone has a well-defined life history to bring to the table. This is how we can grow both on a human and professional level.
What was your first touchpoint with the digital world?
During my previous experience, we developed a full web financing platform, allowing to question a large number of financing partners and to obtain a financing agreement in less than 10 minutes. This platform is intended for actors wishing to find financing solutions for their sales from a panel of approved financing partners.
How do you think technology will impact the industry in the next years?
The technology will allow initially competing players to work hand in hand but also to simplify access to resources that we do not necessarily have, all with a simple and fast user experience.
What do you do in your spare time?
Outside of October, I take the time to do some sport, visit my family as much as I can, and I try to go hiking whenever possible (I always have a backpack ready, just in case!)
What kind of job would you do if you were not in Fintech?
I would probably have specialised in compliance and anti-fraud in a financial institution.
See you next week for new Faces of October!